MasterChef is serving up a major shake-up — and it’s not on the menu.
Yes, an Irish chef is set to take Gregg Wallace’s place on the cooking show amid recent controversy.
Following misconduct allegations, long-time judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode have stepped away from the hit BBC cooking competition.
But the drama hasn’t stopped production, with the broadcaster pressing ahead and airing the latest season.
With Wallace resigning last November and the final episodes yet to be filmed, Irish chef Anna Haugh has been brought in to spice things up as judge for the remaining instalments, set to air later this year.
The Dublin-born chef is the owner of Myrtle Restaurant in London, having honed her skills under Derry Clarke at the Michelin-starred L’Ecrivain and later working with Gordon Ramsay.
Anna should be no stranger to challenging MasterChef contestants, having appeared on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2022.
At the time, she admitted to experiencing a bit of imposter syndrome, telling the Irish Mail on Sunday: “I’m like, ‘I’m here, this is about to start. How in God’s name did I trick these people into thinking I was able for this?’
“But then I would stop and think, ‘Well, I trained really hard to understand my profession, I love food, and I love training people.’
“So it was, ‘Fight those nerves Anna and get on with it.’ ‘It’s a magic feeling to know that I had those nerves, and then I just threw myself into it and got on with the graft.”
Several names have since been floating around as potential permanent replacements for Wallace and Torode, including author and food critic Grace Dent, and Tom Kerridge and Andi Oliver.
But who knows? Maybe Anna could be sticking around for longer than we think…
