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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Brogan-Leigh Hurst

MasterChef hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode announce shake-up to 18-year format

MasterChef stars Gregg Wallace and John Torode have announced the food competition will have a shake-up starting from next week.

The judges, who have been on the show for 18 years now, are set to start tasting contestants' food while it's piping hot, instead of stone cold.

In a major change to the BBC1 show, but the pair are excited for it to begin.

John, 56, told The Sun : "It's a revelation! We're always eating food which is room temperature.

"Nice, hot food is great. It makes a big difference."

The interesting style of MasterChef comes as bosses introduce a new segment of the cookery show.

The judges are excited for the new shake-up (BBC/Shine TV)

TV chef and presenter John explained: "It's called the Audition Round and they come in and cook their signature dish for Gregg and I. We don't see them cook and all we do is get to taste their food. It's as if we were going to a restaurant."

He added that in the usual format, all the judges would do is "just sit down, eat the food and then judge it on that, and that's what we've done".

Sharing how it differs from the usual style, he said it's "far more exciting" and "gives everybody a chance to settle in a bit" as well as whipping up something that "they really love to cook".

They have been presenting it for 18 years (BBC/Shine TV)

The hosts shared that the show "is not scripted at all" and that there is always something going on, which as a result means the series "stays fresh".

John joked that it's hard to think of a way to describe food after being on the series for 18 years.

He laughed: "One of the things that you can't really change very much is trying to find an adjective to describe food.

"We try as hard as we can to be as fresh, as in how we explain things."

John and Gregg (BBC/Shine TV)

In recent weeks, it was reported MasterChef will move to Birmingham after TV bosses hailed its "great" culinary scene.

All versions of the cookery show, hosted by John and Gregg, will be made at a new studio complex in Digbeth from 2024 as part of the BBC 's Across the UK plan.

Jon Swain, of show producers Shine TV, said: "Moving production to one of the country’s most diverse cities will allow us to invigorate the programme."

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