Grace Dent to replace Gregg Wallace on next series of Celebrity MasterChef
As the Guardian’s restaurant critic she has spent an “excessive amount of time in posh restaurants, eating fancy, ornate tasting menus”, but Grace Dent’s new challenge will see her tasting the delights of minor stars in front of rolling cameras as the new judge of Celebrity MasterChef,Dent, who also hosts the Guardian’s Comfort Eating podcast, will replace Gregg Wallace alongside John Torode, the BBC confirmed on Wednesday,Wallace stepped down from the series at the end of November while its production company, Banijay UK, investigates claims of misconduct, which he denies,Dent, who has appeared regularly as a guest on MasterChef, will judge the 20th series of the show, and said the step up to main judge was a dream come true,“I’m so excited that I can’t eat, which is severely detrimental to a restaurant critic.
I feel very lucky to be stepping in for the next Celebrity MasterChef,” she said.“I can’t wait to meet the fresh celebrity faces for 2025.”Dent, who published Comfort Eating: What We Eat When Nobody’s Looking last year after the publication of her memoir, Hungry, in 2020, added that she had been watching the show since she was a girl, sitting on a sofa with her dad.“My whole family watches it.It’s all about uncovering and championing talent – and to have ended up in this position is more than a dream to me,” she said.
The news comes after a tumultuous period for one of the BBC’s flagship shows.The BBC pulled two MasterChef celebrity Christmas specials, a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook Off and a Strictly Festive Extravaganza from its schedule, but the recent series of MasterChef: The Professionals continued to air amid a storm of allegations against Wallace.Last week the model and Loose Women presenter Penny Lancaster, a former contestant on the show, said she witnessed and was a victim of bullying and harassment by Wallace, who has denied claims of misconduct.It came after the presenter Kirsty Wark, a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011, alleged that Wallace told “sexualised” jokes during filming.Lawyers for the 60-year-old have said it is untrue that “he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
Wallace was also accused of sending inappropriate texts to a young female reporter, while a woman said the presenter had asked a British Sign Language interpreter to sign “big boobs” and “sexy bum” in front of a live audience at the BBC Good Food show.Shannon Kyle, the ghostwriter of his 2012 autobiography, claimed he sexually harassed her when she was working on the book.Lawyers representing Wallace said: “Our client has denied that he has engaged in any such behaviour, and he specifically denies any sexual misconduct with Ms Kyle.”After revelations that the BBC had received multiple complaints about him, Wallace dismissed his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.He later apologised, and said he was not “in a good head space” when he made the comments, adding: “I’ve been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion, I felt very alone and under siege yesterday when I posted it.
”John Torode, who has presented MasterChef alongside Wallace since 2005, has said he found the allegations of harassment against his former co-host “truly upsetting”.In a statement released to mark Dent’s new tenure on Celebrity MasterChef, he did not mention the furore around Wallace, but said that the food critic was “the perfect person to step in alongside me as judge for the forthcoming Celebrity MasterChef series”.“I have loved working with Grace on MasterChef over the years.She has been an excellent guest, an inspiring critic and also set some incredible challenges,” he said.“Expertise is what MasterChef is all about, from the contestants to our wonderful production team, to us as judges.
”Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC’s head of entertainment, said: “Grace is not only an energetic and well established member of the MasterChef team, but is also a world-renowned food critic, so she will certainly keep the next batch of celebrities on their toes.”
UK house price predictions for 2025: with pay rising and rates falling, they’ll just keep going up
It’s been a bumpy ride for the housing market in recent years, after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget of September 2022 created a surge in borrowing costs that have cost many households dearly.But despite elevated mortgage and rent costs, the market this year has turned out to be “surprisingly resilient”, according to Nationwide building society. Experts had expected house prices to stay flat or fall, but average prices are expected to have risen by more than 3% in 2024, after falling by 1.4% in 2023.Looking ahead to the new year, house prices are predicted to grow at a similar or slightly faster rate in 2025 – before accelerating to as much as 5
From delays to refunds: how Australia’s air passenger charter could affect your travel rights
The Albanese government has bowed to pressure from Qantas and other airlines to not pay cash compensation to passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled.The omission of a compensation scheme in the government’s draft aviation customer rights charter follows claims from airlines such as Qantas that compensation rules – which exist in the European Union – would force them to preempt costs and increase air fares. The charter was released on Sunday.When the government announced it would introduce an airline passenger charter of rights – to fall under a forthcoming industry ombuds scheme – it left open the door for the interim ombudsperson, Pauline Sullivan, to determine if a compensation scheme should be in the charter she was tasked with drafting.However, such a scheme is not included in the draft charter, which is now open for public consultation until the end of February
The god illusion: why the pope is so popular as a deepfake image
For the pope, it was the wrong kind of madonna.The pop legend, she of the 80’s anthem Like a Prayer, has stirred controversy in recent weeks by posting deepfake images on social media which show the pontiff embracing her. It has fanned the flames of a debate which is already raging over the creation of AI art in which Pope Francis plays a symbolic, and unwilling, role.The head of the Catholic church is used to being the subject of AI-generated fakery. One of the defining images of the AI boom was Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket
Can I survive for 24 hours without GPS navigation?
Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than other workers to die of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a Harvard study published in the British Medical Journal.On the one hand, it makes total sense, navigation and spatial memory belonging in the hippocampus, which is the first region of the brain the disease atrophies. On the other hand, life expectancy is significantly lower than average in both jobs – 68 and 64 respectively – and Alzheimer’s typically afflicts those over 65.Nevertheless, there is a good argument to ditch the GPS simply because memory, particularly spatial, is use-it-or-lose-it, as a study in Scientific Reports demonstrated in 2020. We have become more and more reliant on Google Maps, even using it for journeys we know well
Merry Crambo again for Fergal O’Brien after Long Walk repeat at Ascot
Crambo, dismissed in the betting at 9-1 despite his narrow win in the Long Walk Hurdle 12 months ago, returned to Ascot for the first time since and rediscovered his form in impressive fashion, edging home by a head from Hiddenvalley Lake and briefly reducing Fergal O’Brien, his trainer, to tears as he celebrated the third Grade One win of his career.Strong Leader, a Grade Two winner at Newbury last month, was sent off favourite at 11-8 but was never in serious contention and eventually faded to finish last of the 10 runners as Crambo moved towards the lead between the final two flights.Lingfield: 11.30 Forge Valley Lad 12.00 Zip It Up 12
New Zealand lose to Australia: second women’s one-day international – as it happened
Thank you for joining me this afternoon, and Martin earlier in the day. We’ll see you back here bright and early on Monday for more, but in the meantime here is the report from Australia’s victory.It was a comprehensive victory set up by Annabel Sutherland’s stunning 105 from just 81 balls – her second ODI ton in succession. Four other Australians reached 25 or more but none pressed on to a major contribution.Australia were tidy with the ball without being spectacular
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