John Torode has revealed he no longer speaks to former MasterChef co-host Gregg Wallace after both were sacked from the BBC cooking show, closing the book on one of British television's longest-running partnerships.
Torode was dismissed after an allegation that he used an extremely offensive racist term was upheld. Asked about his relationship with Wallace, with whom he presented the programme for years, Torode was blunt: when they filmed, they filmed, and when they did not, they were not in touch. He asked why anything would change now, making clear there was no off-screen friendship to salvage.
The double sacking brought an abrupt end to a presenting duo that had defined MasterChef for a generation of viewers. For years Torode and Wallace were the faces of the programme, their contrasting styles, the chef and the enthusiastic greengrocer turned presenter, becoming part of the show's identity. Off camera, Torode suggested, there was little warmth to preserve, and the professional relationship simply ended when the cameras stopped.
Torode has been keen to look forward rather than back. He insisted he loved working with Grace Dent, who now fronts the revamped series alongside Anna Haugh, and said he wanted the MasterChef legacy to survive the turmoil of the past year. His comments suggest a man determined not to let the scandal define his own career.
The BBC's decision to remove both presenters followed separate inquiries, and the corporation has moved decisively to rebuild the format around its new hosts. The revamped series has drawn a 28-day consolidated audience of 2.7 million, a figure Wallace himself has publicly questioned, keeping the row over the show's future firmly in the headlines.
Torode's remarks underline how completely the old era has been swept away. Whatever viewers thought of the partnership on screen, the two men who defined MasterChef have gone their separate ways, and neither appears inclined to look back. The show goes on, but the faces that made it famous are gone for good.
Torode's own departure was the second hammer blow for the programme. The allegation that ended his tenure was upheld after an investigation, and his exit, coming so soon after Wallace's, left the BBC with little choice but to rebuild from scratch. The chef has kept a relatively low profile since, and his comments about Wallace are among his most candid public statements on the affair. For viewers who grew up watching the pair, the revelation that there was no real friendship behind the on-screen banter may be the most dispiriting detail of all. The MasterChef brand will now live or die on the strength of its new hosts.