Grace Dent to host Masterchef!

[Sidebeforeself]

Yay! Think she’ll be really good

... and celeriac!

Grace is great 👍🏻 however the real elephant in the room is why John Torode is still clinging on?? Surely he must have been complicit in some way? The fact that he seeks to have metaphorically sat back and has 'said or done nothing' means that he was almost as bad as Gregg W?? Or is it just me who thinks that way? I think Masterchef needs a new chef presenter too!

**seems

This is a good move.
Get rid of John and I'd like Jay Rayner too, reminds me of his Mum!

Exactly,
I don't see how JT position is tenable.

That’s a good choice, I think she’s fab. Her recent article on small changes to her Christmas traditions and facing Christmas without your parents brought a tear to my eye. Looking forward to her on MC.

I think @MrsHemswoth that GW was probably clever about it - when they're walking about the kitchen areas, talking to the contestants, they're most often on their own. So I bet this - as well as when the cameras aren't on him - is when he'd be 'bantering' (hate that word!) with the contestants. I could see that JT (or any of the crew) might not see or hear what he's doing and saying.

That said, the production company and the BBC are definitely complicit in not dealing with it better/sooner.

John has said in the past that they're not friends and don't spend any time together outside of filming.

I really don't think it's fair or right to tar him with Gregg's brush based on the fact that they film the presenting bits together!

I hear you, however it's highly unlikely that over a 20 year working partnership John did not witness anything or even hear via others on the show. That's my issue that I just can't get past I'm afraid!

Well then everyone who knew/heard/witnessed/ should be held to the same standards shouldn't they...?

It's not like John could do much. Bosses should be blamed.

BBC News have just said Grace for Celebrity MC so I wonder who will take Gregg's place on the Professionals programme.

Brilliant, glad the job has gone to a middle class woman of a certain age.

Also it presupposes that if John did see or hear anything he didn't agree with, that he didn't report it. It's just as likely that he did. In fact it could be one of the reasons he kept his distance. Apart from making his position known, what could he actually have have done?

People who prey on women or vulnerable people don't usually do so when others with more power and clout are watching. So the assaults would've likely been carried out one-on-one or off in the corner as it were.

'Banter' and unsavoury jokes are another thing, really - it would have been up to the bosses to get that shut down and/or remove Gregg as presenter.

I was hoping Grace would get it. I can't wait to see her in action.

Love Grace, im glad its her. I didnt really like that Irish chef she grated on me who was also.in the running. I agree JT must be a bit gutted his wife didnt get the job. I dont like Si King he always came accross as a bit false to me.

Also to get John to not call "koftes" "kooftahs".

Saw Grace Dent on a repeat of a Christmas programme (what we were watching in 1979) and, having just said I liked her and thought she'd be good, her delivery was strangely slow. It needed a tad more vitality. BUT master chef a very different format. The Christmas programme I saw last night probably down to poor director.

@AllTangledUpInTinselAndTiaras I agree the wider production team are just as culpable as John.

I happen to really like John as it goes, i feel I have grown up watching him on tv and even like him and Lisa cooking together, their recipes are great.

Ultimately though, I think he might end up the same as Holly W has after Schofield where nobody believed that she knew nothing about the young runner. I think Masterchef needs a total shake up

Well I'm saying I don't think John is culpable. He's not responsible for how someone else acts, even if they are colleagues.

I actually don't have any strong feelings on John...haven't watched MC in years and I'm not really plugged into television at all tbh. It's the principle I'm talking about.

It was very different with Holly and Phil, for various reasons.

(just realised the irony of commenting here given I don't watch telly 😆 should've realised it was in this topic!)

yes he will be annoyed
but i dont like her, after her stint on im a celebrity

Her diction has always been slow , but I think its natural rather than put on .
@Sourisblanche I read that article too and it was very very moving. We are not that far apart in age, I’m a Northerner too and also lost both parents so it really resonated with me.

Does she not consider herself MC, then? She was in the same class as my son - private Edinburgh school, very high Tory and snobby. My son was expelled invited to leave but I imagine she carried on.

Fantastic!

Well it could have been one of those 'wholesome' women like Kate Humble or Lucy Cardigan-Worsley or St Delia.