‘We’re like a married couple’
Professional eaters Gregg Wallace, 52, and John Torode, 51, are back in the kitchen for series 13 of Masterchef. They talk kidney (yuk) curry, Gregg’s wedding, and how they have the perfect TV partnership…
This is series 13 of Masterchef; are you superstitious? Gregg: I wasn’t, until I just thought about it… John: When I’m on a plane I try to get row 13 because nobody will sit in it. Gregg: But I just can’t imagine a scenario where you’re sitting in row 13 on a plane, watching row 14 burst into flames… We digress… What can we expect from this 13th series? John: It’s an amazing 13th series! It’s great because every series surprises me. These people (contestants) come in and we have no idea what they’re going to be like. The rule is, don’t judge a book by its cover. They walk through the door and we go: “No, no, no…” Then you go: “Wow, their food is fantastic!” But somebody cooks kidney curry? John: That was disgusting. Any vessel used to hold urine is not something you should be eating. But Gregg really loved it! Is there a dish that makes you inwardly groan when it’s presented to you by contestants? John: Couscous usually fills me with dread, because so often it’s gluggy and underseasoned and just this sort of soggy mash. The other thing is mashed potato. “I’m doing something with mashed potato…” Right, OK, so how many lumps will that have in it? Is it hard not to lose your patience? (One contestant makes risotto with paella rice…) John: That was frustrating. Gregg was saying to her: “That’s not risotto rice.” Well, you can’t now make a paella because paella is cooked differently, so what are you going to do? Gregg: I get frustrated when contestants undercook something and they say: “Well, I didn’t want to overcook it.” Not wanting to overcook it is not an excuse to undercook it! Have the pair of you clashed this series? Gregg: No, we haven’t. John: Kidney curry – it was rubbish. Gregg: There were digs running for weeks afterwards over that bloody kidney curry! Do you hang out together socially? Both: No. John: I think the beauty and the survival of Masterchef is that we go about our lives very differently. But we are very close, and if something happened we know we only have to pick up the phone… Gregg: This TV partnership works for us, but we tend not to socialise outside work. I’m very, very comfortable working with John. John: Gregg’s got other projects on, I’ve got other projects on and I think it’s really important that we have that time away – we almost live as a married couple! Gregg, John was your best man when you got married last August… (Gregg tied the knot with his Italian partner, Anne-marie Sterpini)
Gregg: He did very well! He took charge – I asked for a drink and John told me I could have one after the ceremony; he looked after me and it was a lovely day. Were your wedding caterers a bit nervous? Gregg: I said to them: “You know who my wedding guests are – just forget any idea of impressing them, you’re not going to!” Have you been keeping up with your workouts, Gregg? Gregg: I’m at the gym six days a week and I log absolutely everything I eat and drink – which is a problem doing Masterchef as I don’t know what I’m going to be asked to eat! My wife will say to me: “What shall we have for dinner tonight?” and I’ll have to say, I’m really sorry but I don’t know what I’m going to be faced with (during filming). What do you get up to on a typical weekend? John (whose partner is actress Lisa Faulkner): Oh, you’ve always got to do a roast! I love a Sunday afternoon bottle of wine. And the rest of the weekend, I dunno – probably a Bloody Mary in there somewhere… Gregg: I can’t remember the last time I had a weekend off, sadly. A dream weekend would be a healthy breakfast and the rest of the morning cooking something big and meaty, and smashing it back with some claret.