SECRET 2 AGENT SELECTION: WW2
GREGG AND JOHN ON THE MASTERCHEF FINAL: Gregg Wallace, 53 and John Torode, 52, on their adventures in Peru for this year’s Masterchef finals week…
RELIVING HISTORY MON 9 APR, 9PM, BBC2
This interesting “living history” series sees folk dressed up in Ww2-era outfits go through the same selection process deployed by Churchill in the 1940s.
hat was Peru like?
WGREGG: What was that drink I liked at the bar? JOHN: Pisco sour. GREGG: I got Pisco sours, and we were served up a dish of what was predominantly a big bowl of frozen piranha heads… Aren’t they meant to be toxic? JOHN: I don’t know; I’m feeling all right! It was a great experience and the contestants got a huge amount out of it. We had some very good food, like llama, and proper Ceviche [a seafood dish] as it should be made. GREGG: It struck me that you’ve got food there that’s incredibly modern, allied with ingredients that are almost ancient. I thought that was very clever. Tell us about the potatoes? GREGG: We ate some potatoes that had been cooked at an altitude that was so high, fire doesn’t exist because there’s not enough oxygen, so you have to make a pit with coals – and cooking anything takes ages. Who would live that far up?! Did you get any downtime? GREGG: John’s a real culture vulture. He just takes himself off on journeys and deliberately gets on public transport – not by accident. JOHN: But there’s no public transport system in Peru, which was the really big shock for me. So I walked as far as I possibly could, to areas where I felt it probably wasn’t a good idea to walk any further. GREGG: I’m the middle-aged British tourist everyone sneers at. I just want to see the place from a taxi, get out, take a couple of photos, get back in again. And then, “Can you take me somewhere that’s got a bar and a hamburger?” Do you bother much with your appearance? GREGG: John doesn’t have to work that hard. JOHN: I cycle, and I have always cycled… GREGG: I do wonder if I would be at the gym five or six days a week if I wasn’t on the telly. Perhaps if I wasn’t I would give myself over to gluttony, because I love food and drink so much… JOHN: I wouldn’t walk around in my jammies on the street any more, like I used to… GREGG: I’ve got two pairs of faded jeans that I only wear when I’m not working, and I like days when I don’t shave. (John produces something to show us – it’s his wash bag…) JOHN: We’ve got to do a photo shoot after this interview, and I can’t shave when I cycle because it makes my face go red. GREGG: I use sunbeds. John often says to me, “Ta ta, mate, get a good night’s tan!” JOHN: And I always have a pedicure when I go away. I’m not very good with bad toes so I’ve always cared about the way my feet look. I go to Australia quite a lot and I’ll go to have a massage and a pedicure – a massage because I think it makes you feel better after flying long distances, and a pedicure because your feet just look nicer. Have you enjoyed this series of Masterchef? JOHN: We always enjoy it, and every single year what happens is you end up with stuff that you’ve never seen [eaten] before. We’ve met so many great people and I’ve just loved the characters we’ve had on this year – and all the singalongs Gregg’s got in to. We’ve sung theme tunes and done all sorts of weird stuff.