‘We’re celebrating 20 years of MasterChef’

It’s certainly a special series for John Torode and Gregg Wallace

This series of MasterChef sees John Torode and Gregg Wallace celebrate 20 years of the hit show being on screen. Over the years they have found incredible cooking talent, eaten millions of forkfuls of food and introduced audiences to exciting ingredients and new ways of cooking. Just as impressive is the fact that John (58), and Gregg (59), have managed to remain firm friends! When we caught up with them, their deep bond was certainly clear.

Do you remember filming series one? John: I remember huge amounts about the first series. It was 121 contestants, there were 90 days of filming, the whole thing started with nine people rather than six. It was then MasterChef Goes Large on BBC Two in the afternoon. Of course, the winner was Thomasina Miers who is now known for Wahaca and doing very, very well across the country. Gregg: I remember being really excited, nothing much has changed, I don’t think, in 20 years! The day just went on and on – and we went to the pub after.

John: They were really long days, nobody ever would have thought we’d still be here 20 years later. We were filming in the ex-dining room of university digs, really quite amazing.

What do you most look forward to when you start a new series? Gregg: I just want to meet and learn about the people and then watch everybody develop.

John: We’re not scripted. We make the decisions. I mean, it’s amazing when you don’t know what’s going to happen on the day.

How has your friendship blossomed over the decades?

John: I think we have great respect for each other. We don’t hang out together – we go out and have a drink occasionally, when we go on location, but we have our own lives and we live in very different parts of the world. One of the joys of MasterChef is that we’ve kept our identities and our opinions because we haven’t morphed into each other.

Gregg: We’ve always had an incredible level of professionalism and I think what that’s done over the years, is developed a trust and confidence in each other. Even though we’re very different people, our approach to work is very similar.

Would you be happy to carry on working on the show? John: Who would we leave it to? Don’t be ridiculous! That’s too much responsibility for anybody – to take over from me and him, there’s no way. Where are you going to find two attractive people, one with hair, one without, anywhere like that?!

I think to get me out of the place, they’re going have to push me out the door or blend my food to get me to taste it. That’s when I’ll be leaving.

■ MasterChef, Monday, April 1, BBC1