Your Three New ‘MasterChef’ Judges Have Just been Announced
Excitingly, one's an ex-'MasterChef' contestant.
Well, out with the old and in with the new, as they say: three fresh MasterChef judges have been crowned, and will be taking the show through to its 12th season.
The new judges are Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.
Anyone heard of a little cooking show called @MasterchefAU? We're thrilled to finally announce our brand new trio of judges. Welcome to the kitchen Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen! #MasterchefAU #10Upfronts2020 @Zonfrillo @fooderati @andyallencooks pic.twitter.com/vvhjN013qN
— Channel 10 (@Channel10AU) October 9, 2019
Zonfrillo is a Scottish-born restauranteur and celebrity chef, best-known as the owner of Adelaide’s beloved eatery Orana.
Leong, meanwhile, is a long-standing member of the food critic biz. She’s covered Australia’s restaurant scene for years — her profile on Delicious proudly claims that she’s a writer, broadcaster, promoter, and scourge of Twitter, well-known for kicking off wide-ranging discussions on every element of food prep.
Finally, there’s Allen. He’s something of a MasterChef regular, having won the show back in 2012 and returned to it as a professional secret chef in the show’s 11th season. That means he’s well-versed in what it takes to be a MasterChef star, and will be bringing a new angle to the program.
The trio will be taking over the reins from Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston. Those judges left the show in somewhat rushed fashion, during a scandal that rocked Calombaris, who was found guilty of underpaying his staff. However, according to Network 10, it wasn’t the scandal that led to Calombaris stepping away, but instead a pay dispute — apparently all three judges wanted more moolah than the channel was ready to pay.
It certainly represents a change in the usual running order of things. The first three judges have been with the show since its very inception. For many viewers, MasterChef and Preston’s scarf are synonymous with one another — making the leap to a new, post-original judges world will be a tricky one for some viewers, one might imagine.
But hey, you know what they say: a change is as good as a holiday.