BBC MasterChef's Grace Dent says replacing Gregg Wallace is 'life-changing'

Grace Dent has been operating as a restaurant critic for more than ten years. Recently, though, she's experienced a tremendous surge in recognition after being appointed as the successor to scandal-hit MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace.

Wallace left MasterChef following accusations of sexual misconduct that emerged in 2024, with his co-presenter John Torode also stepping down earlier this year after a complaint against him for employing "an extremely offensive racist term" was substantiated.

Grace arrives at the long-running BBC culinary programme without any such controversies, and viewers are thrilled. She told Hello! Magazine: "People keep approaching me and clutching my arm and saying that they're so happy about it."

However, after experiencing comparative obscurity for the majority of her 51 years, Grace is attempting to adjust to suddenly becoming a household name.

Grace explained: "It's a life-changing thing. You can be a little bit well known in London, but with the MasterChef audience... you've got no privacy ever again."

Alongside those worries, Grace is also conscious that restaurant personnel have begun treating her differently. She continued: "You could be eating a scone in a garden centre cafe and literally feel the staff running to the bathroom to change the toilet roll because they're so terrified."

Despite her initial hesitations, Grace is overjoyed to be taking on the esteemed role, almost becoming overwhelmed with emotion. She confessed to podcaster Jewel Ateh: "I've been watching that show and all of its different forms since I was a little girl, so to now be standing there when all those contestants walk in, it's a dream come true.

"I'm quite emotional. Gosh, I never get emotional."

However, Grace has previously been rather critical about MasterChef, stating: "The format has now been so hammered and drained of every surprise and twist that I've had happier times recovering from norovirus than sitting through 30 minutes watching former Olympic swimmer Steve Parry explain why he can't fillet a pollock."

She continued: "I'd as much choose to watch people badly gutting, scaling and de-braining animals on TV as I would gleefully jump out of a car onto the hard shoulder. And if it's not bloody, it's just bloody awful."

One hurdle that Grace will encounter, as she samples dishes cooked by a diverse range of amateur chefs from vastly different backgrounds, is her preference to limit her meat consumption as much as possible.

She clarified to The Guardian that she's not entirely vegetarian, saying: "I eat mainly vegan. By that I mean the guts of my diet are plants and veg. I'm perpetually throwing back handfuls of nuts and seeds."

But, she adds, it's not a completely hard-and-fast rule. "During the 80s, I was a militant vegetarian, fuelled by the Smiths' Meat Is Murder and a deep affinity with the household cat, Sooty," she continued.

"Eighties vegetarians were a lonely, much-maligned breed, exposed to frozen pub-lunch veggie lasagnes, prototype soy milk that floated on tea like a tanker spillage, and the pain of buying almost all edible items via postal order from Holland and Barrett. By the 90s, I'd crept back to eating chicken. I mean, chickens are stupid, aren't they?"

Grace insists that maintaining a plant-based diet has had minimal impact on her restaurant reviewing career. "I see this as my special skill as a critic, not a hindrance," she added.

Years prior to taking on the MasterChef role, she spoke scathingly of the meat-heavy dishes frequently presented, declaring: "When I sit on that table of gargoyles on MasterChef waiting to judge whoever comes through the door, I'm simply not that impressed by another plate of barely dead roe deer avec pommes noisettes all lying in a puddle of Bambi's blood."

She noted that while her plant-based lifestyle stems from ethical considerations rather than health concerns, vegetarianism certainly offers advantages. "Personal weight gain and loss is complex and, for almost everyone, a very ongoing story," she said.

"God forbid I ever stand sideways, beaming, in a pair of large trousers, one thumb in the baggy waistband, claiming I have the secret to being skinny. However, being mainly vegan over the past five or so years has certainly led to me having more energy, starting to run, catching fewer bugs and colds, and keeping my weight steady without 'dieting'."