- Grace Dent has praised John Torode as a kind, clever, and thoughtful person.
- Dent also discussed Gregg Wallace’s ‘strong personality’ following his sacking from the show and controversial comments.
- This comes as Dent and Torode are set to co-present the upcoming Celebrity MasterChef.
Grace Dent has made her feelings towards John Torode clear as she praised the chef as ‘kind and clever’.
The new presenter of MasterChef, has taken over from John Torode and Gregg Wallace, after they were both sacked from the series for their behaviour.
Dent, 52, is set to present Celebrity MasterChef alongside Torode, 60, which begins on November 17, and has revealed her true opinions about him.
‘I absolutely adore John Torode,’ she told The Sunday Times.
‘He is one of the kindest, most concerned, clever, thoughtful men that I know.’
She added that they are friends for life, and his career is entering a post-MasterChef era.
She also shared her thoughts about Wallace: ‘He was always a very, very big character.
‘After reading the entire [inquiry] report, my recollections of having a nice time with him, drinking coffee and having a biscuit now and again is pretty much irrelevant.
‘For me to sit here now and go, “Well, that’s not the Gregg that I knew,” is beside the point because it’s not about what I think.’
She added: ‘He said an awful lot, and that was during the point when I was starting my new [MasterChef] job and I utterly cut myself off from all of that.’
She looked to the future of the show, which will see Dent co-host the series alongside Anna Haugh, 45, an Irish chef and former protégée of Gordon Ramsay.
‘MasterChef was a very male place for the whole time I was there — utter male energy all the time,’ she said.
‘To be there now with a woman by my side, it’s fantastic.’
Wallace, 60, was sacked after facing accusations of making ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’, lewd comments on set, asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing ‘too close’ to women working on his shows.
Wallace issued an apology saying he was ‘deeply sorry for any distress caused’ and that he ‘never set out to harm or humiliate’.
He subsequently filed a legal claim for up to £10,000 in damages, alleging that the BBC failed to comply with a request for copies of his personal data, which caused ‘distress and harassment’.
Torode was sacked following a claim that he ‘used the N-word’ on two separate occasions, which he said he has no memory of.