MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace says he’s developed new “spoon technique”

By Grace Henry

Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2022 at 12:00 am

Get ready to see a new batch of amateur chefs enter the famous MasterChef kitchen, as the show returns for season 17 this week.

The 40 MasterChef 2022 contestants will be hoping to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace in order to secure a place in the final and be crowned this year’s winner.

Ahead of the new episodes, Wallace revealed that he’s developed a “new spoon technique” for tasting all those meals.

“I’ve got a new spoon technique, but you’ll have to watch and see,” the TV judge told RadioTimes.com exclusively.

While viewers will have to wait to witness Wallace’s new method in action, he did open up about the new audition stage on the show.

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Gregg Wallace and John Torode in MasterChef 2022
BBC

This year, contestants are picked blindly, with Wallace and Torode tasting their meals without seeing the chef behind the dish.

“I think we need to keep changing it every year because we don’t want contestants to be able to work out exactly what’s happening. And also for me, as a judge, I found it really wonderful because I’m only judging a plate of food,” he said.

He added: “I mean, often I watch them cooking and they might be messy cooks, which puts me off a bit. But now I’m simply judging the plate, and that’s never happened before. Because although I’m an impartial judge, I realised that actually my judgement is affected by what I think of the people.

“If they’ve got a good story to tell, are they particularly passionate? That could lead me towards them. I warm towards them even more. Whereas this time around now, it was just the plate. That was great.”

MasterChef starts on BBC One on Wednesday 23rd March at 8pm and you can catch up on BBC iPlayer.

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