The original
MasterChef
Judges Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan, and George Calombaris might be coming back together!
According to
news.com.au
The executives at the ABC have requested that Matt, Gary, and George headline a new cooking show.
Sources indicate that the three original OGs
MasterChef
Judges are optimistic, anticipating that the still-unapproved show could reignite their Prime Time Television careers.
What became of the initial one?
MasterChef Australia
judges?
The main reason for Matt, Gary, and George leaving
MasterChef
Following Season 11, there was an unsuccessful contract negotiation.
On March 26, 2019, Paul Anderson—who was serving as the CEO of Network 10 at that time—issued a statement which said:
Even after months of discussion, 10 hasn’t managed to secure a business deal that satisfied Matt, Gary, and George.
A few hours afterward, Matt, Gary, and George each turned to Instagram to share their individual statements.
“We were very eager to move forward, but we couldn’t reach an agreement on all the conditions of the new contract,” Matt stated.
“Although we were nearly ready to sign a new contract for Season 12, the scheduling simply didn’t match up,” George explained.
It was time to progress, allocate more free time to nurture our individual creativity. The focus has always been and will remain beyond monetary gains. Gary mentioned in his statement that they were unable to reach an agreement on the conditions of the new contract for 2020 and Season 12,
Certainly, an additional aspect that might have come into play (although nothing has been officially verified) is that during this period, several hospitality unions were calling for Network 10 to dismiss George—his restaurant group had faced penalties for shortchanging 515 employees out of a total of $7.83 million.
What are Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan, and George Calombaris up to these days?
Since leaving
MasterChef
, Matt proceeded with his career as a food critic and author. Additionally, he served as a judge on
My Kitchen Rules
in 2022.
Gary co-hosted
Plate of Origin
In 2020, they served as a guest judge.
My Kitchen Rules
in 2022.
And George co-hosted
Hungry
In 2022, and subsequently became the culinary director at Public Hospitality Group in 2023.
As mentioned earlier, the ABC is considering producing a new cooking series featuring Matt, Gary, and George.
The post
ABC is aiming to bring back the first set of MasterChef judges for a fresh cooking program.
appeared first on
The Australian Women’s Weekly
.
