Yahoo News Grace Dent to return to reality TV after I'm A Celebrity exit
The restaurant critic might have left the jungle, but she already has a new reality TV role lined up.
Grace Dent has been named for a new reality TV show just days after quitting I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!.
The restaurant critic, 50, became the first campmate to leave the jungle when she was spotted at Brisbane airport on Monday and was said to have exited the ITV show on medical grounds.
Now, BBC One has announced Dent will be taking up a new reality role over Christmas as one of the contestants in MasterChef: Battle of the Critics 2023, the first time the cooking contest has ever featured critics as cooks.
Dent is a regular guest judge on the MasterChef series and was most recently seen trying dishes created by contestants in the current series, MasterChef: The Professionals.
She will compete against some of the show's other familiar guests, Leyla Kazim, William Sitwell, Jay Rayner, and Jimi Famurewa for the MasterChef special which has been unveiled as part of BBC One's Christmas schedules.
The critics will take on two challenges for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace, and will also be judged by returning champions Ping Coombes, Kenny Tutt and Nikita Pathakji who were all critiqued by them during their series.
BBC One is calling the contest "the ultimate showdown" as the tables are turned on the critics used to passing harsh judgment from the other side of the plate.
Dent, who follows a mainly plant-based diet when she is not critiquing restaurants, shared the news of her departure from I'm A Celebrity with her campmates through a statement read out by Nick Pickard.
It read: "My dear campmates, I'm so sorry to let you down. I have left the camp for medical reasons.
"My heart is broken, I have loved and enjoyed getting to know you all. You've held me up and it's been a pleasure being your friend through this experience.
The Campmates are going to miss their Gracey! But that spare bed has got Josie’s name on it 😘 #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/YfnVskGG2Q
— I'm A Celebrity... (@imacelebrity) November 27, 2023
"Leaving you all at this stage will be one of the saddest things in my life. I love you all. Your friend, Miss Grace Dent."
Dent had been named the least likely to win the ITV show before her departure, and quit shortly after being told that she had been voted by viewers to take on a Bushtucker Trial entitled Down The Tubes alongside co-star Josie Gibson.
She had had a tough time in a previous trial which left her needing medical assistance to get a cockroach out of her ear.
Meanwhile, her MasterChef co-star Gregg Wallace has weighed in on the drama - according to MailOnline, he said he didn't think she had left over the lack of good food.
Wallace said: "Listen she has been a guest judge on MasterChef many times and I am sure she can cope with a bit of dodgy food in the jungle. I don't think that is the reason she has gone.
"I don't know why she has left. John Torode told me about it. I hope she is OK."
Read more:
I'm A Celeb campmates 'gutted' as Grace Dent leaves show: 'She hasn't let us down' (The Independent, 2 min read)
Chris Packham hits out again over I'm A Celeb's 'grotesque' treatment of animals (Evening Standard, 3 min read)
'My heart is broken': Grace Dent speaks out after leaving I'm A Celeb on medical grounds (HuffPost, 2 min read)
