Yahoo News John Torode reveals MasterChef's bizarre original format
Torode and fellow MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace appeared on the This Morning sofa to discuss 20 years of the TV cooking competition.
Watch: John Torode shares original plans for Masterchef
What did you miss?
MasterChef judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode paid a visit to This Morning on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of TV's toughest cooking competition. Torode explained that the version of MasterChef we see today is very different to what he was originally pitched — and it definitely changed for the better.
The 58-year-old chef said the original attempt to reimagine the 90s cooking show would've seen him journey from supermarket to supermarket, tasting plates of food produced by members of the public.
Who, what and why?
Torode explained that he first met Wallace at a restaurant in 1991, where they linked up when he needed a greengrocer who could find coriander with a root on to make Thai food. This started a lifelong friendship that came in handy when MasterChef came knocking.
He said: "I was pitched this programme, which was a reinvention of MasterChef, going around shopping centres with people bringing in plates of food and us tasting them and seeing what they were like. That was the original format. That was what was going to happen."
Torode said the competition format evolved after Wallace came on board and the development process continued. Their pre-existing connection was a bonus the producers hadn't expected.
Wallace explained: "My agent said there was this company called Shine making a food programme and looking to see me. They just said 'tell me about food', which I did. Then they said: 'Right, we're gonna be remaking MasterChef. We've got a chef, we want someone else'.
"I said 'who's the chef?', they went 'you won't know him'. I went 'who is it?' and they went 'it's an Australian bloke called John Torode, do you know him?'. I said he's been buying fruit and veg off me for about a decade. I know him really well."
Torode said this bond has made it much easier for them to establish a dynamic as judges, built on their mutual admiration for each other.
"Because we knew each other so well, we've got our own knowledge and there's a respect for that knowledge. Gregg has probably eaten in more restaurants in London than anyone I've ever met," he said. "There's that great knowledge and love of food, then me being in the kitchen. When that duo comes together, it just works. It's great and we love doing it."
There have been rumours that the current 20th series of the revived MasterChef will be the last one. Torode and Wallace initially aimed to deflect the question during the interview, but they stepped in to end the speculation eventually.
"It's definitely not the last one," Wallace chipped in, to the relief of many viewers.
The newest series began earlier this month and viewers have already been treated to a salt and vinegar disaster in the kitchen. There will almost certainly be plenty of cooking nightmares and culinary triumph ahead.
What else happened on This Morning?
One of the greatest groups in musical history was in the spotlight on This Morning as both Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary were keen to pay tribute to ABBA. The presenters played in a handful of ABBA tracks around the ad breaks, celebrating 50 years since the band's Eurovision Song contest victory in 1974.
Elsewhere, Hollywood star Billy Crudup showed up to discuss The Morning Show and his new one-man show in the West End.
This Morning airs on weekdays at 10am on ITV1.
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