‘We’re not friendly off screen!’ MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace and John Torode claim they NEVER socialise with each other despite being co-stars for 17 years
Masterchef’s John Torode and Gregg Wallace have insisted they don’t spend any of their time together outside of work – even going so far as to say ‘we’re not friendly off screen’.
The presenters have fronted the BBC cookery show for 17 years, working on two series per year together [John is not involved in the Professional version] and John has even been the best man at Gregg’s wedding.
‘I had to wait until his fourth wedding before I got invited to be his best man,’ John jokes of Gregg’s 2016 nuptials to wife Anne-Marie Sterpini in a new interview with Radio Times. ‘It’s well documented that we don’t socialise outside of work.
Working lunch: Masterchef’s John Torode and Gregg Wallace have insisted they don’t spend any of their time together outside of work – even going so far as to say ‘we’re not friendly off screen’
‘We’ve never been to each other’s houses. We’ve never really cooked for each other.
‘We spend a lot of time together, sharing a lot of things: emotion, food, pressure and changing people’s lives. And 17 years on, it’s still a relationship that is calm and in good stead. I think it’s an amazing thing.’
Chatting to the publication to promote next month’s new series of MasterChef, Gregg added: ‘We trust each other completely. We feel safe with each other. We know that the other one isn’t going to – on camera, anyway – ridicule the other one.
John revealed: ‘We’ve never been to each other’s houses. We’ve never really cooked for each other’
‘We don’t fight for space. We don’t fight for time. There is no ego clash.
‘People are really interested in my relationship with John. I think because we’re so friendly on screen, they find it really difficult to understand why we’re not as friendly off screen.
‘I know John’s heard this before because it comes up many times. And I’ve said regularly, as far as I know, no one’s ever written a bestselling pamphlet on how television duos are supposed to work. But we’ve found something that obviously works for us.’
Gregg added: ‘People are really interested in my relationship with John. I think because we’re so friendly on screen, they find it really difficult to understand why we’re not as friendly off screen’
He did assert, however, that they occasionally enjoy ‘work lunches’ together.
Out now! Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times
‘We do have something that’s become a bit of a ritual, and that’s on location, when we go away on foreign travel. John and I go off and we have lunch together on one day.
‘It’s just me and him. We buy a nice bottle of wine and we can chat about anything.’
The show has managed to continue production amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with John admitting ‘there were always questions’ as to whether this would be possible.
‘All things were considered. But the show did go on. On the occasions I have filmed there were just two of us critics, and we sat at a very safe distance from each other on a long table,’ Gregg added.
‘I think that’s a demonstration of how good our Covid protocols are. For example, the doors are now only opened by one person and they stay open on magnets until that person deactivates the magnets and they swing shut.
‘As soon as somebody touches a surface somebody else in the background runs in and wipes it down. It’s probably safer than most hospitals.’
Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times, out now. MasterChef returns to BBC One in March.