Former MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris is officially entering the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! jungle, as this year’s intruder and final campmate.
Before his TV return, he left MasterChef in 2019 and was in the spotlight for a string of financial scandals.
“This for me, is probably the most challenging thing I’ll ever do in my life,” he said during the teaser for his impending arrival on the show.
Find out what he’s been up to below.
What happened with George Calombaris?
In July, he opened up about his private struggle with alcohol addiction following a spate of scandals and money woes.
In a candid podcast conversation, the celebrity chef, who appeared on MasterChef for 12 seasons, revealed the moment he knew he had hit rock bottom.
“After Covid hit, I’m suddenly sitting in Melbourne, which is shut now for two years, sitting with my pyjamas on…looking at my phone going there’s no emails, there’s nothing to do {and I] start drinking daily,” the 47-year-old told Ouzo Talk.
“I’ll never forget three months down the track, I lost it one night. I got in my car, drove down the road, I don’t know where [I was]. My brother found me pissed as a fart.
“And that was a moment, he really slapped it out of me and went enough is enough.”
By that point, George had already been involved in a number of headline-grabbing scandals, which left him humiliated and struggling to make ends meet.
In 2017, footage emerged of the Greek restauranteur in an altercation with a 19-year-old fan at an A-League grand final match. In it, George appeared to be shoving the teenager and was subsequently charged with assault. The conviction was later overturned on appeal, and he was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond.
“It was six months of pain, you know, I had to go in and out of the court three times, hire one of the best KC’s of the time,” he recalled.
“I reckon it cost around three million bucks that, in loss of endorsements…Ridiculous, stupid, I would have rather taken that three million and given it to charity,” he continued.
Then, two years later, he was caught underpaying around 515 of his employees over a six-year period, which he later admitted and took “full responsibility” for.
He was forced to pay back a whopping $7.8 million in wages, resulting in the bankruptcy of his company, Made Establishment.
But things only went from bad to worse for the father-of-two.
Why did George Calombaris leave MasterChef?
In 2019, he and fellow MasterChef judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan hung up their aprons for good following a breakdown in contract negotiations with Network 10.
Speaking to The Project in 2022, George explained how he had endured “months of tears” and “anger.”
“I was drinking a lot to take away the pain,” he said.
Despite this, he still remains in contact with Gary and Matt. During the height of their fame, they cooked at the United Nations in New York and did a tour of India.
While they were there, the Australian Federal Police told them they created more hype than the Australian Prime Minister.
“It was phenomenal,” he told the ” he said on the Ouzo Talk Podcast.
“I’m so proud of what we did because we weren’t television people. We weren’t the traditional six-pack people,” adding that they have spoken about reuniting for another show.
“The three of us were pretty good together, and I mean, you never know.”
Is George Calombaris still married?
George appeared to marry his long-term partner, Natalie Tricarico, in Greece in 2018.
According to the Greek City Times, the celebrations were held at the Island of Athens Riviera, overlooking the Athenian Sea.
The couple met in 2017 and share their son James and daughter Michaela.
“I’m very privileged and lucky to have beautiful and healthy children, and Natalie has been an incredible backbone in everything in my life,” he previously told the Herald Sun.
“She’s had to put up with a lot with me. I’m a very lucky man.”
What does George from MasterChef do now?
Now, George is focused on the future.
“I have had plenty of time to sit and reflect, and I’ve had time to get [a] sense of what I was doing. All I can do is go forward,” he previously told the Daily Telegraph.
Since then, he set up his restaurant, Gazi, in Sydney, and officially relocated from Melbourne with his wife and children.
“There is a pep in my step at the moment, and it feels like I felt like when I probably started,” he told the publication in 2025.
At the time, he said he was excited to establish himself in Sydney.
“I feel like as I enter the second half of my life, I still haven’t worked a day in my life, which I’m very grateful for,” he said.
“I absolutely love this industry so much. And I am excited about being in Sydney.”
In 2021, he also appeared on The Masked Singer Australia.
