George Calombaris has admitted that he has “never” watched MasterChef Australia and revealed what he thinks of the new judges.
The celebrity chef, 47, became a household name as one of the judges on MasterChef in 2009, remaining on the cooking show until 2019.
However, George and his co-stars, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan, then left after a breakdown of contract negotiations with Network 10, and a new panel took over.
Now, former MasterChef contestants Andy Allen and Poh Ling Yeow are leading the panel alongside Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Despite being on the show for 10 years, George tells New Idea that he doesn’t watch the show because he doesn’t like viewing his own projects.
“I never watched MasterChef,” he tells us. “I can’t believe how much of I’m A Celebrity I’m watching right now.”
George is currently starring on I’m A Celebrity Australia and said he is only watching because his son James, 14, and daughter Michaela, 13, enjoy the show.
Though he isn’t a regular MasterChef viewer, George fully supports the 2026 judging panel and said it is “cool” to see contestants from his era now leading the show.
“I love the new set of judges on MasterChef, they’re a great bunch,” he says.
“To have two ex-contestants on the show, that’s super cool for us! They were our contestants, they were our kids, so to see them flourishing and doing well makes me so, so proud.”
George also revealed that he is still in touch with his former MasterChef co-stars Matt and Gary, even teasing that they could be back on TV together very soon.
“We’re still great mates, and there are a lot of opportunities that are coming our way, especially at the moment, so watch this space,” he teases.
“The three of us are three of the most unlikely humans to put on television, but it works. I know it works, it feels so good when the three of us are together because we’re unlikely and we’re so different and unique, but we’re very good together.”
George added that Matt and Gary were some of his closest supporters in 2017, when his company was hit by a wages scandal.
At the time, it emerged that his company, Made Establishment, had underpaid around 515 of his employees over a six-year period, which George took “full responsibility” for at the time.
He paid back the $7.8 million in wages, resulting in his company going bankrupt.
When asked if Matt and Preston supported him through the time, George replied, “Every single time, they still do. We still [support] each other.”
George has opened up on the wages scandal during his appearance on I’m A Celebrity, describing how he reached rock bottom during the difficult time.
“2018 was probably the most horrific year of my life, and I do hate talking about it because I don’t want to make it sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself,” he shared on the show.
He said he and his business partners did a full audit of Made Establishment and discovered that 49 per cent of workers were underpaid, claiming the other 51 per cent of staff had actually been overpaid.
George insisted they were “upfront and honest” with Fair Work about the issue, but detailed how the scandal still damaged his reputation.
“It was carnage. It was the worst time of my life. Because within a day, 30 per cent of my revenue dropped,” he explained.
“I’d gone from the love child to the hated child. It was the most weird feeling, you’ve suddenly gone from your phone buzzing all day long, emails, MasterChef, restaurants, blah blah blah — to nothing. And you just went, what do I do now?”
George struggled with binge drinking following the scandal before he became determined to get his life back on track, and now he’s hoping for a fresh start.
“It’s done now, we can put a line in the sand and move on from it,” he said of why he decided to go on I’m A Celebrity and discuss the scandal now.
“There’s a lot of PTSD; it’s natural for a human to feel this way. I’m a human at the end of the day, I’m not a robot, I’m not just the MasterChef judge and all that stuff, I love people, I love hospitality, and I love creating great stuff.”
Read more here.
