John Torode seduced wife Lisa Faulkner with 'cowardly' letter to win her over
Former BBC TV personality John Torode once 'petrified' his wife Lisa Faulkner when they first met on Celebrity MasterChef, before finally seducing her with a 'cowardly' letter two years later.
Lisa appeared on the celebrity version of the BBC cooking show in 2010 when she met John - who has now been sacked from the programme following allegations of racism, which he strongly denies - and the pair were married to other people at the time.
At the time, both Lisa and John were in other marriages but formed a strong friendship after Lisa blew him away with her cooking skills on MasterChef.
Actress Lisa was previously married to former EastEnders actor Chris Coghill, who played Tony King in the soap from 2008 to 2009. While John was married to Jessica, who was formerly known as Jessica Thomas, the pair had two children together before they parted ways in 2011.
Despite separating in 2011 their divorce wasn't finalised until 2014, when their union was reportedly dissolved in a matter of seconds at the High Court.
When they both split from their previous partners and were single, John asked Lisa out on a dinner date and the pair realised they had great chemistry and hit it off instantly during a shared dinner.
Eventually they tied the knot, after John proposed on Christmas in 2018 and they married in October 2019 in a lavish star-studded ceremony at Aynhoe Park, a sprawling 17th century estate in the Northamptonshire countryside.
Previously speaking about how they met, Lisa stated: "He was a judge on a show I loved and I was petrified of him. He was brilliant and gave us all tips so you didn't want to let him down."
"All I could think was, 'That sauce hasn't worked'. I didn't see anything but food for three months. After I won, we did The Good Food Show and stuff. John and I always got on, but I never thought about me and him," she confessed.
Revealing how the pair eventually got together, Lisa told the Daily Mail in 2013 that their friendship changed after John wrote her a letter asking her out on a dinner date.
She shared: "John and I were friends. Neither of us thought of it as anything else until..."
"I don't know how things change, but something does. He asked me on a date. We went out for dinner. Then it was slightly different. I'm really, really happy. John and I are having such a nice time but we're taking things slowly. There are lots of other people to consider."
John later went on to confess that his letter to Lisa was "cowardly," but he did it because it meant there would be no awkwardness for him if she rejected him as it wouldn't be asked face to face.
He told the Daily Mail: "I'd separated from my wife [Jessica] which was awful, and I was reluctant to approach Lisa face to face as I didn't fancy the prospect of her saying no, so I wrote her a letter. If I'd got no response, it wouldn't matter. Cowardly? S***, yeah. I'm as cowardly as they get."
John previously shared the secret to their happy marriage was a properly made bed. He stated: "A really well-made bed. You spend lots of time in it! Honestly, the bedroom – having that sanctuary of a place to go to, I think that's really important. And nice towels... Looking after yourself is as important as looking after each other."
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