John Torode makes TV return with wife Lisa Faulkner for first time since MasterChef axe

Daily Mirror

14 hours ago

John, 59, was axed from the BBC broadcast show MasterChef earlier this week after he named himself as "one of the two individuals against whom an allegation has been upheld" during an investigation production company Banijay requested law firm Lewis Silkin undertake – which looked into allegations of misconduct surrounding John's co-host Gregg Wallace.
The former MasterChef presenter, who had been working on the show for 20 years before his sacking, denied the upheld allegation. He said in a statement: "I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened. However, I want to be clear that I've always had the view that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment. I'm shocked and saddened by the allegation as I would never wish to cause anyone any offence."
It was later announced that John had been sacked from MasterChef, and he later released another statement to react to the news. However, since the two statements, he has remained silent on the matter – while it's been reported he's set to take legal action against the BBC over his sacking.
Now John and his wife Lisa have appeared on TV for the first time since the scandal broke. Opening the show after the credits rolled, Lisa was heard saying: "Hi there, we are so happy to see you in our weekend kitchen."
John then added: "We're gonna make your day even happier. How do you like the sound of stunning but simple recipes with just homemade ingredients."
The couple have appeared on their shared ITV show, John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen, which has kicked off on ITV1 today at 11.40am. A source close to ITV confirmed to the Mirror earlier this week their schedules 'remain unchanged' despite John's sacking from MasterChef.
On the programme, the married couple are making four dishes with five ingredients, which includes a garlic and rosemary focaccia, pink spaghetti, chicken and peanut butter scissor-cut noodles followed by banana doughnuts.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Lisa shed light on how the pair balance work and their six year long marriage. She said: "We have so much to do separately, and we film about 10 episodes of our show in nine days, so it's not really that much time together!"
The couple, who met on This Morning in the 1990s before Lisa won Celebrity Masterchef in 2010, didn't initially become romantic – until John made self-confessed 'cowardly' move to ask her out.
The pair fell in love and married in 2019, and were given their joint cooking show in 2019. John and Lisa continued to put on a united front following the accusations around John's co-host Gregg Wallace's misconduct on MasterChef, which sparked production company Banijay to commission an independent investigation.
John and Lisa appeared on their show last week, with John breaking his social media silence for the first time since Gregg's sacking was announced – posting a video to promote his show with wife Lisa as well as a video recipe he had created.
Days later, it was announced that the investigation by Lewis Silkin had upheld 45 allegations made against Gregg, while two claims implicating others were also upheld. John Torode later came forward as the subject of the allegation made involving racist remarks. He denied any recollection of the events and said they didn't take place.
It was later announced John was fired from MasterChef after working on the programme for 20 years.