If there's one thing Grace Dent knows, it's food. Whether it's critiquing the latest restaurant opening or chatting about recipes with celebrity guests on her podcast, the 51-year-old Northerner is quite the expert. Now, stepping into her new role as the new face of MasterChef, she is more than ready to lend her years of food knowledge to the BBC cooking competition alongside fellow female foodie Anna Haugh. Reflecting on her upcoming debut, Grace chatted to HELLO! as part of her campaign with Bread Ahead and MONOPOLY GO!'s food festival, about her pre-show jitters, her signature style and her family's surprising reaction while she achieves her childhood dream.
Despite a seemingly perfect next career step for the restaurant critic, Grace admitted there was one ingredient missing as she geared up to thrill viewers on the 22nd season of the amateur cooking show. While she was ecstatic about finally realising a lifelong dream to front the programme that previously saw Gregg Wallace and John Torode at the helm, a sad smile momentarily crossed her face at the mention of her late parents. Grace lost her parents within two years of each other - her mother in February 2021 from cancer and her father in 2022 following a long battle with Alzheimer's.
"I no longer have my parents," she said. "So, it's a shame that they've never got to see this. My parents were so proud to see me in it when I was a visiting critic, so to now be the main presenter - they would've loved it!" Grace’s parents may not get to see her open the 2026 series, but the rest of her family will be there, cheering her on - albeit somewhat subtly. "I'm from a northern family that keeps my feet on the ground."
She continued explaining: "So, I'm long used to doing things on television and realising that nobody actually watched it because they were too busy watching Coronation Street. That is very normal, and long may that last because I'm never allowed to feel starry." She laughed as she added: "I would guess that they are all very, very secretly proud. My family are all very proud of me, but they just keep it on the down low. I think the fact that they've always kept me humble, I think has been good for me."
No time for pre-show 'jitters'
Having appeared as a guest on the show in the past, Grace had a fair idea of what she was signing up to do; however, with filming and styling happening at the speed of light, she barely had time to feel nervous butterflies as she stepped into the studio for filming. "I didn't have time to have jitters because what I needed to work out very quickly was… I love glamour. I love glitz. I love being extra. This idea of doubling and making everything big."
© InstagramGrace continued: "So I didn't really have any time to worry because immediately I was working with my stylist and finding clothes and finding the hair and everything. And then I just had to get out there and do it. I'm a lucky girl. I can't moan. I've got nothing to moan about. Every time I arrive, I feel like I've crawled into the back of the television set and I am inside the television. And to be in charge is wonderful. Am I jittery? You have to have a bit of jitters. You have to, or what would power you to get out of bed?"
No spoiler alert
As for some hints at what the new season will offer fans, Grace was adamant that she didn’t want to spoil the magic for anyone watching what she dubbed, "the greatest, the best, the most established food show on television". She did, however, mention that there was "a lot of laughing and a lot of earnest discussion about food and a lot of fun" while filming.
© BBCGrace and Anna are the show’s first-ever all-female presenting duo and so will add a different air to the longstanding offering. "Yes, we are women. There's no getting away from that, but we are both absolute experts in our fields. So what you are bringing here is two women with an enormous amount of expertise who care so much about finding fresh talent. And that's the wonderful thing about MasterChef - these are passionate home cooks and we are uncovering people who genuinely are quite outstanding."
The final countdown
As she prepares to debut her main-stage presenting talents, Grace acknowledged she feels a "huge responsibility to keep on making people happy". She said she was "honoured and so incredibly proud" of this next step. And while she waits for the show to hit screens early next year, she has been busy cooking up a storm in the Bread Ahead doughnut kitchen.
© Nic Serpell-RandGrace created a signature Double Down doughnut with Bread Ahead and MONOPOLY GO! and said: " I loved the idea that this was all about tycoon energy and making everything double and extra. Everything that's being served at this festival is just one more than it would normally be. So they gave me the chance to work together with a doughnut company that I loved so much, and we worked to put the mango lassi into the doughnut with double chocolate. It's exactly the kind of stuff that I love. Classic, moorish, decadent, extravagant, but with a little twist, and something that you're not expecting!"
Couldn’t make it to Dough Fest? The Culinary Season isn’t over just yet - download MONOPOLY GO! to trade, collect, and feast your way through the latest sticker album.
