MasterChef fans, welcome to the new era with judges Grace Dent and Anna Haugh: "We take care of each other"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Here they all are, trooping into Day One of this year’s contest with shining, enthusiastic faces. There’s the woman who wants to show her expertise at cooking steak and chips; the man who only ate an egg for the first time in his 20s; the chap who has spent years dreaming of wearing a MasterChef apron. Watching at home, we’ll come to know and root for the new tranche of amateur chefs being put through their paces on the legendary cooking show.

But they’re not the only fresh faces this time – there are new judges, too. Restaurant critic Grace Dent and chef Anna Haugh have both had stints as judges on the celebrity and professional MasterChef variants, but the cut and thrust of the OG version is where Dent and Haugh now reign. And they like it that way.

“To anyone who can get through those first few rounds, I think, wow,” says Dent. “Everyone says, ‘I will make, say, beef bourguignon and some fluffy rice as my signature dish.’ And they practise at home and make it nine times, until all their friends are sick of it. And then they walk into the MasterChef kitchen, and right away they think, ‘Oh, that’s not the beef I wanted!’ And you don’t know where anything is, and you’re not quite sure how the hob works. It’s like going to a holiday cottage and trying to make a simple omelette.”

“And there’s a film crew and two scary judges interviewing you,” chimes in Haugh. “I like spotting that glimmer of raw talent, it really excites me,” adds Dent. “People who from the moment we say, ‘Let’s cook!’ begin to move like a chef. It’s exciting, because I know we’re going to take them on a journey. And each time we throw something at them, they get a bit better, and that’s what I’m looking for.”

Well, not the only thing. She beadily surveys a bowl of chips that has been placed in the middle of the table. This is after a three-hour RT photo shoot, and both women are ravenous. They each take handfuls – and then the judging begins. “These aren’t great chips,” says Haugh. “You’d have thought that delivering them to a food critic and a chef would make them up their game slightly,” agrees Dent acerbically. It doesn’t stop them tucking in, however. So how do they manage to not fill up eating all those (admittedly far nicer) courses on the show?

“Simple,” says Haugh. “I don’t eat during the day, so when we do the tastings, I’m very hungry. It allows you to taste more flavour, pick up on more detail. But you have to hold yourself back on the first few dishes. I’m always thinking of the last person to be judged, particularly early on.”

“I wake up at 5am, read everybody’s recipes before I get a taxi to get into make-up and get my wardrobe together,” says Dent, “and by then, I haven’t had a lot of time to take on any calories. And then we are waiting; waiting to eat. And then you are eating – sometimes, six contestants’ meals, each with three courses, but you eat tiny bits of food from each. Morsels!”

“I don’t know about that,” snorts Haugh. “I’ve seen you polish off an entire dessert like it’s a challenge. I’ve seen you licking the bowl.”

That sounds like a particular perk of the job. I wonder, as foodies, when the cameras are off, what are their guilty pleasures? There is a pause. “Well, I could literally live on trifle,” admits Dent. She looks at Haugh. “Mine is cheese,” responds the chef. “And I love those specific crisps from Spain. Torres. Freshly made. So, potatoes and cheese. The way Grace feels about desserts, I feel about cheese. You shouldn’t really eat the amount of cheese that I do.”

There’s a warmth and camaraderie between the two women, who are already clearly good team-mates. “We take care of each other,” says Haugh. “So, if there’s a hair out of place, or lipstick needs topping up, we’ll point it out. We want each other to be lifted up.”

Visually, they make a distinct twosome; the vibe is sequins and up-dos (Dent) alongside neat bun and crisp white linen (Haugh). Their contrasting styles reflect complementary worlds. Haugh, the Dubliner, chef and owner of Myrtle, an upmarket Irish/Modern British restaurant in London’s Chelsea, brings in the spirit of the working kitchen.

Carlisle-raised Dent, journalist and broadcaster, is the glamorous Guardian food critic who causes seasoned restaurant staff to, well, drop the seasoning when she sails in. “I may book under a separate name,” she admits, “but the restaurant will know me as soon as I walk in. The moment that I was a guest on MasterChef in 2012, I stopped being anonymous.”

Their experiences in male-dominated industries have united both judges in another way. You don’t have to go very far beneath the smiles to find the colossal drive, merrily unapologetic and breezily triumphant, needed to drill down into previously ring-fenced preserves; the cheffy world of Michel Roux and the critics’ circle of Michael Winner.

“I always wanted to be a food critic,” says Dent. “I grew up in Carlisle, and I had no help whatsoever from my family. I used to enter tons of journalism competitions when I was at university. Eventually I won a prize at Cosmopolitan. I came straight to London, as a kind of intern at Marie Claire, wheedled my way in and worked for everyone. I loved the whole scene, and the buzz of London’s infinite choice of restaurants.”

Her role models? Dent lists several Fleet Street legends. “I remember seeing Eve Pollard [legendary tabloid editor and, inter alia, mother of Claudia Winkleman] sitting on the breakfast TV couch and thinking, ‘Who is this woman?’. Anne Robinson and Janet Street-Porter. Jean Rook and Julie Burchill.

“Suddenly there were all these women, holding their own against the men, and they wrote columns and books and did telly and radio, and I suddenly realised that there was a job out there for women to be able to do exciting things. Although,” she laughs, eating another (substandard) chip, “you have to be able to cope with the rejection. That never stops. You just become more immune to it. Now if someone tells me I can’t do something, I just go home and work out who else I can ask.”

Haugh is equally driven and determined. “When I was about 17, my friend’s mother said, ‘Anna, have you ever thought about being a chef? Because something comes over you when you are in the kitchen.’ It took me a couple of years, but when I first walked into an empty kitchen I thought, ‘I belong here.’ I always say it chose me, not the other way round.

“For about 10 years, my dad used to chip away at me, as he thought it wasn’t a good choice. And then one day he said, ‘I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time. Look how successful you are, and how you have never given up.’”

Dent and Haugh have, of course, taken over from the two men who, for decades, were MasterChef. Until they blew it. Did the women quail at the idea of picking up the show after Gregg Wallace and John Torode?

“Well, it’s bigger than any one person,” begins Haugh tactfully, “and the contestants are brilliant. The show is a reflection of them.” Dent is a bit more direct. “I don’t feel I am ‘picking up’ after anybody,” she says. “I’ve been going to work every day at the helm of the most important food show, probably in British television history. I think I’m doing well. Am I doing well?” she laughs, looking to Haugh. “You’re doing well,” confirms Haugh. “There is no way I’d show up a year ago on that set and begin to work in the manner that I did, while looking backwards,” says Dent, in a tone that makes me feel like I’ve just suggested she eat a collapsed soufflé.

Might MasterChef rise with these two in charge? I think it’s highly likely. Bon appétit!

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MasterChef returns on Tuesday 21 April at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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