Grace Dent has been confirmed as the new host of MasterChef, replacing Gregg Wallace who has stepped away from the BBC show while an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour takes place.
The food critic, 51, has earned her spot beside John Torode after a 30 year career in journalism, books, podcasts and TV, topped off by a memorable stint on I’m A Celeb a year ago.
Away from her illustrious career, Grace enjoys an idyllic relationship with her ‘gorgeous’ partner Charles – who has not been pictured.
The couple became engaged in 2021 after two years together, with the star admitting in a interview shortly after the proposal how besotted she was with her beau.
‘With my man, Charles, I think almost every day whenever I look at him: “How did I pull this off?” she admitted to Kate Thornton’s podcast, White Wine Question Time.
‘Because before we got together, I used to follow him on Instagram, and he followed me and there was at least 24 months where I used to just look at his photo and go: “He’s so pretty”.’
Grace Dent has been confirmed as the new host of MasterChef and away from her illustrious career, Grace enjoys an idyllic relationship with her ‘gorgeous’ partner Charles
Detailing how the pair first met, Grace explained how the pair first ‘flirted’ for a year and a half online whilst ‘we both wasted our time on other lesser beings’.
‘I was in Liverpool working and I was feeling really miserable. And I got this message from him that he would like to take me for coffee and that was it!’
But Grace added that she was the one to take the lead when it came to their first date, telling Charles she would be in a bar at a certain time and he should come meet her if he was interested, which he did.
‘He was absolutely gorgeous. I saw him across the bar. And one thing is turning up when somebody is completely not the person that they said, God that happens.’
‘But then what’s almost worse — no, it’s not worse, but it’s similar — is when you turn up and the person is the person. And you’re like: “Oh here we go. Here we go. Here is my heart, to be dragged and thrown at a wall from 25 feet! Kill me now!”‘
In 2022, Grace, who lives in London, revealed that she and Charles live in separate homes, explaining in her column for The Standard: ‘I live ostensibly on my own because my partner, Charlie, and I have separate homes, however the reality is he’s in my bloody house most of the time, making a mess, eating food from my fridge and being looked after.’
During the same podcast conversation, Grace also spoke about her nine year marriage, explaining that after the split: ‘I felt like from 2002 to 2011 I had missed that stage when everything had gone digital…. you realise nobody is doing dating like they used to.’
The writer has never spoken in depth about her marriage or identified her ex but did admit that she still has her wedding dress, and rewears it.
The couple became engaged in 2021 after two years together, with the star admitting in a interview shortly after the proposal how besotted she was with her beau
Detailing how the pair first met, Grace explained how the pair first ‘flirted’ for a year and a half online whilst ‘we both wasted our time on other lesser beings’
‘I’ve still got the dress that I got married in. I’m not married to him anymore. But I’ve still got that dress,’ she told The Mirror.
‘We’d just had a very informal marriage, we got married in Vegas, and I’ve still got the dress. I love the dress – this is the problem! I’ve still got that dress and I can’t quite give it away.’
‘It’s a turquoise patterned T-dress, and it’s in the exact colour that I love. It’s nipped at the waist and it’s flattering. […] And you can put it on and look a million dollars.’
‘And I do sometimes wander if my ex husband sometimes, watching TV, casually one night eating Pop Tarts, and he looks and he goes: “Is that the dress she wore? I’m sure I know that dress”.’
Grace has been very open about not wanting to have children, writing in the Guardian: ‘I do like children. Just not enough. This still feels like a radical thing for a woman to say.
‘And children do like me, too. I have a big capacity for silliness, plus I resemble a sort of claymation witch, which they find intriguing. But I didn’t ever truly want one.’
Grace’s life off screen in recent years has been marred by heartbreak after she lost both her parents in the last five years.
In 2022, Grace, who lives in London, revealed that she and Charles live in separate homes, explaining in her column for The Standard: ‘I live ostensibly on my own’
The food critic, 51, has earned her spot beside John Torode after a 30 year career in journalism, books, podcasts and TV, topped off by a memorable stint on I’m A Celeb a year ago
She admitted prior to her 2023 stint on I’m A Celeb that she believed her loss would make her stronger on the show, explaining how she had ‘been through a really difficult time’ after she was a carer for her dementia-stricken father before he passed away while she later lost her mother to cancer.
Grace has spoken publicly about her parents and in in 2020, she wrote in The Guardian about her father’s battle with dementia, penning: ‘There is so much I want to say to Dad, but I can’t bring myself to…
‘Dementia is really awkward, not just painful and frightening, embarrassing, I don’t like to be left alone with Dad. But sometimes I can see terror in his eyes…
‘Sometimes, as Dad talks nowadays, midway through a nonsensical sentence his brain catches up, and right then, he understands the total ridiculousness of what he is saying, and pure shame passes across his face.’