The new MasterChef judge who loves comfort eating: How Grace Dent, 51, ‘grew up on beige food’, became a critic ‘by fluke’ and gave up drinking after ‘losing days to booze’

She grew up eating ‘beige foods’ and watching Jilly Goolden on TV in Carlisle, during the 70s.

But now Grace Dent, 51, is set to embark on every foodie’s dream as she replaces Gregg Wallace on MasterChef.

As a judge on the illustrious cooking show she will be offering critiques and her expertise to culinary hopefuls – as an investigation into her predecessor’s alleged inappropriate behaviour takes place.

But in spite of her impressive chops in the world of eating – Grace has spent decades as a celebrated food critic and presenter – the star has admitted she fell into fame ‘by fluke’. 

She was born and raised by her parents in Cumbria, where her favourite treats included ‘mince and Findus Crispy Pancakes and butterscotch Angel Delight’.

Speaking to Luxury London Living Fabric, she revealed: ‘Supermarkets were a big thing in my childhood, because this was when the really big supermarkets arrived and to me, good food was about having the best brands. To be able to have proper Coca-Cola and Smiths crisps… I still love those types of food today.’

She went on to pursue further education at Stirling University, bagging herself an English Literature degree in the process. During her time there, Grace kicked off her foray into journalism.

After leaving full-time education, she had an illustrious writing career, working as an editorial assistant for Vogue, and then a freelance journalist for various magazines such as Marie Claire, Glamour and more. 

But in spite of her impressive chops in the world of eating – Grace has spent decades as a celebrated food critic and presenter – the star has admitted she fell into fame ‘by fluke’

Grace, 51, is set to embark on every foodie’s dream as she replaces Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pictured on MasterChef: Battle of the Critics 2023

It was when she moved to London in the 90s that Grace discovered her penchant for gourmet meals and ‘really fell in love with restaurants’.

‘I grew up eating very simply,’ she told the Guardian in 2022. ‘I lived in Currock, a suburb of Carlisle, in a little terraced house. Food was whatever came from the tiny supermarket down the road.

‘My mum did cook – hotpots, stews, fairy cakes – but my most exciting meals were tinned. I still feel the love from a tin of macaroni cheese, ravioli, baked beans.

‘I have strong memories of coming home from school and watching Pipkins with half a tin of Heinz tomato soup and some white bread toast spread with Dairylea. Absolute happiness.’

However, being introduced to new cuisines near her Bounds Green flat sparked the beginnings of a foodie. 

Grace was suddenly ‘surrounded by Greek and Turkish restaurants along Myddleton Road, proper Irish pubs, Korean and Vietnamese food, neither of which she’d known existed’.

The presenter explained that it’s the culinary variety that’s kept her in the capital all these years – extortionate housing prices and all. 

The new MasterChef judge told Luxury London Living Fabric however that she had ‘always been aware that there was a bigger, better gastronomic world out there’.

She was born and raised by her parents in Cumbria, where her favourite treats included ‘mince and Findus Crispy Pancakes and butterscotch Angel Delight’. Pictured with John Torode

It was when she moved to London in the 90s that Grace discovered her penchant for gourmet meals and ‘really fell in love with restaurants’

‘When I was a child in Carlisle in the ’70s and ’80s, we would put on The Good Food Show and we would see Jilly Goolden swooshing wine around her mouth and saying that it tasted like babbling brooks,’ she recounted.

‘I think that what makes me different as a restaurant critic is that I certainly didn’t eat those types of food as a child. I didn’t have that background. If you look at me and then look at the other restaurant critics, who I love very much, one of us is not like the others! I always say that it is an absolute fluke that I am in, doing what I do.’

She also spent 12 years, from 2000 until 2012 writing about all things TV, before making her way to The Independent.

For six years she wrote a restaurant column dubbed ‘Grace and Flavour’, for The Evening Standard. 

Grace has often appeared on various TV shows critiquing people’s plates; you may have seen her appear in MasterChef: The Professionals, Celebrity MasterChef, MasterChef UK.

She was also a judge on a BBC program called the Great British Menu. 

The media personality has also appeared on an array of shows including, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, The Now Show on Radio 4, Have I Got News For You, Very British Problems.

The food critic has also featured on Pointless Celebrities, The Review Show Film 2012, Charlie Brooker‘s Screenwipe, The Culture Show and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled.

Grace has often appeared on various TV shows critiquing people’s plates; you may have seen her appear in MasterChef: The Professionals , Celebrity MasterChef, MasterChef UK

The media personality has also appeared on an array of shows including, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, The Now Show on Radio 4, Have I Got News For You, Very British Problems

Foodie Dent has also penned numerous novels over the years, and was even on the shortlist for the Queen of Teen prize in 2008.

Amongst her books series’ for teenage audiences include Diary of a Snob, Diary of a Chav and LBD. 

She published her first non-fiction novel named How To Leave Twitter (My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop) in 2011.

Since 2021, she’s been hosting the aptly titled Comfort Eating podcast, where Grace has spoken to celebrities including James Norton and Stanley Tucci about their favourite snacks from the comfort of her own home. 

‘What I’ve learned the most, however, is that if a celebrity reveals to me the snack they eat on a quiet night in, when they’re watching Netflix in a tracksuit and can’t be bothered to cook, they’ll end up telling me more about their childhood, their social class, their love life and their body confidence than they would in a dozen red-carpet interviews,’ she told the Guardian, speaking about her time on the show.

‘Comfort Eating is a podcast about whether stars like ketchup, brown sauce or salad cream on their spaghetti hoops, but there’s much more on the menu than that.’ 

Grace’s new position on MasterChef is sure to be a full circle moment, as she had previously shared that the show ‘changed her life entirely’.

She had been ‘doing odd bits of presenting on and off through the late ’90s, the early 2000s’ but was suddenly being approached in supermarkets after appearing on the series.

Grace’s new position on MasterChef is sure to be a full circle moment, as she had previously shared that the show ‘changed her life entirely’

Grace has been candid about personal challenges, recently opening up about going teetotal because she was ‘losing half days and days to feeling wretched with drinking alcohol ‘

‘MasterChef is one of the greatest joys in my life,’ she told Fabric. ‘I have watched it since I was a little girl, sitting with my dad on the sofa in Carlisle, where we used to laugh our socks off at restaurant critics coming on and complaining about the standard of their foie gras!’

Grace has been candid about personal challenges, recently opening up about going teetotal because she was ‘losing half days and days to feeling wretched with drinking alcohol‘.

‘I had been drinking in a very British way since I was 14,’ she admitted in an interview with the Guardian.

‘I wouldn’t have said I had an alcohol problem – I didn’t binge or drink secretly – but I began as a teenager in a field, then moved on to student bars, dinner parties, the media industry, and then to reviewing restaurants where endless drinks are on offer. I grew sick of losing bits of life to feeling s**t.

‘So I just stopped completely. My skin looked radically different right away. When I go out now, I usually have a shrub or booze-free aperitif.’

She has also been open about being more careful with her diet and making sure she’s taking care of her body as her job often demands her to eat more than the average person a day. 

Elsewhere in 2022, she extraordinarily quit I’m A Celeb after ‘losing all her energy’ in camp and reaching breaking point ahead of doing another Bushtucker Trial.

Prior to her jungle entrance, the food critic revealed she would be ‘strong and resilient’ in camp due to her past tragedies. 

Grace had shed light on her personal life, as she revealed she has lost both her parents over the past ‘four or five years’ and confessed she believes her loss would make her stronger on the show.

The star admitted 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 within that short space of time.

She said: ‘This is going to be a big challenge and now I am older, life is for living and it’s one of the reasons why I said yes.’

Dent 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.’

The star has also appeared on an array of shows including, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, The Now Show on Radio 4, Have I Got News For You, Very British Problems.

The food critic has also featured on Pointless Celebrities, The Review Show Film 2012, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe, The Culture Show and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled.

Foodie Grace has also penned numerous novels over the years, and was even on the shortlist for the Queen of Teen prize in 2008.

Amongst her books series’ for teenage audiences include Diary of a Snob, Diary of a Chav and LBD. 

She published her first non-fiction novel named How To Leave Twitter (My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop) in 2011.

Grace had previously vowed never to take part in I’m A Celeb, describing the show as ‘a puerile venture into starvation, televised constipation and animal cruelty, abbreviated by ads for Iceland £1 curries’. 

A source close to the MasterChef star told MailOnline: ‘Grace decided to leave the jungle soon after it was announced that she would be doing the latest Bushtucker Trial.

‘Knowing that she would be facing another tough challenge was the straw that broke the camel’s back.’

They continued: ‘It was mutually agreed upon that she would stand down from the competition, it was clear that she wasn’t being herself, she had lost all energy when usually she’s witty and fun to be around.

‘ITV’s duty of care and welfare teams had stepped in, and rightly so.

‘She had struggled since living in the camp with less amenities, the weather this year has been particularly miserable and as a restaurant critic, not eating well proved to be harder than she could have ever imagined.

‘Grace is looking forward to seeing her loved ones now and after a few days of rest and recovery will be fine.’

Grace will judge the upcoming 20th series of Celebrity MasterChef, having appeared regularly as a guest and then even a contestant on MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics in 2022. 

It comes following Wallace’s departure, after he faced a series of complaints about his alleged behaviour, including claims he made inappropriate sexual jokes, shared intimate details of his sex life and even walked around set naked except for a sock on his penis.