Celebrity MasterChef's Gregg Wallace opens up about his friendship with John Torode - exclusive
Celebrity MasterChef is back on our screens every weekday evening, and along with watching the stars battle it out in the kitchen, we also get to watch loveable co-hosts, Gregg Wallace and John Torode.
When HELLO! spoke to Gregg last year about his new fitness website Showme.fit, he told us all about his friendship with John and how they've stayed pals since first presenting MasterChef together in 2005.
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With their infectious on-screen banter, we assumed the pair must socialise together off-camera, but Gregg, 56, told us: "No, never. Every now and again."
The star explained: "Me and John Torode get on really, really well. We do two series of MasterChef every year, which is six months a year for seventeen years."
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Gregg and John get on famously but keeps thing professional
"Me and John have got this down to a tee. We know exactly how we work and what we need and we're absolutely fine working together for all that time, and then we give each other a lot of space.
"I think we've got this balance beautifully and I think there is no reason to do anything else in this relationship.
"We text each other, I follow him on Instagram, I watch John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen. Absolutely lovely, I know what they're doing."
However, the co-hosts do stay in regular contact.
Gregg reveals: "I text him probably every ten to fourteen days and he texts back. That's enough for us. Remember, also with MasterChef, we go away as well. What we do is, when we go off, we'll have one big dinner or a big lunch."
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The TV stars at John Torode's book launch back in 2008
We'd imagined Gregg and John cooking at each other's houses – has that ever happened?
"Never," says Gregg. "Never been to each other's houses."
"We are mates but also mates fall out and we have to make sure we don't fall out. We have to make sure our relationship is professional and nothing infiltrates that at all. It's in our best interest, me and John, to get on.
"And no one I know has written a book on how to be the perfect TV couple, but no one can argue about the longevity and the relationship between me and my mate, John Torode."
He adds: "It might seem odd to other people, but we believe we've got it absolutely bang on. If I have an issue in my life, the first person to hear about it is John Torode."
Log on to Gregg Wallace's Showme.fit, a weight loss and fitness subscription website costing £7 per month with exercises, recipes and healthy living advice.
