MasterChef guest Marco Pierre White - who is he again?

White fell out with former protege Gordon Ramsay.

As the contestants of MasterChef NZ battle for reality show glory, the original celebrity chef will be making a guest appearance.

British chef Marco Pierre White will be stopping by to give the remaining eight contestants the "challenge of a lifetime".

White is one of the most well-known chefs in the world. A Ridley Scott-produced biopic about him is in development, with Michael Fassbender tipped for the lead role.

MasterChef NZ judge Al Brown is a fan: "I have always wanted to meet Marco, ever since I picked up his cookbook, White Heat, as a young (and green) cook, way back when. To me he was the first 'work and play equally hard' chef out there who wouldn't compromise the detail or precision of his craft."

Here's a quick summary of MPW's illustrious career and life:

1. He retired from the daily grind in 1999 after becoming the youngest person to get three Michelin stars. He now manages restaurants and judges on reality cooking shows around the world.

2. He is responsible for creating Gordon Ramsay. Ramsay served as White's sous chef for several years. In his autobiography, White Slave, White recalled in detail a time he reduced Ramsay to tears. The two haven't spoken since 2000, when Ramsay showed up to White's third wedding with a camera crew, without telling him.

3. White has the same feisty temperament as his protege. In 1995, when a customer asked for chips despite them not being on the menu, White obligingly cut and cooked the fries himself, but then charged the man 25 for his trouble.

4. The chef is good friends with media mogul Piers Morgan. The pair once drank 28,000 worth of wine together. Morgan still has the six bottles, which White signed.

5. He has been married three times. His second marriage to model Lisa Butcher lasted 15 weeks. He separated from his third wife in 2007 following revelations he'd had an affair.

• MasterChef, TV3, Sunday 7.30.