MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston. Photo / Supplied
MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston. Photo / Supplied
Living in the spotlight is a difficult life to navigate and one loveable MasterChef star has confessed he didn’t deal with it very well in the early days.
Matt Preston has been a regular star on the Australian cooking show for almost 15 years and in a recent candid interview, he admitted it hasn’t always been easy being a well-known TV personality.
Sitting down for an interview on the Something To Talk About podcast, Preston spoke about his first taste of fame admitting it didn’t go down very well.
The food writer- turned reality TV star said, “I had done a show for [Channel] Seven called My Restaurant Rules [in 2004]. I had that thing of going from hardworking writer and then suddenly you fly to the country and the guys scanning the bags know you and the passport control guy knows you,”
Adding, “I don’t think I dealt with it very well. I became a bit of a d***head, but it was very, very instructive.”
The trio had hosted the reality TV cooking competition for 11 years before failed negotiations saw them leave. Photo / Supplied
Years later in 2009, the star signed onto MasterChef with fellow judges, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan and said it was being reunited with the “people who know you” that helped keep him grounded in the following years.
“With MasterChef, two things happened. One, I knew the other two judges really well, so there was nowhere to hide. If you acted like a d***head, the other two would tell you you’re acting like a d***head. That kept all three of us honest.”
He went on to say the second thing that happened is that the show’s popularity skyrocketed so quickly they had “no idea what was happening” and while he confessed his immediate world - including friends and family and how they saw him - didn’t change, the world moved “a metre to the right.
“So other people you don’t know treat you differently. But that’s why core friends and family are so important because they go, ‘Yeah, we remember when you tried to dye mashed potatoes blue. It was disgusting.’”
It comes after Australia’s Network 10 announced in 2019 that the trio would not be returning to MasterChef after season 11.
CEO Paul Anderson said in a statement that after months of negotiation, the network was unable to reach an agreement with the trio “that was satisfactory”, thus meaning the familiar faces would not return for season 12.
MasterChef Australia first aired in 2009 on Network Ten, and was an instant smash hit for audiences. Photo / Supplied
Following the statement, news.com.au and other Australian media claimed the reason why negotiations failed is because the judges demanded a 40 per cent pay rise.
If successful, the trio would have seen a $1.5 million pay cheque for each season of the show. Preston denied the pay request was why negotiations failed and said: “it was the other terms that fell down”.
He later revealed while appearing on ABC’s Melbourne breakfast radio that he found out he was not returning for season 12 through a social media post while he was on his way to a radio interview.
“It would probably have felt worse if I was by myself, but the fact I was with one of the publicists with Ten who had no idea and who was just aghast by the situation, especially about to go and do a national radio show, it was a bit of a shock,” he said during the radio interview.
