While sacked MasterChef judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode are due to appear in a new series filmed last year, a colourful character is being lined up as a successor.
I hear that restaurateur and hotelier Robert Walton, often called the ‘godfather of hospitality’, has held talks about joining the crisis-hit BBC cookery series.
Restaurant critic Grace Dent was named as Wallace’s successor last December after the former greengrocer stepped down following several historical allegations of inappropriate behaviour made about him.
‘Robert is in talks for being appointed the MasterChef judge position with Dent,’ a source tells me. ‘He is a wild card but the most qualified for the job.
‘They like the idea of Robert and Grace together. They are playing around with pairs, and they are looking for credibility. It would make a refreshing change to have someone who is an authority on food and hospitality, who is highly decorated and respected, judging for MasterChef.’
Walton, 69, who is married to Australian fashion designer Donna Ida Thornton, has already received the royal seal of approval, having been awarded an MBE in 2007 by then Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace for services to hospitality.
This week, Walton was honoured again at the House of Lords, where he won the British Icon of Hospitality Award at the Arabreneurs Gala Dinner.
‘I’m upset with what’s happened to MasterChef and the way everything has come out,’ he tells me. ‘It’s an institution, and it needs to carry on. If someone wants me to do it, I’m super-happy to put my name forward and can get the job done.’
Previously touted to replace Torode were Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt and Andi Oliver, who hosts Great British Menu.
Robert Walton attending the 2025 International Restaurateurs’ Dinner
Princess Anne’s woes with Wills
Holidays can wait for hard-working Princess Anne, who held yet another investiture on behalf of her brother, King Charles, at Windsor Castle on Tuesday. Around 30 are held each year, at which people who’ve been awarded an honour receive their gong from the King, 76, Anne, who turns 75 next month, or Prince William, 43, who lives at Windsor.
A ‘source close to Anne’ was quoted in The Sunday Times as saying: ‘She’s still doing most of the investitures [at Windsor] even though William lives there. It annoys her.’
Her nephew is currently on holiday abroad with his family.
Pick up after your own pooches, says Lucrezia
The Celebrity Mastermind winner, 49, reveals that she confronts fellow dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets.
‘I have done this a few times,’ she tells me at the premiere of the documentary Dogspiracy.
‘Cleaning up after your dog is the right and proper thing to do.’
Lucrezia, who has a lhasa apso named Milo, pictured above, says owners who let their dogs leave a mess are ‘often aggressive’. She adds: ‘It’s generally men, they often come back at you with a four-letter word.’
Lucrezia with Milo
Ozzy Osbourne died at home on Tuesday at the age of 76, ‘with his family and surrounded by love’. The Black Sabbath star’s daughter, Kelly, told me earlier this month he was happy being back in his native Britain but frustrated to be separated from his animals. ‘He loves the house, but he’s just waiting for the dogs to get here,’ she said. Fortunately, I hear his beloved dogs did arrive before his death. They played a big part in Ozzy’s TV series The Osbournes. The star once shared a video of his late pomeranian Rocky ‘headbanging’ to his song Crazy Train.
Apinall’s ex is expecting miracle baby
When I disclosed in 2022 that casino and wildlife park heir Damian Aspinall had separated from his second wife, Victoria, pictured left, friends pointed out that she had always made it clear that she wanted children with him.
Now, she has revealed that it was her struggle to conceive that ended their marriage. And she is pregnant with a ‘miracle baby’ by an unnamed man.
‘I was utterly shocked when I found out I was pregnant earlier this year,’ admits the former Burberry executive, 39. ‘For seven years, my husband and I fought for this dream: multiple rounds of IVF, miscarriages, and an endless hope that slowly eroded.
‘It cost me everything I once loved: my marriage, my home, my career, my sense of self. It took two and a half years to grieve, to rebuild, to finally accept that motherhood might never be part of my story.’
Victoria does not seem to be in a relationship with the father, saying: ‘Everything I had dreamed of sharing with someone was no longer my reality. Deciding to keep this baby has been the bravest choice of my life.’
Damian and Victoria at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016
ITV has made much of the danger faced by participants in its much-hyped series, Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters, in which stars including Countdown’s Rachel Riley and Call The Midwife actress Helen George swim with the fearsome predators. One of the stars, Sir Lenny Henry, appears, however, to have revealed the truth about the ‘reality’ programme. ‘We survived,’ says the actor and comedian, 66. ‘I was aware that ITV don’t want anybody of a celebrity nature to be eaten on television.’
