Between 2009 to 2019, George Calombaris was one of the most prominent celebrity chefs in Australia. Heading up MasterChef Australia alongside fellow judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan, George became a household name.
However, that all changed in 2019 when his company, MAdE Establishment group, admitted to underpaying more than $7 million of wages to over 500 employees. On I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, the 48-year-old said it was one of the “most horrific” years he’d experienced.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t long after the scandal that MasterChef Australia had a shake up, seeing George, Matt and Gary replaced by food writer Melissa Leong, chef Jock Zonfrillo and former MasterChef winner Andy Allen.
Since then, we’ve seen even more changes to the MasterChef judge line up, with former contestant Poh Ling Yeow, French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli and food critic Sofia Levin join Andy at the tasting table.
While you may think that the current I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here star is salty about being replaced, he assured TV WEEK that it’s quite the opposite.
“I’m so proud that two of the judges and mentors on there that are ex-alumni of Gary, Matt and I,” George gushed.
“Poh and Andy are there and I just love the show. It’s still so strong and that makes me super proud, because the last thing I would have wanted to see the show get axed.
“They were our students — that’s how I viewed it at the time, you know — now they’re my colleagues. I love the fact that in the 11 years, we’ve got some amazing ex-contestants that are now absolutely killing it.”
For George, seeing former contestants flourish within the tough food industry is a joy and he says he loves to do his bit to support them.
“Just the other day, I was messaging Julie Goodwin because she’s going on tour and I put something out on my socials to promote it,” he explained.
“We had a beautiful message exchange to each other and I love that.”
As for the new, non-MasterChef contestants at the tasting table? George thinks they’re doing a pretty great job, too.
“Jean-Christophe is an insane chef and I know him very well,” he shared.
“Sophia Levin is a great food critic. You know, she had some pretty big boots to fill. Matt Preston, he’s one of the greatest food critics and food journalists in Australia. He’s got a better palate than a lot of people I know. But she’s fantastic. It’s fantastic.”
As you might expect, swapping out the delicious food he cooks at home or in his restaurants for the frightful feast of the I’m A Celeb jungle was a doozy for George. However, it was his steely logic that got him through.
“Let’s face it, like, what we’re eating is protein, right? Just not the type of protein we like to eat,” George says
“The problem with eating things that are generally genital driven is weird. It’s not right. I’m gonna go and have to visit a witch doctor because I actually want to meet this psychopathic chef that comes up with these ideas. Like, what the hell? This is just wicked and wacky.”
Thankfully, he did better than he thought he would.
“I think I had to do well at the eating challenges,” he quipped. “The rest of my mates in camp, the celebrities, would look to me with all aspects when it came to food, even if it was a horrible eating challenge. So, without giving too much away, (18:28) like, like a good head chef does, they lead from the front.
“But let me just say, I still, till today, I wake up with some cold sweats. Scared for life from some of those challenges.”
