John Torode at the Good Food & Wine Show 2015

Australian-born John Torode’s big break came after moving to London and having a chance meeting with Terence Conran.

Soon after, he started working at top restaurants owned by Conran. These included Quaglino’s, Le Pont de la Tour and Mezzo, where he was head chef. In 1996, he started doing television work, and he was on ITV’s This Morning until 2000. Torode – along with Gregg Wallace – launched the updated BBC show, MasterChef, in 2005.

By 2011, the show had been sold to 25 countries and was named ‘the biggest food-related television show worldwide’, spawning spin-offs such as MasterChef Australia and MasterChef SA as well as Junior MasterChef and Celebrity MasterChef. He is the author of 10 cookbooks.