BY THE GRACE of Bourdain, at least this time around, we didn’t have to endure eight weeks of culinary court jester Gregg Wallace yelling “PHWOAR” to Anish’s pani puri and “LAAVLEE” to Susan from Swindon’s toad in the hole.

Ditto spared from the painfully obvious, droning critiques of John Torode; “you’ve got the sharpness from rhubarb and sweetness and creaminess from custard” — yeah, it’s a bloody rhubarb and custard dessert, John.

Not even Ireland’s own chef Anna Haugh and restaurant critic Grace Dent could save a format that’s been so long languishing in A&E nobody bothers searching for a pulse any more.

2008 Chef John Torode (left) poses with his fellow Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace back in the good old days, before it all went wrong. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

When Torode and Wallace were eventually binned, a decade past their sell-by date, the show had a golden opportunity to revolutionise the format. That was the moment to strike.

Fuel to the fire, the entire production had also just relocated from London to a purpose-built studio in Birmingham. Reader, no strike has happened. It’s been the same banal format for nigh on 20 years.

While literally anyone with a pulse would have been better, with stronger credentials to judge than Gregg Wallace, Dent and Haugh have been pretty sturdy pairs of hands. Both familiar to the audience as regulars in the MasterChef universe for many years, they navigated their new roles well,........

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