GRACE Dent has cemented her name as one of the biggest food critics in the UK.
The star is now taking on a brand new challenge, after it was announced she is the new judge and co-host of Celebrity MasterChef.
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Grace Dent was born on October 3, 1973, in Carlisle, Cumbria and studied English Literature at Stirling University in Scotland.
While at university she began her journalism career by writing features for Cosmopolitan.
After graduating she worked as an editorial assistant for Vogue before going on to become a freelancer writing features and columns for magazines including Glamour, Marie Claire and More.
Grace wrote about television for The Guardian for 12 years between 2000 and 2012, before moving to The Independent.
From 2011 to 2017. she penned a restaurant column for The Evening Standard called Grace and Flavour and she then moved back to The Guardian as their restaurant critic.
In 2019, Grace won the Guild of Food Writers Food Writing Award.
The star is now the host of The Guardian’s Comfort Eating podcast.
Becoming a MasterChef star
Over the years, Grace has been a regular critic on MasterChef UK, MasterChef: The Professionals, and Celebrity MasterChef.
She has proved very popular on all of these shows and, in December 2024, it was announced she had landed a full time job with the franchise.
Grace is the new judge and co-host of Celebrity MasterChef alongside John Torode.
She replaces Gregg Wallace after he quit the show.
Speaking about joining Celebrity MasterChef, Grace told the BBC: “I’ve been watching MasterChef since I was a girl sitting with my dad on the sofa.
“My whole family watches it. It’s all about uncovering and championing talent and to have ended up in this position, is more than a dream to me.
“I’m so excited that I can’t eat, which is severely detrimental to a restaurant critic.
“I feel very lucky to be stepping in for the next Celebrity MasterChef. I can’t wait to meet the fresh celebrity faces for 2025.”
TV show fame
Away from MasterChef, Grace has also judged food on the BBC’s Great British Menu.
She also has a wealth of experience on a variety of other TV shows.
Outside of the kitchen, Grace has appeared on Very British Problems, Pointless Celebrities, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Have I Got News For You, The Now Show (Radio 4), and The Review Show Film 2012.
She has also featured on The Culture Show, Charlie Brooker‘s Screenwipe and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled.
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I’m A Celebrity star
In 2023, Grace took part in I’m a Celebrity.
Her appearance on the series came as a surprise to fans as she had previously called the show a “puerile venture into starvation, televised constipation and animal cruelty, abbreviated by ads for Iceland £1 curries.”
The former television writer explained her past comments after her place on the ITV favourite was confirmed, explaining they were a “joke”.
However, after a week in the camp, Grace announced she would be leaving the show on medical grounds.
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Grace’s love life
Grace has a boyfriend called Charles, but she likes to keep her personal life private.
Their relationship is kept out of the spotlight but the journalist has previously revealed how they got together.
During an appearance on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time, Grace said: “With my man, Charles, I think almost every day whenever I look at him ‘How did I pull this off?’
“Because before we got together, I used to follow him on Instagram, and he followed me and there was at least 24 months where I used to just look at his photo and go ‘He’s so pretty’.
“It was very gradual because we followed each other because we knew people in common.
“I was in Liverpool working, and I was feeling really, really miserable, and then I just got I got this little message from him saying that he would like to take me for a coffee.”