Torode and Wallace are both back for a new series of MasterChef

British TV is hardly lacking in cooking contests – so far this year, we’ve had Great British Menu, Next Level Chef and The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, not to mention Gordon Ramsay’s hunt for his Future Food Star.

But MasterChef clearly still holds a special place in the viewers’ affections – it even has royal fans.

Hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode were both awarded MBEs in the late Queen’s 2022 birthday honours, and it turns out her grandson watches the show too.

After having the honour bestowed upin him by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace earlier this year, Torode said: “I’ve been given this MBE for my contributions to food, TV and charity work and I feel very privileged. The Prince of Wales was absolutely lovely. I’ve cooked for him before, many years ago, but I had never got the chance to actually speak to him.”

He added: “The good thing is he’s a MasterChef fan. He said that he and his wife watch it quite a lot and that last time he tuned in I hadn’t been presenting and he was worried that I wasn’t doing it anymore. I reassured him that I was still going.”

So, the Prince of Wales should be very relieved to find Torode and Wallace are both back for a new series, ready to find the nation’s best amateur chef.

It begins with the first heat as nine home cooks arrive, armed with their own ingredients, ready for the audition round. To ease them in gently (or at least, that’s the idea), they have been asked to whip up a family favourite, albeit one that’s been elevated to MasterChef status.

The judges won’t watch them cook, which should take some pressure off. Instead, Wallace and Torode will sample each dish in the Tasting Room, meaning they are judging the contestants on the quality of the food alone.

They are looking for dishes that tell them who the chefs are, but also show potential for how good they could become – and the three that impress them most will be rewarded with a MasterChef apron and immunity from cooking in the next round.

The remaining six contestants will then get another chance to wow the judges as they take on the invention test. They can whip up either a sweet or a savoury concoction, but this time the presenters will be in the kitchen with them, so the stakes are high.

At the end of the round, the hosts will announce who has got one of the four remaining aprons and a place in the next stage, and which two chefs are already heading home.

The series continues tomorrow as the remaining cooks are challenged by one of the country’s toughest food critics, William Sitwell, to whip up a dish inspired by their favourite celebrity chef.

They are also asked to cook up a dish with layers, after which four of them will go through to Friday’s quarter-final, where they serve two courses to last year’s finalists and champion – Eddie Scott, Pookie Tredell and Radha Kaushal-Bolland.