Gossip Queen: Chef George Calombaris is back cooking and tips TV return
George Calombaris is cooking up some fresh ideas, saying he can “pretty much guarantee” a TV return for the ousted MasterChef judges. His big call comes ahead of the friends’ first reunion since the Channel 10 drama unfolded.
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George Calombaris says he can “pretty much guarantee” a return to TV for the ousted MasterChef judges.
He also revealed he’s gone back to basics at work and is gearing up for a series of industry talks as part of his sanction from the Fair Work Commission for underpaying staff.
Calombaris confidently predicted he, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston would be back on screen and were not a finished force.
“Will the three of us be on TV again? I can pretty much guarantee you that,” Calombaris said.
“In what capacity? Who knows? I don’t know. I am letting people who are a lot more experienced than me worry about that.
“They (Mehigan and Preston) could go off and do their own thing, they don’t need to hang with me, but that just goes to show that is true friendship, you stick together through thick and thin. The band is having a rest now and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
In the TV shock of the year the three musketeers of the kitchen parted ways with the hit cooking show after 11 successful years in July.
The “band” will reunite in person for the first time since the drama in South Africa this week, where they are appearing at a food festival.
“I leave Tuesday to meet the boys over there and have a week away with them,” he said.
“Obviously I have had all my stuff going on, Gary has been away filming and Matt has been in Portugal.
“We have constant dialogue, texts and calls, but it is going to be really nice to hang together.”
Calombaris first industry talk on workplace compliance will begin soon.
“I am excited that I can go and talk about the industry I love and talk about the mistakes that we made as an organisation,” he said.
“Give me 100 people, 500 people, 10,000 people to speak in front of, I will do it. It is not that I have to, it is because I want to and I am excited about that.”
Fair Work found in July Calombaris’ MAdE Establishment had underpaid workers $7.8 million between 2011 and 2017. The company was fined $200,000.
Calombaris said he has based himself in the kitchen at his Brighton Hellenic Republic restaurant in recent weeks and was grateful to friends and colleagues who had stood by him.
“There are 600 team members that have stuck by me and we have galvanised a team like I have never seen before,” he said.
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“There are moments in your life that are the darkest that you find out who truly are your friends. It is a long road back, it is a long, exciting road back, but it is a road that I am fit and ready for. In my mind I am a lot more educated and am excited about the future.
“At the moment I am happy and grateful and getting on with the thing that I know. I know how to cook and I am enjoying being in the restaurant and seeing my team before we open Elektra (at the site of the old Press Club) at the end of the month.”
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