Leaked call between original MasterChef judges sparks fan frenzy

A snippet of a private Zoom call between the original judges of the hugely popular MasterChef franchise has dropped a big hint at what’s coming next.

The original trio of MasterChef judges are cooking up something brand new.

Celebrity chef George Calombaris sent fans into frenzy on Tuesday night after posting a short snippet of his Zoom call meeting with former co-stars Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston to Instagram.

The footage – which was roughly filmed off his laptop screen – showed Preston teasing Calombaris about his “daggy” taste in desserts.

“The daggier the better,” Calombaris agreed. “As daggy as we are on this Zoom call.”

It was cryptically captioned: “Some serious food talk for a very special project. But majority a lot of shots and giggles.”

The post has since racked up almost 60,000 views and hundreds of comments from fans.

Calombaris, Mehigan and Preston fronted MasterChef for a decade, from its debut season in 2009.

In July 2019, Network 10 confirmed the original judging trio would not be returning, in an announcement aired just hours before the season 11 finale.

The trio fronted MasterChef for a decade. Picture: Ten

In a statement at the time, chief executive officer Paul Anderson said the network had not been able to reach a commercial agreement “that was satisfactory” with the trio after months of negotiation.

Initial reports in the media claimed negotiations broke down because the three judges demanded a 40 per cent pay rise, guaranteeing them $1.5 million each for season 12 of the show.

Preston confirmed on Instagram they were “really keen to continue but we were unable to agree to all terms for the new contract”.

They were replaced in 2020 by Andy Allen, Melissa Leong, and Jock Zonfrillo, who was tragically found dead in May this year.

The original judges were replaced by Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo.

The three original stars have had mixed success in their post-MasterChef careers.

Preston appeared in the most recent series of Dancing With The Stars, but was forced to abruptly pull out after suffering an ankle injury.

He was joined by Mehigan in 2020 as hosts of new Seven series Plate of Origin, but it failed to win over audiences and was not renewed for a second season.

Meanwhile, Calombaris’ company, MaDE Establishment, was fined $200,000 by the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2019 after it was found to have underpaid staff at his restaurants by $7.8 million.

Speaking to news.com.au podcast I’ve Got News For You about the saga, Calombaris said: “We found the issue, we owned up, we paid back.

“A lot of the story that people don’t write about because it’s not cool enough or doesn’t get a headline is that we actually overpaid 49 per cent of our workforce that we never asked the money back for, and I wouldn’t of.

“I think the tough thing for me was, I thought by owning up, it’s the right thing to do, that’s how I grew up,” he continued.

“So for me, that was probably the thing that hurt the most, being called a ‘thief’.

“I’m proud of how we acted, I’m proud of what we did to fix the problem.”