Big names in frame as star show seeks recipe for success

There are four names in the frame to take over at MasterChef, but Ten will have to fork out for them.

Nigella Lawson was a guest chef on MasterChef season 11: Pictured here with George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston

As cooking show eliminations go, the Ten Network’s decision to eject Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan from the MasterChef kitchen yesterday, the same day as its 2019 finale, was a doozy.

But if you thought the mass elimination on the reality show was all about Calombaris underpaying staff nearly $8 million in wages, you’d be wrong.

Despite the Calombaris scandal, Ten’s decision not to renew the trio’s contracts is about money. With Preston, Calombaris and Mehigan negotiating as a bloc, the network felt it could not afford a 40 per cent pay rise on their $1 million-plus annual salaries.

Ten chief executive Paul Anderson told Diary last night: “There comes a point where 40 per cent is a lot in anyone’s language, which forces us into a corner and gives us no alternative (but to move on).”

MORE: Pay dispute ends MasterChef run

The trio’s $1m-a-year-plus packages were arrived at in the days when MasterChef rated up to four million viewers in its finale. But MasterChef rated just 740,000 viewers on Monday night, and Anderson told Diary that meant the show had to be “fiscally responsible”.

“We’re taking a long-term approach to the show that we want to be around for another decade,” he said.

Still, the network will have to dip into its pockets to make sure next year’s rebranded version makes a splash.

Diary understands there are four names at the top of the list: Nigella Lawson, Curtis Stone, and two former runners-up on the show, Poh Ling Yeow and Matt Sinclair.

Lawson annually makes an extended pilgrimage down under in the Australian summer, when MasterChef is filmed, which makes her an ideal candidate — if she is available. This year, she extended her time in Australia, after filming “Nigella Week” for MasterChef, with a speaking tour in January and February.

Stone is also seen as an ideal choice — particularly given he is an ambassador for Coles, which is the major sponsor of MasterChef.

Meanwhile, Poh and Sinclair would play into Ten’s desire for “generational change” on the show, helping the brand by showcasing two successful former contestants.

Two other high-profile regular guests, international uber-chef Gordon Ramsay and the much-loved Maggie Beer, are believed to be unlikely to front the show.

Ramsay is understood to be too busy and too expensive to host the Australian version.

Meanwhile, Beer, 74, does not play to the generational change theme the show wants to explore, although Diary hears she will continue to be used for guest spots.