Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris won’t return to MasterChef after pay dispute
In a delicious twist, the MasterChef hosts are out after demands for a $1m pay rise were rejected, putting the future of the show in doubt.
George Calombaris, the celebrity chef who underpaid his workers almost $8 million, has lost his gig on the Ten Network’s MasterChef Australia after failing to land a hefty pay rise, throwing the future of the long-running cooking show in doubt.
Calombaris, whose private restaurant empire was embroiled in a wages scandal last week, will leave the cooking show with fellow hosts Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan.
Before last night’s grand final episode, Ten said it had failed to meet “satisfactory” salary expectations for the trio, believed to be earning more than $1m each.
The announcement came amid calls by unions for Ten to dump Calombaris, after his restaurant empire — which included Melbourne’s now-closed Press Club and Jimmy Grants — was fined for the $7.8m underpayment of 515 workers.
Ten has said the announcement is not to do with the scandal.
“Despite months of negotiations, Ten has not been able to reach a commercial agreement that was satisfactory to Matt, Gary and George,” chief executive Paul Anderson said in a statement.
“We would like to thank Gary, George and Matt for their contribution over the past 11 years.”
Television sources said Ten was initially asked for a 100 per cent salary increase, despite the hosts making more than $1m, excluding sponsorship deals.
The final salary offer put on the table by Ten is understood to have been significant, but the CBS-owned network’s failed discussions suggest lucrative hosting deals aren’t feasible in a market with audience decline and tough advertising conditions.
“Free-to-air ain’t the gravy train it used to be,” said one TV executive in response to the news.
After 11 sensational seasons, we bid a fond farewell to our judges - Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris. Thank you for being a part of this remarkable #MasterChefAU legacy and helping make the culinary dreams of everyday home cooks come true! pic.twitter.com/uG0A3ec8jI
— #MasterChefAU (@masterchefau) July 23, 2019
Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris have hosted the show for 11 years. However, this season hadn’t delivered the sizeable audiences it had achieved previously.
Monday night’s part one of the grand final attracted a metropolitan audience of 742,000. The same episode last year attracted 961,000 metro viewers. Last year’s grand final attracted 1.126 million metropolitan viewers.
MasterChef’s average metropolitan audience this year has sat at about 620,000 viewers.
The Australian understands production costs are just over $400,000 an episode, bringing the total series cost to about $25m.
Ten will go ahead with its 12th season next year, despite the absence of the three foundation hosts. Mr Anderson said he couldn’t wait to introduce “the next generation of exceptional judges” to Australia.
The Seven and Nine networks would not comment on whether they would be interested in hiring the three hosts.
The decision comes after it was revealed that Made Establishment, the company controlling Calombaris’s restaurant empire, was fined $200,000 for ripping off workers, repaying $7.8m in unpaid wages and superannuation to 515 staff. Several unions called for Calombaris’s axing.
Tourism Western Australia dumped Calombaris from its advertising campaign this week. Until yesterday Ten said Calombaris had its support.
Mark Morey, the secretary of peak body Unions NSW, said Ten had made the right decision.
“Channel 10 has made the right decision in dumping Calombaris and hopefully into the future it will select master chefs viewers and contestants can aspire to, chefs who pay their workers fairly. It’s a pity they haven’t publicly condemned the illegal behaviour,” Mr Morey said.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil agreed it was the “right decision”. “This is a win for working people who have worked tirelessly for years to expose the rampant wage theft and exploitation on which Calombaris built his empire,” Ms O’Neil said.
Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris were contacted for comment.
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