News that Grace Dent is set to replace Gregg Wallace on Celebrity MasterChef was met with joy. The restaurant critic and columnist said that hosting the show was ‘more than a dream to me’ and said she felt ‘very lucky’ to be taking the reins alongside John Torode after she was announced to step into Gregg’s shoes, following allegations of misconduct.
‘I've been watching MasterChef since I was a girl sitting with my dad on the sofa… I'm so excited that I can't eat, which is severely detrimental to a restaurant critic. I feel very lucky to be stepping in for the next Celebrity MasterChef,’ Grace said.
The food critic and columnist certainly has the credentials to be the next host, having made regular guest appearances as a food critic on MasterChef and a contestant on MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics in 2023.
As she prepares to front her new show, which will air in 2025, we take a deep delve into Grace’s life and loves…
Who is Grace Dent and what does she do for a living?
Grace Dent is an English broadcaster, author and podcaster, who rose up through the ranks from editorial assistant at Marie Claire to food columnist at the Evening Standard before becoming restaurant critic at The Guardian, even winning Reviewer of the Year at the London Restaurant Festival in 2017. She is also host of BBC Radio 4’s The Untold and the Guardian's food podcast, Comfort Eating with Grace Dent and had a book out with the same name.
How did Grace Dent become famous?
Whilst being a restaurant critic sounds like an incredibly cool job, Grace Dent’s fame also comes from the series of novels that she has published, as well as her role on multiple TV shows including Masterchef (in all its forms) and Great British Menu.
She also currently hosts the podcasts The Untold on BBC Radio 4 – a documentary series about life in 21stcentury Britain – and Comfort Eating, in which she interviews her celeb guests about food, cooking and cuisine.
What TV shows has Grace Dent been in?
Masterchef
Grace Dent is a regular critic on Masterchef UK, Masterchef: The Professionals and Celebrity Masterchef.
Great British Menu
Grace Dent briefly appeared as a judge on Great British Menu.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Grace was in the Australian jungle for the 23rd series of I’m A Celebrity alongside Marvin Humes, Jamie Lynn Spears, Nigel Farage and Sam Thompson, who won the series.
She has also appeared as a celebrity guest on multiple British TV shows including Pointless: Celebrities, Have I Got News For You and Richard Osman’s House of Games.
Was Grace Dent a contestant on MasterChef?
Grace Dent was a contestant on MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics in 2023, and while she was praised by John Torode and Gregg Wallace for her butter chicken and rice, it was Jay Rayner who was crowned the champion of the series.
What happened to Grace Dent in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity?
Sadly, just over a week into the reality competition, Grace Dent was the first contestant to leave the jungle, exiting on medical grounds. An ITV statement read, 'Unfortunately Grace Dent has left the show on medical grounds. She has been a great campmate and will be missed by her fellow celebrities and viewers alike.'
The news came after Grace admitted to struggling and putting on a brave face for her camp mates in the Bush Telegraph, the I'm A Celeb diary room. She left a letter to her fellow camp mates to tell them of her decision. It read, 'My dear campmates, I'm so sorry to let you down. I have left the camp for medical reasons. My heart is broken, I have loved and enjoyed getting to know you all. You've held me up and it's been a pleasure being your friend through this experience.
'Leaving you all at this stage will be one of the saddest things in my life. I love you all. Your friend, Miss Grace Dent.' Grace had previously admitted that she was struggling in the jungle and had even told that she'd 'completely had enough' and just wanted to go home. After her exit, she said her decision was ‘the greatest regret’ of her life, and admitted that while she ‘didn’t want to go’ home, life inside the camp was made difficult by a complete ‘lack of control’.
What age is Grace Dent?
Born 3 October 1973, Grace Dent is 51 years old.
Where is Grace Dent from?
Born in Carlisle, Cumbria in England, Grace Dent is from North West England. She now lives and works in London.
Is Grace Dent married?
Grace Dent was previously married for nine years but has never identified her ex-husband or spoken in depth about their marriage. She revealed that she still has her wedding dress and even rewears it.
‘I’ve still got the dress that I got married in. I’m not married to him anymore. But I’ve still got that dress,’ she said. ‘We’d just had a very informal marriage, we got married in Vegas, and I’ve still got the dress. I love the dress – this is the problem! I’ve still got that dress and I can’t quite give it away.
‘It’s a turquoise patterned tea dress, and it’s in the exact colour that I love. It’s nipped at the waist and it’s flattering. And you can put it on and look a million dollars,’ she explained. ‘And I do sometimes wander if my ex-husband sometimes, watching TV, casually one night eating Pop Tarts, and he looks and he goes, “Is that the dress she wore? I’m sure I know that dress”.’
Is Grace Dent engaged?
Grace has since found love again and is now rumoured to be engaged to her ‘gorgeous’ boyfriend Charles. The pair met through social media and got engaged in 2021 after two years together.
‘With my man, Charles, I think almost every day whenever I look at him: “How did I pull this off?” Because before we got together, I used to follow him on Instagram, and he followed me and there was at least 24 months where I used to just look at his photo and go, “He's so pretty”,’ she said in an interview. ‘It was very gradual because we followed each other because we knew people in common. It's a very modern but very actually mundane way of people getting together.
‘One of you leaves a comment and then the other one leaves a comment back but it was after about a year and a half, two years of leaving comments [that we met up].’
Grace revealed how the pair ‘flirted’ for a year and a half online whilst ‘we both wasted our time on other lesser beings’.
‘I was in Liverpool working and I was feeling really miserable. And I got this message from him that he would like to take me for coffee and that was it!’ she said.
It was love at first sight for her. ‘He was absolutely gorgeous. I saw him across the bar. And one thing is turning up when somebody is completely not the person that they said,’ she recalled. ‘But then what's almost worse – no, it's not worse, but it's similar – is when you turn up and the person is the person. And you’re like, “Oh here we go. Here we go. Here is my heart, to be dragged and thrown at a wall from 25 feet! Kill me now!”’
Despite being in love, Grace said that she doesn’t live with her partner. ‘I live ostensibly on my own because my partner, Charlie, and I have separate homes, however the reality is he’s in my house most of the time, making a mess, eating food from my fridge and being looked after.’
Does Grace Dent have any children?
Grace Dent doesn’t have any children, and has no plans to. In an article for The Guardian in 2018, she wrote, ‘I do like children. Just not enough. This still feels like a radical thing for a woman to say. And children do like me, too. I have a big capacity for silliness, plus I resemble a sort of Claymation witch, which they find intriguing. But I didn’t ever truly want one.’
She added, ‘Thank you for raising the future. You’re all amazing. But it’s still a no from me.’
Is Grace Dent a vegan?
Grace Dent describes herself as plant-based or flexitarian, having been ‘mainly vegan’ since the early 2010s. ‘The guts of my diet are plants and veg. I’m perpetually throwing back handfuls of nuts and seeds,’ she said. ‘Eating plant-based makes really no impact on my career as a restaurant critic. I see this as my special skill as a critic, not a hindrance.’
Are Grace and Susie Dent related?
While they may share the same surname, Grace and Countdown’s ‘Dictionary Corner’ star Susie do not have any family ties. Grace was born in Carlisle and Susie in Woking.
What books has Grace Dent released?
Grace Dent has written 11 novels, all aimed at a YA audience including six novels in a series called Diary of a Chav and two in a series called Diary of a Snob.
In October 2020, Grace Dent published her memoir Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More which according to the tagline documented Grace’s story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of the much-loved voices of the British food scene. Grace published Comfort Eating about our love for secret snacks and naughty nibbles in 2023.
Daisy Hall is a news and entertainment writer for Grazia, specialising in TV and film, meaning you can always count on Daisy for the latest (and best) viewing recommendations.