Television chef Matt Tebbutt has said he was left "f*****g livid" after the British Broadcasting Corporation sacked him from MasterChef: The Professionals after one series.
The 52-year-old presenter recalled the "brutal" moment he learned he had been axed from the cooking competition at 5pm on the afternoon before he was due to promote the spin-off on BBC One's The One Show. Earlier this year, it emerged that Tebbutt would not return to the programme despite a warm reception from viewers.
Speaking on the Go To Food podcast months after his departure, Tebbutt said the decision to drop him just hours before a round of publicity engagements was "badly handled" by television executives.
"They went in a different direction. Now I get it TV changes, ideas change," Tebbutt said on the podcast. "New people come in, totally understand that. But don't tell me the day before I was due to go on The One Show. I was told at 5pm and I was going the next day to go and do The One Show and all the press around it. Don't tell me that. That's badly handled."
Refusal to appear on The One Show
Tebbutt said he immediately pulled out of his scheduled guest slot on the live weeknight magazine programme, telling bosses to "f**k off" when it was suggested that he should still go ahead with the broadcast the next day.
The chef explained that he could not have hidden his frustration on live television while being questioned by presenter Alex Jones about the series.
"I'm not doing that f**k off. Because when lovely Alex Jones sits there and goes: 'oh you know, what's going on? Tell me about the series, what's happening next year?'" Tebbutt recalled. "I don't have a poker face. You will know I'm going to be cross so I said no I'm not doing that. I was annoyed and when I said annoyed, I was f**king livid."
Broadcast live on weekday evenings, The One Show is one of the BBC's main platforms for promoting its flagship series, with Welsh presenter Jones having co-hosted the programme since 2010.
Reaction to the MasterChef exit
Tebbutt is best known as the host of BBC One's weekend cookery programme Saturday Kitchen, which he took over after James Martin stepped down in 2016. Before moving into broadcasting, he trained under chef Marco Pierre White and ran the Foxhunter restaurant in Monmouthshire, Wales, for more than a decade.
The presenter had previously discussed the fallout from his departure with presenter Jaega Wise on BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme, telling her that the attention surrounding his exit was hard to deal with.
"It was, yes, of course it is [difficult]. I mean, I'm not going to say I wasn't upset. I was really upset. And it could have been handled a lot better. But it is what it is," Tebbutt told the radio programme.
He added that working in television required resilience when line-up changes happen. "You know, there's worse things going on. You've got to be pretty resilient. It's part of the game, really," he said. "I guess it's like if you're a politician, you're going to get knocks. So it's just par for the course, I think."
Stepping in after Gregg Wallace left
Tebbutt joined MasterChef: The Professionals for its 18th series to replace former host Gregg Wallace, presenting alongside returning judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti. Even though fans praised his addition to the programme, he confirmed he will not return for another run.
Wallace, 61, was dismissed by the BBC last July after an investigation into 83 historical allegations of workplace misconduct, with 45 accusations against him upheld. The former greengrocer had co-hosted the revamped MasterChef franchise for two decades.
Launched in 2008 as a spin-off from the amateur MasterChef contest, MasterChef: The Professionals tests working chefs across skills rounds and fine-dining challenges alongside long-serving judges Galetti, a Samoan-born New Zealand chef, and Michelin-starred British restaurateur Wareing.
Working with Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti
Despite the abrupt end to his tenure, Tebbutt said he "really enjoyed" his stint on the show, while noting that joining the production after Wallace's exit was "a tough gig" from the start.
"Walking into such an established show, whatever had happened before, you don't want to be that guy that turns up and steamrollers everything," Tebbutt explained. "To then go in and get to know the personalities of Monica and Marcus, and get to know the crew and still do your job and deliver, it was a lot."
He said the highlight of his single series on the competition was building relationships with the contestants and seeing the commitment they brought to the kitchen. "I got really invested in the chefs," he admitted. "You see how hard these chefs work and then they have families, and then they go home and have these proper jobs and they still have to practice. They've got a lot resting on this."
The Daily Mail reported that the BBC has been contacted for comment.
