MasterChef judge discovered he was dumped via Instagram

MasterChef Australia judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris won't return to the Channel Ten cooking reality show in 2020.
MasterChef Australia judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris won't return to the show in 2020. Photo: Channel Ten

Reality TV can be a tough beast, as MasterChef viewers would have learned this week when judges Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris were axed from the show.

Matt Preston has now revealed he only discovered he wouldn’t be returning to the Channel Ten program in 2020 when he spotted the news on Instagram.

According to The Daily Telegraph, it was “commiserating fans delivering the news” via social media to the 57-year-old cravat-loving food critic.

Speaking to the publication, Matt insisted parting ways with the TV network had nothing to do with money.

“We were happy with what was being offered, in fact we had accepted Ten’s financial offer to make the next series of MasterChef,” he explained.

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“We just failed to agree on the other terms.”

Earlier this week Network Ten’s chief executive officer Paul Anderson, said in a statement, “Despite months of negotiation, 10 has not been able to reach a commercial agreement that was satisfactory to Matt, Gary and George.

“Australia is full of remarkable cooking talent and we can’t wait to introduce another group – and the next generation of exceptional judges – in season 12 of MasterChef Australia next year.”

It’s understood the decision is separate to embattled judge George’s recent underpayment saga, and according to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, the trio were after a 40 per cent pay increase.

Meanwhile Matt took to Instagram on Thursday to tell followers he’s returning to the airwaves (albeit only temporarily) in a very different capacity to his eleven-year stint at the cooking show’s helm.

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“Looking forward to guesting on #ABCMelbourne's breakfast show next week with Jacinta Parsons,” he wrote.

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