Gregg Wallace has said he and his MasterChef co-star John Torode are still in disagreement over a celebrity winner from over 12 years ago. 

The judge has revealed he and John still clash over their decision to crown Matt Dawson the winner of Celebrity MasterChef in 2006. 

Speaking to the Radio Times, Gregg said: “There’s a disagreement that still rumbles on from Celebrity MasterChef in 2006. We were choosing between Hardeep Singh Kohli and Matt Dawson in the final, and we still disagree now.

“Every now and again I bring it up when I’m feeling irritable.”

Admitting he often gives in to John’s opinions, Gregg continued: “I know when I look into John’s eyes whether he seriously wants that person, I can look in his eyes and know if there’s wiggle room, a chance that I can change his mind.

“But when he slams down a spoon and looks at me and says, ‘I’m telling you, there’s no way they’re cooking for me again as long as I live’, he means it. Then I won’t even bother.”

While John and Gregg may appear like close friends on screen, it is not the first time they have hinted they are not as close as viewers might suspect. 

John told The Mirror in 2017: “It’s funny, we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses.

“If we do go out for a drink, I’ll invariably be at one end of a big old table and he’ll be at the other.”

John, who actually acted as best man at Gregg’s wedding, later back-peddled on the comments, insisting he had a “great, solid friendship” with Gregg.

Gregg then went on to reveal that his co-host got a slapped wrist from BBC bosses over his comments, telling him to be more “careful” in how he words things in future.

The pair first met when Gregg supplied vegetables to London restaurant Quaglino’s, where John worked as a chef early in his career.

They later began presenting and judging MasterChef when it was revamped by the Beeb in 2005.

The full interview with Gregg appears in this week’s Radio Times, on sale now.