MasterChef Australia star Matt Preston admits that he let his fame go to his head

Former MasterChef judge Matt Preston has admitted that he didn’t deal well with his sudden fame. 

The food critic and chef starred on My Restaurant Rules in 2004 before becoming a household name when MasterChef Australia launched in 2009.

The influx of attention and special treatment went to his head, the television personality now admits. 

‘I had that thing of going from hardworking writer and then suddenly you fly to the country and the guys scanning the bags know you and the passport control guy knows you’ the 61-year-old tells this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine. 

‘I don’t think I dealt with it very well. I became a bit of a d***head, but it was very, very instructive.’

Matt says that he was less effected by the success of MasterChef than his first brush with fame on My Restaurant Rules, but nonetheless his rise was meteoric. 

‘I think the other thing that happened is that it took off so quickly and we had no idea what was happening’ he said. 

‘Suddenly it’s the number-one show in the history of reality television. And then next year it eclipses that. 

‘Your friends, the people who know you, that doesn’t change. But the whole world moves a metre to the right.’

Alongside fellow judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, Matt left MasterChef Australia in 2019 following a pay dispute with Channel Ten. 

The food critic and chef starred on My Restaurant Rules in 2004 before becoming a household name when MasterChef Australia launched in 2009

‘I had that thing of going from hardworking writer and then suddenly you fly to the country and the guys scanning the bags know you and the passport control guy knows you’ the 61-year-old tells this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine

Alongside fellow judges George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, Matt left MasterChef Australia in 2019 following a pay dispute with Channel Ten. All pictured 

In a statement, Network 10 CEO Paul Anderson said talks with the TV chefs had failed. 

‘Despite months of negotiations, 10 has not been able to reach a commercial agreement that was satisfactory to Matt, Gary and George,’ Mr Anderson said. 

At the time, an insider has revealed the trio were ‘shocked’ when Channel 10 refused to give them a 40 per cent increase on their $1million salaries.

The source told Woman’s Day that Matt, George and Gary were not expecting their negotiations to fail and weren’t prepared to leave the show after 11 years.

‘The judges didn’t expect them [Channel 10] to call their bluff and were shocked and devastated it had backfired,’ said the insider.

‘They had no back-up plan and didn’t even want to leave.’ 

The trio were replaced by Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen for the 2020 season onward. 

Read more in this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine