Speculation over who will replace Gregg Wallace at the helm of the flagship BBC cooking competition has grown, with several names emerging as front runners.
Wallace, 60, stepped down from his role as host and judge as at least 13 accusations of inappropriate sexual behaviour were made against him.
Wallace stepped back from MasterChef
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The two front runners to replace Wallace are James Martin and Nigella Lawson
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TV chef James Martin, who hosts a number of cookery programmes on ITV, has emerged as a strong favourite.
Analysis from Betfred gives the 52-year-old 5/2 odds of becoming the new MasterChef host.
Other strong contenders have surfaced including other TV chefs like Lisa Faulkner, the wife of Torode. She has 3/1 odds of joining her husband.
British foodie TV royalty Nigella Lawson was given a 4/1 chance of taking on the role.
Restaurant critic Grace Dent, who frequently appeared as a guest judge on MasterChef, has 5/1 odds.
Italian celeb chef Gino D’Acampo, who made his name as Good Morning Britain’s regular cook, was also given a 5/1 chance.
Regarding Wallace, Banijay UK has said it is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process” and called on anyone who has a complaint against Wallace to come forward.
A BBC source reiterated that there was an ongoing process in place being run by Banijay and urged caution around “pre-judging” any of the matters recently raised.