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His career was left in tatters when he was sacked from his long-standing role on MasterChef for the alleged use of a racist term.
Now, five months on, John Torode has revealed that he’s been having therapy to cope with the fallout, which has taught him how to ‘sit in his grief’ and ‘be real’ instead of ‘brave’.
The chef, 60, who is married to actress Lisa Faulkner, 53, was pulled from the BBC show after an allegation emerged he had used ‘extremely offensive racist language in 2018’, which he claims to have ‘no recollection of’.
In a post on writers’ platform Substack, Torode wrote: ‘Life has changed for ever for me and for those close to me. There is no sympathy searching here just honesty.’
He went on: ‘Therapy over the past few months has entitled me to no longer “be brave” but instead be real.’
In his newsletter, Torode revealed that he was away working in Qatar – and described visiting the Grand Prix there as his first attempt at ‘facing my grief alone’, without his wife Lisa.
He added: ‘This week I can proudly say that I have allowed the true hurt and sadness to flow through me without resistance.’
Torode has been keeping a low profile since he was fired from the cookery show, just weeks after his co-star Gregg Wallace, 61, was sacked over a series of allegations about his sexualised on-set behaviour.
ITV recently announced that a festive episode of John And Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen had been commissioned.
It comes after he took to social media to say that he feels he has ‘nothing to prove and ‘doesn’t need to convince anyone he’s a good person’.
He shared a post on Instagram Stories which read in full: ‘The best decision I ever made? To be quiet and move on. I have nothing to prove.
‘I’m not here to convince anyone to love me or that I’m a great person. I’m not fixing what I didn’t break, and I’m not fighting for anyone to see my worth.
‘Whatever you do is on you – and that’s your journey, not mine. As for me? I’m moving forward.’
His co-host Wallace, 61, stepped down from the show in November 2024 and was dropped by the BBC in July of this year after a report upheld 45 allegations about his conduct, including inappropriate sexual language and unwelcome physical contact.
John went on to front the show alongside new host Grace Dent, before he claims he learned via the BBC News website that he had been axed.
