Curse of MasterChef – from star left homeless battling crack addiction to £5m vomit scandal loss & X-rated rant at diner
SPARKS are already flying on MasterChef this year after judges gave one hopeful a verbal grilling after being served ‘raw’ food.
Gregg Wallace refused to eat Woei’s chicken because he felt “uncomfortable” believing it was “undercooked”, on Monday’s show.
It was one of many brutal blows in BBC MasterChef, which returned for a 19th series and aims to find some of the nation’s finest culinary experts.
But it’s not just on-screen where things are heating up by any means.
A number of former contestants have reportedly fallen victim to the so-called ‘MasterChef curse’.
From drug battles to criminal convictions, huge financial losses & recipe knicking claims, we report where some of the stars are now.
‘Became penniless addict’
Chris Tonner appeared on Junior MasterChef in 1998 and used it as a springboard for his catering career.
But in 2016 amid business struggles, he was forced to lay off 20 staff from his restaurants after profits were cut in half overnight.
At the time, Tonner said: “People are just not going out. They can’t afford to spend £100 on a meal in a restaurant.”
He went on to launch wedding catering firm Salt And Sauce but it failed in 2019 and distraught couples claimed he vanished with thousands of pounds.
After the collapse of Tonner’s businesses and marriage, the Scottish Sun reported that Chris succumbed to heroin and crack cocaine.
A number of crimes were reported including stealing four bottles of perfume worth £90 and knicking a Hyundai car amid his spiraling addiction.
In February 2022, Tonner was ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for six months.
It followed him pleading guilty to stealing a car, driving without insurance, intent to commit theft, breaking into a car and shoplifting.
Outside of court, Tonner’s solicitor Neil McRobert told The Sun: “Effectively his whole life just crashed and the way he dealt with it, unfortunately, was to start using heroin and crack cocaine.
“He says that he is absolutely disgusted by his offending. I recognise that the drug use that has taken over his life was the root cause of this.”
Vomiting virus
MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers became one of the most widely-known victors after appearing on the show in 2005 because she launched the nationwide Mexican food chain Wahaca.
However in 2018, the business reported losing £4.7million and blamed it on staff contracting the vomiting bug norovirus, which led to the closure of nine restaurants.
This Is Money reported around 160 customers and one-quarter of Wahaca’s staff were ill after an “unprecedented” outbreak of the virus in October 2016.
They claimed 18 of the 25 restaurants were affected, which led to one-off additional costs of £700,000.
The company also blamed staff shortages after Brexit – just a quarter of the 1,200 staff were British in 2018 – and that problem continues to this day.
Last November, Thomasina told the Hospitality Rising podcast: “We can’t take as many bookings.
“We have people wanting to have bookings at our tables and we don’t have enough staff.”
Drug dealer
Keelan Burton dreamed of fame after appearing on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2018 but those aspirations were extinguished early on in the first heat.
One year later, his life went “pear-shaped” after losing his senior chef job at LA Rock because of drug use and turning up late on multiple occasions.
Burton, whose relationship with the mother of his two children had ended, turned to cannabis to deal with the break-up and the stress of working 10 to 15 hour shifts.
In 2020, police arrested him after smelling weed in his Mercedes and discovered a quarter-kilo of the Class B drug valued at £2,486.
Last September, Burton was spared jailed after pleading guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply and received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and was ordered to pay £500.
Reflecting on the ordeal, he told Nottinghamshire Live: “Drugs make you feel great but also ruin your life… In this trade, they ask for everything, take everything and give you nothing.”
Customer rant
Michael O’Hare, 41, caught viewers’ attention on MasterChef in 2016 because of his blonde bushy mullet and daring fashion sense.
But the star, who also appears on The Great British Menu, caused controversy after a foul-mouthed rant at a complaining customer in 2017.
It followed diner Russell Whish stating the £180 meal at the chef’s restaurant was “bland and salty” only to be called a “c**t” amid a furious argument.
In a terse email exchange, Michael wrote: “I love it, I’m very proud of it and my palette is 10 million times better than yours! This is why I am a famous chef.”
The chef was slammed again for a 2019 job posting that required a “CV, cover letter and recent photo” for a £24,000 per year gig.
Online he was accused of being creepy for requesting a snap and comments felt he would shortlist candidates based on “what the person looks like”.
The process was dubbed by one a “vanity project” but Michael responded on Twitter stating: “I’m not trying to f*** them, I just want them to carry plates for me.”
Domestic abuse
Lewis Donegan appeared on MasterChef: The Professionals and even cooked for the late Queen Elizabeth II.
But in 2021, the Scottish cook was found guilty of domestic abuse after pushing his wife down a flight of stairs and leaving her in a heap on the floor.
It followed a row over Donegan’s drinking at his Perthshire home that ended with “screaming about something”, according to his wife.
Donegan, who admitted he felt “terrible” about injuring her, was ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid work by Alloa Sheriff Court.
‘Recipes row’
Elizabeth Haigh, 34, was eliminated in the early stages of the cooking show back in 2011 but went on to earn a Michelin star at restaurant Pidgin in Hackney, London.
However, last year she courted controversy after publishing Makan, a collection of Singaporean recipes supposedly “handed down through many generations of her family”.
Elizabeth was accused of having “copied or paraphrased” content from fellow chef Sharon Wee’s 2012 book Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen: Singapore Recipes From My Mother.
The MasterChef star’s cookbook was quietly withdrawn from sale by publisher Bloomsbury, who told The Guardian it was removed “due to rights issues”.
The Observer also noted similarities between recipe descriptions in both books including how ginger was used to help post-natal mothers “beat the wind”.