A bit like some of his contestants’ dishes, John Torode can have a tough exterior but is all gooey once you dig deeper.
No one knows that better than actress Lisa Faulkner, who won John’s heart after appearing on Celebrity MasterChef.
The pair are now engaged and, to continue the foodie analogy, go together like peaches and cream, cake and custard… or goat’s cheese and red onion – the treat Lisa served up to win Celeb MasterChef in 2010.
The Sunday Mirror spent time with the loved-up pair on the set of their ITV show John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen.
They talk about fate, their first date and, of course, Gregg Wallace – John’s MasterChef mate.
John, 53, says of Lisa said: “It was fate we ended up together.
“There’s been many times we’ve passed each other along the way.
“But it wasn’t until nearly a decade ago that I asked her out. It’s funny how life works.”
The pair first met 23 years ago – though John has little recollection of it. Ex-Holby City and EastEnders star Lisa, 47, explains: “I said to John ‘You know we met on This Morning in Liverpool in 1996?’
“I was talking about a job and he was cooking. It was his first time on the show.
“And he never believed me until the show celebrated its 30th anniversary and found the clip of me on the sofa while he cooks.”
The pair plan to wed as soon as they get a break from filming. Lisa gushes: “Working together has been like a honeymoon.
“I’ve got to spend every day with my best friend.”
It sounds cheesy, but actually it’s incredibly charming.
John – breaking into Never Tear Us Apart by Australian rock band INXS – agrees with Lisa, adding: “This morning my alarm went off and I thought I just want another few minutes in bed.
“But then I thought I’ve got a great day ahead.
“Doing something you love with someone you love is a real joy.”
Back in 2010, John had commended Lisa’s tartlet and praised her “natural touch and fantastic palate”. But they didn’t start dating until 2014.
Lisa split from her husband – fellow actor Chris Coghill – in 2011, while John separated from his wife that year and divorced in 2014.
It was last Christmas Day that John and Lisa delighted fans by announcing their engagement.
Lisa admits: “I had no idea he was going to ask me to marry him. He shocked me with that one.”
That romantic moment was all a little different to one of their early dates when John made the mistake of asking Lisa to watch a horror movie with him.
She loves grisly flicks. He doesn’t.
John recalls: “She was excited as she loves them but she didn’t realise how terrified I was and had only said it to be nice. It was one about Australians on an island… awful.”
Lisa interjects: “I watch horror films and he sits in the other room playing Forza (the car video game).
“I’ll beg him to sit with me but he just won’t. I do make him come to the cinema to watch them though and he spends all the time jumping.
“He’s obsessed with kids’ film Madagascar and loves Kung Fu Panda. He’s not good at reality or gritty dramas.”
With things bubbling away nicely off screen, the pair launched an on-screen partnership that has taken TV by storm.
Their happiness spills on to the set of Weekend Kitchen, where Lisa playfully smacks his arm and calls him “Babe”.
They are into a second series and, beaming with pride, Lisa says: “It’s so important to make the show feel like a home from home.”
John chips in: “Producers said they wanted another series but this time they wanted two hours and they wanted guests.
“We said if we have guests we don’t want people just to be on to sell their show, we want people we know as it’s about food and food memories.
“And it’s about everyone at home being able to follow our recipes.
“It’s more than a cooking show.”
But is there any rivalry when they are cooking together? Nope, says John, adding: “We never argue when we cook together because when you’re in a relationship like ours and involved with food you can feel the energy.
“Lisa says she doesn’t like things but we never steam at each other.”
Even Lisa’s homemade broccoli pasta hits the spot with classically trained chef John when he returns from filming MasterChef.
Lisa adds: “He’ll say, ‘That’s the best thing I’ve eaten all day’ and I’ll think, ‘Yeah, right’.”
John offers up one thing that irritates him about his future wife.
He grumbles: “When I go out occasionally – and she won’t admit to this – she does eat on her lap in the living room in front of the TV. You should only have dinner in front of a screen on an aeroplane, that’s it.”
Lisa responds: “Well, he’s good at cooking and amazing at cleaning. But he does snore.”
It’s all playful stuff. And John appears to have the right recipe for a good relationship – time apart.
He says: “We let each other have our own space and breathe. Much like Gregg and I.”
John explains how he met 54-year-old Gregg – who started a veg empire in his teens – 15 years ago. He tells us: “I’ve known him since my first job in London. This little guy turned up in a flat cap with a white van asking if he could take my veg order.
“I told him he could if he got
coriander with the root on. Three days later he turned up with it.”
Lisa adds: “I make John watch MasterChef as I love it and I say the two together are brilliant. They dance around each other.”
“Yeah, but life gifted me with you, fortunately,” John laughs.
Last month the MasterChef hosts and pals partied for 10 hours, racking up a bill into the thousands, to
celebrate the birth of Gregg’s son Sid.
John says: “It’s well documented me and Gregg don’t see each other outside work as we spend so much time together, but we did have a good night.
“It started in the afternoon and I came back silly and grinning – which I get like when I’ve had a drink.”
So, will Gregg be his best man?
“I can’t answer that question,” he sheepishly replies.
John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen, Sundays at 9.25am on ITV
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