MasterChef: The Professionals winner Alex Webb has shared an anecdote about Gregg Wallace showing his “true colours”. Reflecting on his time on the show, Alex recalled how Gregg’s caring nature shone through when he sent a special Christmas message to Alex’s terminally ill father during his participation in the competition.
The 2020 champion chose not to weigh in on the controversies currently surrounding Gregg but remembered his acts of kindness fondly. He recounted: “I don’t really want to comment on it [the allegations of inappropriate behaviour], but I can only speak from personal experience and my dad passed away just after the show, so luckily he got to watch the show.”
Webb’s father, Phillip, succumbed to lung cancer in 2022 at the age of 61, yet not before receiving the heartening message from Wallace. Alex told the Express: “Gregg did a lovely message for him, and he sent it to him at Christmas time.
“So having Christmas, and dad was in hospital, and so things like that, he did a lovely message, and I’ll never forget that. And [my dad] said: ‘Thank you so much, make sure you thank him’. So he was really lovely for that”.
With Gregg’s recent exit as a MasterChef judge amid allegations of “inappropriate behaviour”, which he denies, Grace Dent steps in to fill his shoes as a judge. Alex, who knows Grace from her appearance on his season, is positive about her suitability for the role.
He said: “Grace Dent is obviously the new judge and she was actually on my series, and she was really great. So I’m sure she’ll do really well.”
Alex candidly shared that his main ambition for joining the competition wasn’t to win but to make it to the final three. He said: “I went there to kind of have fun and compete, and I never thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to win this’.
“My thing was I wanted to get to the final three so then the cameras would come back to my mum and dad’s house. That was my, that was my kind of thing.”
Following his victory, Alex has witnessed his career skyrocket. He’s now pursuing the dream of launching his own eatery, not to mention he already caters for a number of private clients and enjoys an annual stint in the Maldives. He is also introducing his very own cider, the ‘Alex Webb Signature Blend’.
In addition, he’s gearing up for a reunion with his 2020 series mates to mark the show’s 35th anniversary—a celebration featuring a pop-up restaurant event aptly named The Fantastic Five Supper Club, taking place on February 21 and 22 at Cinnamon Kitchen City.
This gastronomic gathering will see him collaborate with fellow chef luminaries Santosh Shah, Philli Armitage-Mattin, Bart Van der Lee and Vivek Singh. Reflecting on their bond since the show, he stated: “We’ve kept in contact and we get on really well.”
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter.