BBC AIRS EDITED SERIES OF CONTENTIOUS COOKING SHOW

Pair film new series before getting chop

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

MASTERCHEF returned last night with notably less screen time for Gregg Wallace and John Torode after they were axed as presenters.

The first three episodes of the controversial 21st series of the popular cooking show were released on iPlayer yesterday and the programme was shown on BBC1.

Both presenters appeared in episode one's introduction, with Torode saying: "This is the sort of stuff that dreams are made of", while Wallace told a contestant "that is a cracker of a job".

Ironically he no longer has his own job on MasterChef - and both hosts had clearly been sidelined by producers.

Series 21 was filmed months before Wallace and Torode were sacked, leaving BBC bosses grappling with how best to edit and air the episodes.

The pair are not mentioned in the BBC description of the first episode, and the iPlayer menu features the MasterChef logo rather than as in previous years their photos.

In episode one, the two presenters feature in just 25 minutes of the 58-minute programme - down from 30 minutes of screen time the series before.

Instead, more air time seems to be given to the invited guests trying the competitors' dishes.

There are less of the silly or saucy jokes Wallace used to make with contestants, which were prominent in Series 20.

And when he and Torode are shown, the focus is more on the tasks and how the food tastes.