Matt Preston
Internationally acclaimed and revered food critic Matt Preston re-joins chefs Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris on the judging panel. Dazzling audiences with his array of cravats and warm on-screen presence, Preston quickly became a TV favourite; his efforts earning him the Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent, along with a TV Week Silver Logie nomination for Most Popular New Male Talent.
But awards ceremonies are something Preston is used to. Earning a swag of prestigious awards for his journalism and reviewing contributions, Preston most notably took out the World's Best Food Journalist 2008 (World Food Media Awards), a highly sought after honour.
As well as guiding this year's MasterChef hopefuls, Preston currently writes a column for the Taste section in News Ltd papers across the country and continues to contribute to Australia's most prestigious food and lifestyle publications. Previously Matt has worked for The Age newspaper's food section, Epicure, Vogue Entertaining + Travel, Delicious, Australian Good Taste, The Guardian newspaper (UK) and Time Out (London).
Before joining MasterChef Australia, Preston was Creative Director of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, a role he held for over five years and one which saw him transform the festival into a world-class event.
Preston has become hot property across all media, making guest appearances on several TV programs including Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club and SBS's historic quiz show AD/BC. Last year also saw Preston release his book Cravat-A-Licious and a compilation album of music to cook and eat by Matt Preston - Music from another Platter.
