John Torode's Cowell Distance

4 months ago 10th Jul 13:00

John Torode refuses to be the Simon Cowell of the cooking world.

The 'Celebrity MasterChef' star has no intention of following in the 'X Factor' judge's footsteps by being rude to contestants and wants the show to focus on competitor's cooking skills rather than their personal life.

Talking about the programme - which sees athlete Iwan Thomas, actress Wendi Peters and presenter Jayne Middlemiss battle out in the final tonight (10.07.09) - John said: "This isn't 'X Factor'. In the last series of the regular show we tasted 4,860 plates of food. What their chat is - I don't really give a monkey's. It's all about the food.

He added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: It is about cooking and nothing else

"And we're never told to be, or tempted to try to be like Simon Cowell. You can't be somebody you're not.

"There's no reason to be nasty. We're both just honest - although that's probably the one thing that scares people the most."

John's co-host Gregg Wallace also said neither of them has time to hear any sob stories from contestants on both the celebrity and regular versions.

He added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: "It is about cooking and nothing else. We hear so many stories now. One person might say their aunt has died and left them with a great recipe - but it doesn't wash."

'Celebrity MasterChef' - which airs on BBC One - is now in its fourth series and is a ratings success.