Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water — and by go back in the water, I mean start watching cooking shows again — 10 has gone and cast IRL Mr. Potato Head George Calombaris in a new series.
The former celebrity chef and founding member of the since-collapsed Made Establishment restaurant group will host a new cooking show called Hungry alongside ex-MasterChef contestant Sarah Todd.
To refresh everyone’s memory, Calombaris’ fall from grace kicked off back in 2015 when the Fair Work Ombudsman warned Made Establishment that an employee at its swankiest Melbourne restaurant, the Press Club, had reported being underpaid. The group then self-reported and paid $2.6 million back to ripped-off employees. Or did it?
The FWO investigated the Press Club, Gazi and three Hellenic Republic restaurants after the $2.6 million payment, and in 2017 ordered Made Establishment to pay back 515 current or former employees $7.8 fucking million. It was also fined $200,000.
Made Establishment never fully recovered from this and eventually the restaurants had lost so much money that the group collapsed altogether.
George Calombaris also lost his lucrative gig as one of the Masterchef judges and he along with his two fellow judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan were sacked and replaced with the shiny new threesome we know and love today.
Preston and Mehigan later starred on the ill-fated cooking series Plate of Origin which was, to use his Matt Preston’s words, DISGUSTING.
But not disgustingly good, I’m afraid.
It was subsequently tossed to the ground after one season much like that poor contestants’ plate.
And that was with two celebrity chefs that people don’t hate. Imagine how this one is gonna go with greedy guts at the helm.
Another swing and a miss, 10.
