Grace Dent is back on Celebrity MasterChef 2026, and the new run starts on One and iPlayer on Tuesday 18 August. She returns to critique the celebrities alongside Giorgio Locatelli, giving the series a new judging line-up for a five-week stretch.
Tuesday 18 August on One
The first episode airs at 9pm on Tuesday 18 August, with Monday 17 August set aside for viewers to watch Celebrity MasterChef on iPlayer. That sequence gives the launch a clear lead-in: one day for catch-up viewing, then the broadcast premiere at peak evening time.
Grace Dent and Giorgio Locatelli
The judging pair is being presented as brand-new, but Dent’s return keeps one familiar voice in place. That combination matters because it changes the rhythm of the series without resetting it completely; viewers will still have Dent’s critique, now paired with Locatelli as the new judge alongside her.
Paddy McGuinness, Zoe Ball and Morgan Burtwistle will appear as Celebrity Guest Judges, widening the line-up beyond the main panel. For the celebrities taking part, that means the competition is not built around a single guest appearance but across a five-week run on One and iPlayer.
Five weeks of Celebrity Guest Judges
Celebrity MasterChef 2026 runs for five weeks, so the return is not a one-night special but a sustained series with a fixed broadcast pattern. The format also leaves one practical question open for viewers: which celebrities will compete in the series beyond the guest judges?
That is the piece to watch next. The dates are set, the judging line-up has changed, and Grace Dent is back in the chair; what arrives on screen from 9pm on Tuesday 18 August is the part that will decide how this new version plays.
