Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will co-host the 2027 season of Junior MasterChef Australia as a "special guest" alongside regular host Poh Ling Yeow, Australia's Channel 10 announced, building on a guest-judging appearance she made on the adult edition of the show last year.
"I love cooking with my own kids, so seeing what these young stars create in the kitchen is going to be a lot of fun," Meghan said in a statement. Her earlier appearance as a guest judge on MasterChef Australia drew the show's largest Sunday audience since 2023, according to a statement from Paramount ANZ, which airs the series through Network 10. The network did not respond to a BBC question about whether Meghan would be paid for the new role; it is understood she was not paid for her earlier guest-judging appearance.
A return trip Down Under
The announcement follows a four-day tour of Australia that Meghan and Prince Harry undertook in April, and comes as the couple settle back into life in the UK after announcing in August that they were moving home from California. The Sussexes left royal duties and the UK in early 2020 before settling in California that March, where they built media careers that have had mixed results: Meghan's Netflix lifestyle and cookery show, With Love, Meghan, ran for two series and a Christmas special but struggled with audiences, while her food-focused lifestyle brand, As Ever, scaled back some of its range earlier this year.
The MasterChef appearance comes as Meghan faces renewed scrutiny over separate allegations that her father, Thomas Markle, sexually abused a child, allegations he has strongly denied as "lies" intended to destroy his reputation. The Junior MasterChef role is unrelated to that matter and was arranged well before the allegations resurfaced, according to people familiar with the production.
