John Torode, Lisa Faulkner And The 'Cowardly' Letter Explained
Given that both MasterChef co-hosts have been in the headlines this week, attention has turned to their personal relationships and their friendship too. Wallace has been married to his fourth wife, Anne-Marie Sterpini since 2016 and they have one son together. Torode has been married to fellow TV chef and actress Lisa Faulkner since 2019, and he has four children with his first wife Jessica Torode. Given the recent news, one story about how Faulkner and Torode first got together appears to have been lost in translation, with rumours swirling that they are getting divorced.
No, there is no evidence to suggest Faulkner and Torode, who host John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen together on ITV, are getting divorced or breaking up. The story about his 'cowardly letter' is to do with how they first got together, not them splitting up.
Torode and Faulkner met when she competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2010 and built a friendship that later turned into a relationship. 'He was a judge on a show I loved and I was petrified of him. He was brilliant and gave us all tips so you didn't want to let him down,' she told the Mirror. 'All I could think was, "That sauce hasn't worked." I didn't see anything but food for three months. After I won, we did The Good Food Show and stuff. John and I always got on, but I never thought about me and him.'
In 2013, Faulkner told The Daily Mail their friendship had progressed. 'I don't know how things change, but something does. He asked me on a date. We went out for dinner. Then it was slightly different. I'm really, really happy. John and I are having such a nice time but we're taking things slowly. There are lots of other people to consider.'
Torode later admitted that his method of reaching out to Lisa via letter was 'cowardly', but it spared him potential embarrassment if she declined his advances. He said, 'I'd separated from my wife [Jessica] which was awful, and I was reluctant to approach Lisa face to face as I didn't fancy the prospect of her saying no, so I wrote her a letter. If I'd got no response, it wouldn't matter. Cowardly? S***, yeah. I'm as cowardly as they get.' It is this remark that has resurfaced without context this week.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across entertainment, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things pop culture for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow with equal respect).
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