Dublin woman Anna Haugh to replace Gregg Wallace on MasterChef
Celebrity chef and restaurateur Anna Haugh from Tallaght, Dublin, is set to replace Gregg Wallace in the final episodes of this year's MasterChef series.
Wallace (60) stepped away from the show following allegations of misconduct, which first came to light last November.
Haugh, who first moved to London 20 years ago, is the owner of the Myrtle Sister restaurant and The Wee Sister wine bar in London.
The chef lives in the capital with her partner Richard Elwell, who co-owns the Mrytle Sister, along with her stepson Henry and son Oisín.
Originally offered a place in what was the Dublin Institute of Technology, which is now Technological University Dublin, to study graphic design, she declined and attended the institute's Cathal Brugha Street campus to study professional cookery.
From there, she gained experience in the Salthill Hotel in Galway before she began training under chefs in Michelin-starred kitchens in Dublin, London, Paris and the US.
Her first foray into a top kitchen was when she worked for Irish celebrity chef Derry Clarke in his award-winning Michelin-star restaurant L'Ecrivain on Baggot Street in Dublin.
Anna Haugh
Speaking on The Anton Savage Show in May, Ms Haugh said: 'It was my second-year apprenticeship, so I was really keen to kind of learn the craft, and L'Ecrivain was a great place to teach you that.'
She also worked for Gordon Ramsay for 10 years, both in the UK and the US. In an Instagram post last year, she said: 'I've always worked for talented, fiercely passionate chefs, but working for Gordon gave me the experience and strength to open up Myrtle Restaurant.
'I saw how supportive he was to everyone, including the often-forgotten kitchen porters. It was a demanding job and I loved it completely.'
Haugh's restaurant and wine bar, which are beside each other, focus on food produced in Ireland and wines made across the world by Irish people.
Anna Haugh. Photo: Nina Val.
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The restaurant, which she opened in 2019, serves dishes like boxty, Irish potato pancakes, Carlingford oysters and Clonakilty black pudding.
It is described as offering 'modern European cooking with an Irish influence'.
However, Haugh told Savage on his show earlier in the summer that the Irish cuisine was what was most in demand.
'Very quickly I realised that what people wanted was more of the Irishness, the culture, the food, the produce, the stories,' she said.
Currently, Ms Haugh is the host of Anna Haugh's Big Irish Food Tour on the BBC, touring 15 counties with celebrities exploring Irish culture and cuisine.
From making black pudding with Una Healy in Tipperary to catching trout with singer Shayne Ward in Louth, the chef traversed the country, experiencing Irish food.
It won't be the first time Ms Haugh will appear on the amateur cooking competition, but it will be her first stint as a presenter.
In 2022, she joined Wallace and Marcus Wareing as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals.
She has also appeared as a guest judge on Gordon Ramsay's US show Hell's Kitchen and as a chef on the BBC's Ready Steady Cook. She also makes appearances on daytime shows, including Saturday Kitchen, hosted by Matt Tebbutt.
*This article was amended at 7.37pm, on August 7, 2025, to correct the spellings of Gregg Wallace, Gordon Ramsay and Shayne Ward
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