Yes, Chef! Your Lowdown On The Judges & Guest Judges For MasterChef Australia 2024

The 2024 season of MasterChef is upon us, and this year, they're switching it up a little bit. After the devastating death of Jock Zonfrillo and the departure of judge, Melissa Leong, this year's MasterChef is looking a little different.

We'll have four (!) judges in the MasterChef Ausralia kitchen, plus a bunch of other exciting guest judges that will make you want to yell "YES CHEF!". Andy Allen is set to stay in the kitchen, but now he'll be joined by a roster of three newbies — French celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, Melbourne-based food critic Sofia Levin, and MasterChef sweetheart and runner-up of Season 1, Poh Ling Yeow.

Ahead, here's everything we know about the judges of the 2024 season of MasterChef.

We will have four regular judges this season of MasterChef Australia — Andy Allen, Sofia Levin, Poh Ling Yeow, and Jean-Christophe Novelli. Here's the rundown on each of them:

Andy Allen won the 2012 season of MasterChef Australia, eventually joining the show as a co-host alongside Leon and Zonfrillo in 2020. He was one part of the judges who replaced the long-standing Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston, who left the show in 2019.

He's excited to now share the kitchen alongside Poh, Sofia and Jean-Christophe, and has said that "2024 will be the start of a new chapter, and it will be surreal — yet brilliant."

Most of us are well acquainted with Poh, but if you don't, consider her MasterChef Australia royalty. Originally the runner-up to Jule Goodwin in the show's first season, she's guest judged and mentored on the show over 15 years. Now, she's Now, she's an accomplished cook, television presenter, actress, author and artist — talk about a triple (or is that a quintuple?) threat.

An accomplished Melbourne-based food critic and journo, Sofia Levin has written about food for Delicious, Broadsheet, Good Food, Lonely Planet, The Guardian, The Age and National Geographic. She's also done her fair share of TV appearances on The Cook Up with Adam Liaw and Postcards. She encourages her readers to 'eat curiously' and is "giddy with excitement" over joining the MasterChef Australia finale.

Bonjour Jean-Christophe! This French celebrity chef has been awarded multiple Michelin Stars and a 5/5 AA Rosette, and also owns one of the world's top cooking schools. Novelli is excited to foster culinary talent and says that "Australian cuisine has a remarkable reputation on the world stage."

As always, we'll have a stacked lineup of guest judges hitting the MasterChef kitchen this year. Here's who we know will be appearing so far.

Is it a MasterChef Australia season without a Jamie Oliver appearance? No. No, it's not. But this time, Oliver will be gracing our screens for a record two-week stint! Yes! Expect him to dish advice, hand out hugs, and watch as his parents also make a surprise appearance. Cuuuuute!

The chick with the pink mohawk, Anna Polyviou has regularly appeared on MasterChef Australia as a guest judge over the years, and even competed recently on the first-ever Dessert Masters! Given Polyviou's an MVP at the art of pastries, we can expect that the 2024 contestants will be, too.

No, this is not a drill. Yes, the Nago Maehashi of Recipetin Eats has been confirmed as a guest judge this season. I can already hear the cries of delight from people in their kitchens, who are carefully following her beef stroganoff recipe at home (which I absolutely recommend).

Keep checking back as we'll be updating this page with more MasterChef Australia 2024 guest judges as we sleuth them out.