Grace Dent has revealed the heart-wrenching reason she was reduced to tears when she found out she’d taken Gregg Wallace‘s job on MasterChef.

Back in December last year it was confirmed that the food critic, 51, would take over the role from Gregg, 60, after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of Loose Women, the I’m A Celebrity star opened up about the moment when she found out that she’d got the role.

Grace said: ‘I got the call, I was coming out the chemist in east London, I got a call, they said “It’s going to be you”… I did, I had a little cry.

‘Sorry, this is getting deep very quickly, both of my parents are gone and I know this is a job they would understand.

‘All the other jobs we have, you know, you end up ringing and going “I’ve got this” and they go “Love, I think it’s good. I have no idea what you are talking about”.

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Grace Dent has revealed the heart-wrenching reason she was reduced to tears when found out she’d taken Gregg Wallace ‘s job on MasterChef

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Back in December last year it was confirmed that the food critic, 51, would take over the role from Gregg, 60, (pictured) after he was accused of sexual misconduct

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‘With MasterChef, my mother especially, she would have been really happy.’

Grace told the panel: ‘It has been my dream job since I was a little girl.

‘And I’ve had my eye on hat prize wanting it, but you never think you’re going to get chosen!

‘When I felt there might be some movement, there might be a role…

‘I wanted it, I wanted it. I put the feelers out.

‘But I wasn’t going to believe it until I was standing there, smiling at scallops with the dress on, the bra on, everything, the high heels.

‘I am so happy.’

 Grace is best known for being a journalist, author, broadcaster and food critic.

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Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of Loose Women, the I’m A Celebrity star opened up about the moment when she found out that she’d got the role

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View gallery

Grace said: ‘I got the call, I was coming out the chemist in east London , I got a call, they said “It’s going to be you”… I did, I had a little cry’

She has written for a number of publications after studying English Literature at The University Of Stirling.

The star has also published various novels including Diary Of A Chav and Diary Of A Snob.

But she is arguably best known for being a regular critic on MasterChef, the celebrity version and MasterChef: The Professionals.

Grace has also been a judge on Great British Menu.

Not only that, she’s appeared in various TV shows such as Pointless Celebrities, Richard Osman’s House Of Games and Have I Got News For You.

Most recently she took part in I’m A Celebrity back in 2023.

It comes after Grace exclusively revealed to MailOnline the secret job she hated before finding fame.

Grace’s career in food had a very unlikely beginning at Southwaite service station on the M6.

And speaking on the new Mercedes-Benz Vans Under the Bonnet podcast, she told how she had to grit her teeth while racking up food bills as an ’18-year old in an egg-stained uniform.’

She told host Scott Mills: ‘I’m going to let you into a secret, I worked at a service station. I worked at Southwaite service station on the M6.

‘Everybody in my sixth form used to try and work there part time. If you got the job, you had to do very early shifts. They would pick you up in a mini-bus just to make sure you got there.

‘They’d take you at about 5am, off down the M6, and disperse you to different parts of the service station. You never knew where you were going to go.

‘You could end up on the teapoint – where you stand and just make cups of tea all day, being splashed by scalding liquids, boiling water, all day.

‘Or you might be doing the tables. Or you might have to go and work in the shop. You were never on the same thing.

‘The worst job? Toting up the food bill at the till in the restaurant, because everybody started kicking off about the price.

‘As if you, this 18-year-old girl in an egg-stained uniform, got up that morning and made up the prices – as if I decided how much tea and scones would be.

‘People did really kick off. It felt like every single person that came to the till, I would go: ‘Four pounds, 95,’ and they’d go: ‘I’ve only had a cup of tea…”