Sarah Wilson denies claims she was fired as Masterchef host following renewed public interest

In the wake of long-time judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan leaving Masterchef after an inability to agree to contract terms with Ten, the show has had another host take to social media to defend their departure. This time it’s I Quit Sugar and ex-Cosmopolitan editor Sarah Wilson.

A Daily Mail headline reporting Wilson was let go by Ten after has been slammed by the media personality on Twitter, who says it was her decision to leave the cooking show.

Happy to have been forgotten. And happy to confirm the “hard decision” to leave was all mine. Not Network Ten’s. (And happy to add Ten were understanding and supportive; so many ways to read a press release!). https://t.co/vPET0UlJ7Z

— Sarah Wilson (@_sarahwilson_) July 26, 2019

“Happy to have been forgotten. And happy to confirm the “hard decision” to leave was all mine. Not Network Ten’s. (And happy to add Ten were understanding and supportive; so many ways to read a press release!),” read the tweet sent by the author in response to an article titled ‘What happened to the forgotten host of MasterChef Australia? Why Channel 10 made the ‘hard decision’ to drop Sarah Wilson after just one season’.

Wilson acted as the host of the show for its first season in 2009, before leaving the format. Her role was not replaced in any of the future seasons with then-Ten programming chief David Mott saying, “Sarah has an impressive background with abilities that far outweighed her duties on the show.”

The Daily Mail article references an interview with TV Tonight’s David Knox on news.com.au in which Knox said Wilson’s role became ‘ancillary’. Knox also covered Wilson’s departure in 2009, citing the fact Ten released the statement on a Friday afternoon as a hope it would get less attention.

Wilson also took to Instagram over the weekend to comment on the stories, saying that it was ‘reasonably harmless fun’ by the news sites, but that they missed an opportunity to point out that she was a ‘clearly forgettable afterthought’ in the press photos.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The news sites have had (reasonably harmless) fun this week pulling me into their @masterchefau yarns. I left the show 10 years ago. And, yes, it was *my* decision to leave. Whatever. Mere facts… I tell you, though, if I was a clickbaity penpusher today I’d have drawn attention to the press photos from the first series where I’m so *clearly* a forgettable afterthought. I mean, I was lucky to have my own stool. Right @whereisdaz ? ?? And I’d have a field day with the goddamn ENORMITY of my boobs in the final ep. It was the first show to use wide screen digi format. And my Hashimotos was raging. I remember seeing them on a massive WIDE screen in a pub with mates and being speechless ??

A post shared by _sarahwilson_ (@_sarahwilson_) on Jul 26, 2019 at 4:18am PDT

Wilson also shared a photo of her with season one winner Julie Goodwin.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I remember this moment @_juliegoodwin ❤️ 10 years ago. Possibly almost exactly. It could be taken as looking a bit condescending. But really it was pure love. The conditions of filming @masterchefau often reduced us to just that, hey. Plus. Dynasty hair.

A post shared by _sarahwilson_ (@_sarahwilson_) on Jul 27, 2019 at 10:19pm PDT

Wilson launched her I Quit Sugar business in 2011 after being hit with thyroid disease, and closed it in 2018 for philosophical and ethical reasons. She still sells books under the brand with all proceeds donated to charity. Ex-Bachelor star Sam Wood’s company 28 by Sam Wood now offers the I Quit Sugar recipes after being given them by Wilson when she closed the business.