Q&A: Gregg Wallace and John Torode

Which TV series would you take to a desert island?

Gregg: The Singing Detective. I can watch it over and over again - BBC drama at its absolute best.
John: F Troop.
Gregg: An Australian show?
John: American. In Australia, we grew up with American television. F Troop was a very funny show about a fort in the American civil war [launches into theme tune].

When did you last shout at the television?

Gregg: Last game of the Six Nations when England were demolished by Ireland.
John: Why would you shout at the television? That's weird.

Your price to go on Strictly Come Dancing?

Gregg: I'd like to do it so you wouldn't have to pay me. I just need the time. I'm a great dancer.
John: Gregg's a far better dancer than I am, but I'd love to learn.
Gregg: John's the chef but I'm the one with rhythm. John's only got rhythm if he's beating an egg.

Who was your first TV crush?

John: Abigail from a saucy Australian soap opera called The Box when I was nine.
Gregg: The Cadbury's Caramel rabbit: those long legs, that pert bum, the way she would lean over and drawl, "Slow down, Mister Beaver" in that seductive West Country accent. She was sexy.

What film comforts you when you're ill?

Gregg: It's a Wonderful Life.
John: You're such a boring…
Gregg: It's lovely. It makes me cry.
John: The original House of Wax horror film. I first watched it with my nana when I was six and home from school feigning sickness.

What's your guilty pleasure?

Gregg: Butterscotch Angel Delight.
John: Sausage rolls with tomato ketchup on top.
Gregg: This is the difference between an Australian palate and a northern-hemisphere one. You want brown sauce, not a sweet, fruity sauce. You have that in a puddle and you dip.
John: Never dip a sausage roll.
Gregg: If you put sauce on top, you've less control over how much sauce you get on your roll…
John: That's the difference between you and I: I don't need control.

The MasterChef finalists try rainforest bush food in Australia. Will you be eating witchetty grubs?

John: Witchetty grubs are not odd. They're what the Aborigines used to eat. It's like a child in England having a whelk or an eel.
Gregg: We eat a fair bit of strange stuff, which I'm open to.

What's your TV dinner of choice?

Gregg: Shepherd's pie with peas and BROWN SAUCE.
John: I don't like sitting in front of the telly and eating. My father taught me the importance of ceremony: set the table properly, eat properly and enjoy your food.
Gregg: ...Or pizza - you can fold it.
John: You fold pizza?