EXCLUSIVE: Masterchef's John Torode first met wife on TV show in 90s - but can't remember her
John Torode and Lisa Faulkner met on This Morning in the 90s but Lisa thought he was "arrogant" and John can't remember it even happening
Married couple John Torode and Lisa Faulkner first met in the 90s - almost two decades before they fell in love following a second meeting on MasterChef - but John cannot remember her.
The couple met again when Lisa was a contestant on Celebrity Masterchef in 2010, but did not start dating until 2015 when John wrote Lisa a letter asking her out.
But new freshly emerged footage shows them both on an episode of This Morning in 1996 - although John failed to notice the “hottie” he would later wed.
Lisa, 50, laughs: “John doesn’t remember it at all! Didn’t remember it, and still didn’t remember it until he was actually shown footage.”
John, 57, insists he was too focused on his task at hand, as it was his debut episode being introduced as the show’s new chef.
“I do remember now I’ve seen the footage, but I don’t really remember it,” he admits. “But try to imagine, I was young, it was my first day cooking live on television. I was probably completely distracted by that, wasn’t I? Rather than by the hottie who was on the sofa.
“I was young. I was in the zone. In ‘96… what does that make me, 31?”
The pair do recall that Lisa, who was 24 at the time, thought John was “arrogant” during his slot.
“I was very excited to watch you cook,” she continues. “He was really arrogant. I said, ‘Oh that looks really good’ and he just said, ‘Thanks’.”
The couple, who now host ITV ’s Weekend Kitchen together, wed in 2019 at Aynhoe Park in Northamptonshire, four years after they started dating.
John was sporting a typically 90s bouffant hairstyle in their first meeting, but blonde Lisa also looks different in the throwback photos.
“I had my hair dark because I was filming something that required it at the time,” she explains.
Former Brookside star Lisa reveals that she will be joining Waterloo Road next year, with a “tiny part”, in but she says: “It’s a recurring role so she comes back for a couple of little episodes… and that’s been fun.”
John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen returns from 3rd December, 11.35am on ITV, with a Christmas Special on Christmas Eve from 11.30m on ITV.
