MasterChef's new judge Grace Dent's heartache of losing her parents within two years after being a carer for her beloved dad during his battle with Alzheimer's

Grace Dent suffered the devastating loss of both her parents within the space of two years. 

This week it has been confirmed the food critic, 51, will be the new host of MasterChef, replacing Gregg Wallace who has stepped away from the BBC show while an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour takes place.

Before her stint on I'm A Celebrity last year, Grace was open about how she had 'been through a really difficult time'. 

Grace's mother passed away in February 2021 after a battle with cancer.

'We were all together as a family up to the point where she died. And I just think that, if I am to look back on my life, I'm never going to regret that,' she previously told Kate Thornton on her podcast.  

'And I feel like I'm very different since it... Having my mum finally going. She's left a massive hole.

'It's a really strange part in my life. I'm at that point where every day, I think of something, I just want to ring her. Now she's gone, I'm trying to work out who I am now.' 

Following Grace's mother's death, she acted as a carer for her father, George, who had Alzheimer's. 

She wrote of his battle in 2020 in The Guardian: 'There is so much I want to say to Dad, but I can't bring myself to...

'Dementia is really awkward, not just painful and frightening, embarrassing, I don't like to be left alone with Dad. But sometimes I can see terror in his eyes...

'Sometimes, as Dad talks nowadays, midway through a nonsensical sentence his brain catches up, and right then, he understands the total ridiculousness of what he is saying, and pure shame passes across his face.'

Grace's father died in December 2022, only 22 months after her mother passing. 

The food critic paid tribute to him at the time on her Instagram. She wrote: 'Well Dad. You pick your moments. In fairness you hated Christmas. All those folk ´popping in' when you wanted to watch Porridge Christmas Special with a glass of Lidl vin de table and your fruit and nut. 

'Thank you for mending my rollers skates and teaching me the value of a quit. I will always, at some level, be under your armpit in 1978, watching Kenny Everett. #ynwa.' 

Ahead of her stint in the jungle last year, Grace spoke about the heartache of losing both her parents in such a short space of time. 

'This is going to be a big challenge and now I am older, life is for living and it's one of the reasons why I said yes.'

She later quit the show after 'losing all her energy' in camp and reached breaking point ahead of doing another Bushtucker Trial.

But now the food critic has earned her spot beside John Torode as a MasterChef host after a 30 year career in journalism, books, podcasts and TV, topped off by a memorable stint on I'm A Celeb a year ago.

Grace was born and raised by her parents in Carlisle and  grew up with her younger brother David. 

She went on to pursue further education at Stirling University, bagging herself an English Literature degree in the process.

During her time at university, Grace kicked off her journalism career, writing features for Cosmopolitan, according to The Sun.

After leaving full-time education, she had quite the illustrious writing career, working as an editorial assistant for Vogue, and then a freelance journalist for various magazines such as Marie Claire, Glamour and more.

She also spent 12 years, from 2000 until 2012 writing about all things TV, before making her way to The Independent.

For six years she wrote a restaurant column dubbed 'Grace and Flavour', for The Evening Standard.

Grace often appears on various TV shows critiquing people's plates - you may have seen appear in MasterChef: The Professionals, Celebrity MasterChef, MasterChef UK.

She was also a judge on a BBC program called the Great British Menu.