MasterChef Australia has shared the latest (and perhaps most high-profile) celebrity guest to appear on the cooking show, announcing the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle will be a guest judge in the upcoming 2026 season.
Channel 10 shared on Wednesday April 16 that Meghan had filmed her appearance earlier in the day at the program’s Melbourne studios. She joined three of the four MasterChef judges Poh Ling Yeow, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Sofia Levin, with Andy Allen seemingly absent from the shoot.
A filmed sneak peek showed Poh introducing Meghan, saying: “We’ve had MasterChef royalty in the kitchen before, but no one like this. All the way from sunny California, please welcome to MasterChef Australia… the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle!”
“Thank you, I’m so happy to be here,” Meghan said after walking across the MasterChef kitchen and hugging the judges. “Hi everybody,” she added, while waving at the contestants who were cheering from the gantry upstairs.
In a follow-up interview on 10 News+, judges Poh and Sofia described what it was like filming with Meghan on set.
“The Duchess was actually quite clear about wanting to get to the know contestants better,” Poh explained. “And she said, you know… ‘You know these guys, but I don’t. So, I really would like to see some stories and food that’s going to show us their personalities’.”
“And you know, she’s a home cook and she’s a gardener herself,” Sofia added. “So when you think about it… we’re getting more and more connected to our food. People are gardening themselves…”
The appearance comes as Meghan and husband Prince Harry continue their four-day Australian visit – the couple’s first time back in the country since their 2018 royal tour. While Meghan’s MasterChef shoot was kept top secret until it wrapped up, her involvement with the show makes a lot of sense given her love for food and cooking. She often shared her penchant for dining and food recommendations on her previous lifestyle blog, The Tig, plus was a guest judge in an episode of US reality show, Chopped Junior back in 2016. She’s more recently showcased her interest in this area through her Netflix series With Love, Meghan and her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
As for what else Meghan’s been up to while in town, on Tuesday she visited McAuley Community Services for Women, a women’s homeless and family violence shelter in Melbourne. She and Harry also visited the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum, and the Scar Tree Walk in Melbourne to name a few, with Canberra and Sydney also a part of the tour this week.
While it’s unclear when Meghan’s episode of MasterChef Australia will air on TV, we know that Season 18 kicks off on Sunday, April 19. This year, 40 amateur cooks will serve up their very best in the first episode in a bid to land one of 24 aprons that will allow them to continue in the competition.
Meanwhile, other famous faces will drop by the kitchen to taste the contestants’ food. These include Maggie Beer, Curtis Stone, Adriano Zumbo, Rick Stein, Justine Schofield, Robert Irwin, Jimmy and Jane Barnes and social media sensations DimSimLim and Andy Cooks.
MasterChef Australia 2026 premieres on Sunday, April 19 at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10 Play. Watch a trailer for Season 18 below: