The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is set to join the hosting team of Junior MasterChef Australia for its 2027 season, marking her return to the popular cooking competition following her appearance on the main show last year.
Meghan will feature as a special guest alongside existing host Poh Ling Yeow, with the announcement confirming her involvement in the upcoming season.
Expressing her excitement about the opportunity, Meghan said she looked forward to watching young contestants demonstrate their cooking abilities.
“I love cooking with my own kids, so seeing what these young stars create in the kitchen is going to be a lot of fun,” she said.
Her involvement follows a guest judging appearance on MasterChef Australia last year, which reportedly attracted the programme’s largest Sunday audience since 2023, according to a statement from Paramount ANZ.
However, the announcement comes amid renewed public attention surrounding allegations of child sexual abuse against her father, Thomas Markle. He has firmly denied the accusations, describing them as “lies” intended to damage his reputation.
Meghan is understood to have ended contact with her father last year after confronting him over the allegations, which she reportedly said were known to her and the authorities.
Her planned return to Australia comes months after she and her husband, Prince Harry, completed a four-day visit to the country in April.
During that trip, Meghan’s appearance on MasterChef Australia was announced on the second day of the tour. She had been absent from public engagements that day, and it was later revealed that she had been filming an episode of the cooking competition.
Although reports indicated that she received no payment for her guest judging appearance, the financial arrangements for her upcoming role on Junior MasterChef Australia remain unclear. The broadcaster has not confirmed whether she will be paid for her participation.
Beyond television, Meghan has continued to pursue opportunities in entertainment and lifestyle businesses. She and Prince Harry stepped back from their senior royal duties in early 2020, leaving the United Kingdom before settling in California in March of that year.
The couple subsequently established careers in the media industry, including a widely discussed interview with Oprah Winfrey and commercial partnerships with Netflix and Spotify.
Meghan also launched her lifestyle and cookery programme, With Love, Meghan, on Netflix. The show ran for two seasons and a Christmas special but reportedly struggled to attract a strong audience.
She later introduced her lifestyle brand, As Ever, which offers a range of food-related products. However, the brand ended its partnership with Netflix in March.
Her commercial ambitions have also extended to Australia, where her trademark was registered last year across more than a dozen product categories, including cookware and table linen.
Her upcoming role on Junior MasterChef Australia adds another television appearance to her growing portfolio of entertainment and lifestyle projects.
By: Prince Martey-Sogar.