MasterChef star Grace Dent is one of the stars of the I’m A Celebrity 2023 jungle.
With almost 30 years experience as a food critic under her belt, we can’t wait to see what she’ll make of the culinary, erm, delights that will no doubt be waiting for her and her campmates Down Under.
Until then, here’s a little more about Grace…
Who is Grace Dent?
Grace Dent is columnist, broadcaster, author, food critic… the list goes on. She’s a woman of many talents it seems.
If you haven’t read one of her articles in the Guardian or one of her novels, you might have listened to her Comfort Eating podcast. Or most likely you’ll recognise her as a regular food critic on MasterChef and a judge on the Great British Menu.
Here she’s shown her ability to say it how it is on several occasions, so that has the potential to cause drama in the jungle.
While I’m A Celeb is probably her first big reality TV gig, she’s also made appearances on shows such as Pointless Celebrities and Richard Osman’s House of Games.
How old is she?
Grace recently celebrated her 50th birthday. She was born on October 3 1973.
Are Grace Dent and Susie Dent related?
Despite sharing the same last name, Grace Dent is not related to Countdown icon Susie Dent as far as we know. Although Grace was one of Susie’s guests in Dictionary Corner earlier this year and the pair have continued to exchange tweets since. So seems like they’re pals!
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Is Grace Dent vegan?
Grace has been plant-based since before it was cool, and has described her diet as “mainly vegan” or “flexitarian”.
Several vegan and vegetarian stars have taken part on I’m A Celebrity before, such as Mo Farah and Boy George. ITV producers have always made sure to cater to their dietary requirements and they are exempt from consuming animal products during challenges.
Where does Grace Dent live?
Grace was born in Carlisle and then moved to London for her first journalism job as an editorial assistant at Marie Claire. She has been mainly based in the capital ever since, but has said that she still enjoys regular trips back up to Keswick to see her family.
Is Grace going out with Ainsley Harriott?
Last summer, Grace co-hosted Channel 4’s series Best of Britain By The Sea, in which she undertook a culinary voyage around the UK’s coastline with Ready Steady Cook legend Ainsley Harriott.
Such was the duo’s chemistry that rumours began circulating that they could be in a relationship. However, there was no concrete evidence that this was the case.
Tom Parker Bowles
Grace is also close friends with Tom Parker Bowles, who she worked with for many years.
“I love him,” she said in a recent interview. “And he’s so funny. And we’re both into the same things. We’re from absolutely different backgrounds. But we both love rave. And we both love comedy. We both love horror. Our conversations are just about television and film. Also, he’s never ever boring.”
Grace Dent partner
Grace has a partner, Charles, to whom she recently announced her engagement.
She tends to keep her relationship very private, however, she did let once let her guard down on Kate Thornton’s podcast, gushing about how she and her fiancé had met online: “With my man, Charles, I think almost every day whenever I look at him: ‘How did I pull this off?’ Because before we got together, I used to follow him on Instagram, and he followed me and there was at least 24 months where I used to just look at his photo and go: ‘He’s so pretty.'”
Grace added: “It was very gradual because we followed each other because we knew people in common. I was in Liverpool working, and I was feeling really, really miserable. And then I just got I got this little message from him saying that he would like to take me for a coffee.”
And Grace wasn’t disappointed when they finally met in person, saying: “He was absolutely gorgeous.”
She has also made passing reference to a previous marriage in some of her articles.
Grace Dent’s scathing I’m A Celebrity put-down
Fans of Grace might have been surprised to see her joining the I’m A Celeb line-up, as she’s been pretty critical of the show in the past.
One particularly scathing article saw her condemn the hit ITV show as “a puerile venture into starvation, televised constipation and animal cruelty, abbreviated by ads for Iceland £1 curries”.
It’s a puerile venture into starvation, televised constipation and animal cruelty.
Ouch. However she did go on to admit that it is one of her guilty pleasures, but that she makes sure to “snap my blinds firmly shut before settling down to watch I’m a Celeb, in fear that the theme tune alone devalues my property”.
Like Nigel Farage, it’s also been rumoured that Grace was offered quite the sum to go into the jungle, so maybe that had a small part to play…
Will she win it?
Grace thinks so, and flagged her strength and resilience after a particularly tough few years. She said recently: “I have been through a really difficult time over the last four or five years. My dad had dementia, I cared for him and I lost him.
“Mum had cancer and I lost her. I think that this has made me very strong and resilient. 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.”
I’m A Celebrity 2023 starts on ITV on November 19 at 9pm.
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