Monica Galetti

As well as appearing as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals from 2009 to 2024 she has also presented Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby with Giles Coren and Rob Rinder since 2017.

Galetti was born in Samoa, a Polynesian island country, and was initially raised by two aunts in Upolu as her mother had moved to Auckland, New Zealand, for work.

The owner sent her to cooking competitions in Australia, America and Europe, and she began to look for a position in London by sending her CV to top restaurateurs.

[11] She was a judge on the BBC series MasterChef: The Professionals from 2009 to 2021, before she was replaced by Anna Haugh citing she felt it necessary to prioritise her family and her restaurant team, and has appeared as a presenter on other food-related television programmes.

[18][19] In January 2022 it was announced that Galetti would sit as a judge on The Platinum Pudding Competition, a nationwide baking competition launched on 10 January 2022 by Buckingham Palace, Fortnum & Mason and The Big Jubilee Lunch to find a new pudding dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II as part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II.