After a few stints working at City Limits and IPC Magazines (
TVTimes and ''What's on TV
), Preston relocated to Australia in October 1993. Initially he worked for IPC Magazines as their Australian TV correspondent writing about the soap operas Neighbours and Home and Away for TVTimes
, What's on TV
and Woman's Own''. He subsequently wrote for a number of Australian trade publications owned by IPC's parent company, Reed Business Publishing, including
Encore,
Supermarket News and
Counterpoint. Parade In 1996, Preston started writing reviews for a new Melbourne magazine,
Inside Melbourne, a role that he held until he moved on to write reviews for
The Age in February 2000. He also worked as a regular food correspondent for a number of publications, including
Taste, a supplement in the
Herald Sun;
The Courier-Mail and
The Daily Telegraph (Australia) newspapers; and
MasterChef Magazine,
delicious. (senior editor),
Australian Good Taste (drink reviewer),
The Guardian newspaper (UK) and
Time Out (London). He was a weekly contributor to
Epicure between 2000 and 2009, writing a weekly review of a cafe or restaurant. He also wrote a weekly column in
The Ages A2, and was a senior editor at Vogue Entertaining & Travel. Preston has made many appearances on Australian radio. Today Preston is best known for his stint as a co-host and judge on
MasterChef Australia. He also works as a food columnist and regular food correspondent. His weekly national food column appears in NewsCorp's metro newspapers and has a combined reach of over 2.9 million Australians each week. It runs in
Stellar magazine every Sunday and in
The Adelaide Advertiser. He is also a senior editor for
delicious. and
Taste magazines.
MasterChef Australia In 2009, Preston joined
Gary Mehigan and
George Calombaris on the judging panel of
MasterChef Australia (Network 10), a reality television competition to find Australia's best amateur chef.
MasterChef Australia series two,
series three and
series eleven would go on to win the TV Week
Logie for Australia's Best Reality Series. Preston judged the first eleven series of
MasterChef Australia (2009–2019), as well as the first season of
Celebrity MasterChef Australia (2009), the first series of
Junior MasterChef Australia (2010) and
MasterChef Australia All-Stars (2012) with Mehigan and Calombaris. In 2013 he went at it alone to host
MasterChef Australia: The Professionals with
Marco Pierre White. The show premiered on 20 January 2013 and won the prestigious AACTA for Best Reality Show in the 2014 awards. Following comments made by Preston about fellow
MasterChef Australia judge Marco Pierre White's son, Marco Pierre White Jr, spending $500,000 of his father's money on drugs and prostitution, White stopped making guest appearances on the show after the
8th season and joined the rival programme ''
Hell's Kitchen Australia in retaliation. In 2016, whilst on The Kyle and Jackie O Show'', Preston was asked about Marco Pierre White Jr's time on
Big Brother UK, which included his alleged on-air sex and the above admission of purchasing illicit drugs and sex work. Preston said: "I think it is that terrible thing when you have kids that go off the rails... the drugs might be a little bit of a worry". White later said of Preston, "I will never forgive that man [Preston]... with my hand on my mother's grave I will get that man." White eventually returned to the programme in
season 14, after Preston had left the show. In 2019, it was announced that Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris would all be leaving the show after eleven years of judging, when Network 10 failed to meet pay rise demands set by the trio. The
eleventh season was the last to feature Preston as a judge. It was later announced that chef and former
MasterChef winner
Andy Allen, food writer and critic
Melissa Leong, and chef and restaurateur
Jock Zonfrillo would join the series as judges and hosts for the
twelfth season in 2020 as replacements for Preston, Calombaris and Mehigan.
Other television work Preston has made numerous other appearances on TV shows, including
The Project,
Good News Week,
Studio 10,
The Living Room,
The Circle,
Rove Live,
This Week Live,
All Star Family Feud and ''
Chris & Julia's Sunday Night Takeaway (all Network 10), ADbc and The Blue List
(SBS), Compass (ABC), Today and Postcards'' (both
Nine Network) and Coxy's Big Break (
Seven Network). He was chosen as the secret reviewer in the first season of Channel Seven's
My Restaurant Rules. Preston has also taken small acting roles on
Offspring (Network 10), Lowdown (ABC),
The Bold And The Beautiful (Network 10) and
Neighbours (Network 10). Previously, he appeared on an episode of
Lonely Planet Six Degrees. On 23 October 2019, it was announced that Preston and fellow
MasterChef Australia judge
Gary Mehigan would join
Manu Feildel in 2020 with a new show called
Plate of Origin on Seven Network after the two left Network 10. In 2022, it was announced that Preston would join the
twelfth season of Seven Network's
My Kitchen Rules as a judge and co-host alongside returning judge Manu Feildel. Preston and international food icon
Nigella Lawson were brought in to replace previous judge Pete Evans, who was sacked from the show for making controversial comments. In August 2022, Preston was revealed to be the Gnome on the
fourth season of
Network 10's
The Masked Singer Australia. He was one of two wildcard contestants, and was introduced in round three. However, he was eliminated the same round after only one performance. In May 2023, he was announced as one of the celebrity contestants competing on the
twentieth season of
Dancing with the Stars Australia, and was partnered with Jessica Raffa. On 2 July 2023, on the third episode, he withdrew from the series after sustaining an ankle injury during dancing rehearsals, making him the first contestant to leave the competition.
Print media Preston has contributed to Australia's leading glossy food magazines, writing about restaurants, chefs and leading culinary destinations. The role has taken him to more than 30 regions across Australia and the world. He began regularly contributing to the Epicure food section of
The Age in February 2000. He wrote a weekly review of a cafe or ethnic eatery in his 'Unexplored' column in
Epicure. In 2009 he wrote a weekly column in
The Age on Saturday's A2 section. Preston also contributes cover stories to
Epicure, for which he has won a number of awards.
Other professional roles • Creative director, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (2004–2009) • Contributor,
The Age Good Food Guide; Food and Wine (US) •
Saturday Mornings radio presenter on
ABC Radio Melbourne (2022-2024) ==Books==