Ex-MasterChef judge Matt Preston discusses the ‘irresponsible’ radio stunts he was forced to endure

Matt Preston has detailed the ‘silly’ and ‘irresponsible’ FM radio stunts he was forced to participate in live on air.

The former MasterChef judge explained that the stunts ranged from identifying things by smell such as a dish-cloth ‘soaked in petrol’ to putting his hand in a box to identify an object – in his case, a snake.

However, the 58-year-old explained that he eventually put his foot down when things became progressively dangerous – including an instance where a seven-foot boa constrictor was hidden under his table to scare him for Halloween.’ 

Detailing his time on the FM radio show from 2010-2011, Matt offered context to the Halloween incident, telling News.com: ‘I was waiting in the studio and under the table was a seven-foot boa constrictor, just lying by the heater. 

‘While I was waiting, there was a tune I liked and I was jiggling my feet to the rhythm and apparently as I was tapping my feet the boa constrictor sat up and started swallowing my foot!’ he revealed. 

There was also another incident in which his colleague placed a snake in a box, and he had to reach in and guess what he was touching.  

‘That’s just plain irresponsible. If you poke around at a snake with your fingers, the snake wants to strike at you obviously.’ 

Matt said he was eventually forced to tell the radio show executives that he was ‘done’ with the stunts, and refused to participate in them any more. 

The food critic is currently promotion his new show, Plate of Origin, which is set to air on Channel Seven.   

Speaking about the cooking series, he told The Daily Edition : ‘It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a joyous celebration of the best food in Australia, and I think that’s exactly what people want to see.’

The show will put people from different cultural backgrounds from across Australia in cook-offs against each other, to show off their cuisines.

Matt will co-judge alongside his friends Gary Mehigan and Manu Feildel – who he has know for more than a decade each.

‘We’re old mates, and to actually finally be on the same network on the same show together and mess around together and share our combined love of food is brilliant,’ he said.

Matt was a judge on Channel 10’s MasterChef Australia for 11 years, beginning in 2009.