BELOVED Ballarat cook and toastie aficionado Tim Bone is returning to television cooking in a role with a long-running afternoon staple.
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Mr Bone is one of four new chefs for Channel 10s revamped Good Chef Bad Chef, pitting indulgent cooking against nutrition in a bid for each side to learn from each other.
This has become a "pinch me" moment for Mr Bone, who has long been a fan of the show.
He will fill the role of bad chef, formerly held by renowned Australian television chef Adrian Richardson and originally by MasterChef judge Garry Mehigan.
Mr Bone will share the bad chef title with English chef Mike Reid, who has worked in top London fine dining restaurants Le Gavroche and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. They will cook alongside well-known nutritionists Joanna McMillan and Jacqueline Alwell.
He said the experience was great for his own perspective and learning in terms of more nutritious options.
"If I can inspire Ballarat to get in the kitchen and cook that will be fantastic. I'm known for my toasties and it was nice to come up with recipes that were not toasties, like back in my MasterChef days, to stretch myself," Mr Bone said.
"MasterChef had that pressure - the clock - and this was a little more relaxing. If I made a mistake I could always stop and redo but it was still intensive and a lot of pressure.
"The show has a good reputation and I wanted to do the show proud and myself proud."
It has been five years since Mr Bone was a MasterChef Australia semi-finalist while then working as a cooking teacher at Yuille Park Community College.
The experience gave him the television "bug" and he has loved the opportunity to get back involved on the set and immersed in behind the scenes activity.
Filming has been long days in Melbourne, sometimes testing up to one dozen recipes. Mr Bone has had to create and test every recipe at home to ensure it was going to work and taste good.
Good Chef Bad Chef unveiled its new line up on February 26, 2024, but filming wrapped up late last year and Mr Bone said it was a relief and joy to finally share this with Ballarat.
He said the Ballarat community's response to the show's news on his socials had been "a bit overwhelming" and he could hardly wait for Ballarat people to watch the show.
Good Chef Bad Chef screens on Channel 10 from March 18, weekdays at 3pm.
This comes as the network also relaunches another of its cooking show staples, Ready Steady Cook.
