MasterChef’s Greg Wallace is always given corned beef instead of the dishes sampled by the show’s proper judges, it has emerged.

All his on-screen verdicts actually relate to tinned beef in brine, according to show sources.

Producers decided not to give him the dishes prepared by contestants after he was seen to eat a teabag in his dressing room.

Our source said: “I brought him a tray of things for making tea and coffee. He looked at it and said: ‘Wow. I love this dish. What this is giving me is four little presents. Very modern, very clever, I love it.’ Then he grabbed a teabag and an individual milk portion and put them both in his mouth.

“He chewed, his eyebrows went up and this huge grin appeared on his face.

“He said: ‘Oh yeah, get amongst it. I was excited when I saw it, I’m excited now I’ve tasted it. The flavours and the textures are for stuffing yourself. You’ve got a happy customer.’

“There was milk running down his chin, but brown from the tea leaves. He was just tucking into the sugar and coffee sachets as I quietly left.”

The incident confirmed producers’ suspicions that Wallace couldn’t taste or recognise different food types. He has now been eating only corned beef for seven series, with no discernible effect on his verdicts.

“That’s why he looks like corned beef,” added our source.