Matt Tebbutt has opened up about his future on BBC's Saturday Kitchen, saying: "I don't want to go anywhere." The TV chef is celebrating 10 years of hosting the show in 2026.
Tebbutt initially stood in for former host James Martin before taking over as full-time presenter in 2016. Since then, the 52-year-old has anchored the live 90-minute cooking show, assisting studio chefs and interviewing celebrities ahead of the "Food Heaven or Food Hell" finale.
A decade of Saturday Kitchen
The show, which also features wine expert Helen McGinn, lets viewers vote on whether each celebrity guest is served an ingredient they love or one they despise. Saturday Kitchen has been a beloved BBC weekend programme since 2001, known for unscripted humour and the occasional cooking mishap.
Speaking to the Daily Express, Tebbutt said: "In an ideal world, you'd leave before you're pushed or before the wheels fall off. At the moment, I don't want to go anywhere. I absolutely love doing it."
Preparation and fun
Addressing the preparation behind the live show, Tebbutt admitted: "It's the most fun I have all week, including rehearsals, so I do rehearsals on a Friday with the production company, and we just have so much fun because it's a bit of an escapism as well."
He added: "It doesn't feel like a proper job, we're just having fun, and the more fun we have, the more that translates. So to go in and mess around a bit on a Friday in rehearsals, we get things right, and we change recipes, and do the scripts and stuff like that."
"But we have a lot of fun doing it, and then we do it all again on Saturday morning, and then we do the live show," the BBC star said.
Food and memories
Tebbutt continued: "So by the time we come to the live show, it's kind of second nature, so all I need to do is chat to the guests and get some fun out of them. I'm going to hold on to it for as long as I can."
Speaking in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group, the presenter also discussed survey data from a study of 2,000 UK adults exploring how people prepare for the end of life. The findings showed that food is one of the most powerful ways people remember lost loved ones, with 37% of respondents saying they have inherited a food-related keepsake, such as a recipe, cookbook, kitchen utensil or cooking pot.
He said: "It's about bringing people together, memories and sharing stories, around food because it's always a great leveller, you can sit down at the table, it doesn't matter what sort of day you've had, and people will open up very quickly over memories over food. Everyone's got them, whether it's grandparents, parents, or siblings."
