Anyone who tuned in to watch Wednesday night’s MasterChef could have been forgiven for thinking they were witnessing a live cross to the kitchen of their local chain pub.

The contestants were gunning for a place in Friday’s quarter-final and so when we got dishes of ham, eggs and chips, as well as chicken and cheese, it appeared as though the amateur chefs were setting the bar at ‘family-friendly dining’.

Chicken and cheese dish(BBC screenshot)

But then attention quickly changed when John Torode declared that chicken and cheese was weird. At that point Twitter stopped worrying about the food and more about how John could contemplate such a thing – has he not heard of Hunter’s Chicken.

It also got us wondering whether John is Australian at all.

The 50-year-old was born in Melbourne, a city that revels in serving chicken parmigiana, and where most pubs have a weekly night dedicated to the predominantly chicken and cheese dish.

And he’s clearly not been to Middlesbrough.

As Twitter calmed down John sprung another shock when he declared Jack’s ham, egg and chips a triumph – it did look pretty good to be fair – even if some viewers weren’t sure.

John was on fire and when he had this conversation about a lack of rice in a curry dish, most of Twitter was done.