Saturday Kitchen presenter Matt Tebbutt has addressed the so-called feud between himself and fellow chefs James Martin and Marcus Wareing
James Martin presents his Saturday morning kitchen show on ITV(Image: Eric Catarina, Getty Images)
Matt Tebbutt has spoken candidly about an alleged feud between himself and fellow chefs James Martin and Marcus Wareing.
When asked whether any rivalry exists, the Saturday Kitchen presenter maintained that viewers have misinterpreted chefs’ on-screen banter over the years, arguing that the culinary world is “too small” for genuine feuds.
Matt and James are frequently portrayed as rivals, largely because their respective Saturday programmes air at similar times.
Moreover, the former took over from James on Saturday Kitchen in 2016, after he departed to present ITV’s James Martin’s Saturday Morning.
Despite their programmes competing for viewers, the chef maintains that everything “flows quite nicely”.
When questioned about whether any rivalry exists between them, he responded: “Not really no, we do sort of similar shows on different channels.
“I know James very well, we’ve done food festivals and stuff like that.
“He’s got his audience and I’ve got mine, sometimes they cross over but it all seems to flow quite nicely.”
Speaking about the culinary profession, Matt suggests there are “very few people” who are genuine rivals, particularly as “the world of food [is] too small”.
In 2024, audiences speculated whether Matt and fellow chef Marcus Wareing harboured animosity towards one another, following their persistent exchange of barbs on his programme.
Dismissing such suggestions, Matt explained: “People make comments about each other, it’s sort of just gentle ribbing I guess, but no on the whole everyone gets on well.
“I always make some comment about [Marcus’] smallholding, which is hardly a smallholding, he has a beautiful place in the countryside.
“But, yeah there was a bit of back and forth about that, but yeah I suppose it’s what chefs are like in kitchens, and that’s what sort of gets you through long days, just that banter as they call it.”
Matt previously admitted that he’d declined to seek advice from James when he took over his role on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen.
Speaking in 2019, the chef revealed that while he found the transition “terrifying”, he preferred to approach the programme without prior knowledge.
“I didn’t speak to him,” he admitted. “I think it’s sometimes better off to go naively into these things. That’s often a good thing if you go into things and you don’t really know what is going to happen, you just handle it as it goes.
“If you know all the facts, I think you might be a little bit daunted.”
James Martin’s Saturday Morning is on ITV today at 9:30am and is available to watch on catch-up on ITVX.
