George Calombaris | Biography, Age, Height, Net Worth (2024), Relationship, Family, Education, Facts, Wiki.

George Dimitrios Calombaris is an Australian restaurateur and TV personality who headed up the Judging line in MasterChef Australia in the years from 2009 until 2019. With a ten-year stint in one of the biggest cooking shows to air, this article will look at all the facts relating to the 45-year-old chef and TV superstar, George Calombaris.

About George Calombaris

George was born on the 4th of October 1978, making him only 45 years old, with a massive career under his belt. He is a restauranter, and mostly known as a television personality, where he was one of the many infamous judges on MasterChef Australia.

He held this position for 10 years, but before this was a thriving restaurant owner and chef. Before arriving as a judge on MasterChef, George was a daytime chef on Ready Steady Cook, which is a huge show across many countries.

He has owned several restaurants in and around Melbourne, Australia, with the flagship one, being The Press Club. Being awarded in ‘The Age Good Food Guide” for the ‘best new restaurant in 2008’, George knows what he’s doing. Along with this award, George also managed to win the ‘Chef of the Year’ award, adding to his already long-standing achievements as a famous chef in the country.

If you’re looking to learn about the best chefs in Australia, then following what George is up to will be a very good start – that’s for sure.

He draws on his heritage for inspiration for his cooking and his restaurants, which come from Italian, Greek, and Cypriot themes – which are all channeled into his menus. George’s companies went through a slight scandal in 2019, where the company called MAdE Establishment Group underpaid their employees by almost $8 million.

Scandals come and go with fame, but luckily George stepped up to the plate and backdated all pay. Soon thereafter, the company went into administration, which meant they could not stay afloat – and closed all their doors.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for this celebrity chef, George opened up a restaurant just this year called The Hellenic House Project, which is already raking in customers. It is a swanky two-story establishment that is meant to mimic home cooking and rustic feelings in the 120-seat space.

Skills and Education Qualifications

If you could not already tell, his skills were, and still are, cooking. He attended Mazenod College in Mulgrave, Australia, and then went on to study hospitality and culinary courses at Box Hill Institute of TAFE.

At just 23 years old, this chef showered promising, and enviable talent, but entered into the Concours Mondial de la Cuisine, World Cooking Contest, known as Bocuse d’Or.

The competition is held in Lyon, France, where the best chefs from around the world compete for the title. George came in 16th place, which was a fantastic feat for a 23-year-old chef.

George Calombaris Family

After 11 strong years together, George married his longtime partner, Natalie Tricarico in 2018. Held in Greece overlooking the Athenian sea, at the Island Athens Riviera, the star was accompanied by his fellow celebrity chefs and best friends. They share two children, Michaela, 5, and James, 7, whom they prefer to keep out of the spotlight.

Net Worth

After amassing an impressive net worth through his restaurants, TV appearances, and celebrity status, George is now ‘estimated’ to be worth up to 7 million dollars; and this figure is growing year on year. From facing a setback and having to let go of hundreds of employees, George has made up for his downfalls and is making big moves for himself and his family.

Scandals

We touched upon it above, but the scandal surrounding George’s business led him to say that he takes “full responsibility” for the $7.8m underpayment to his workers. Along with not paying rates on the business overheads, he had to close the doors of MAdE’s 12 venues and lose over 400 staff members.

A frozen yogurt chain was allowed to stay open in this administration order, as it had no relevance to those restaurants; although it has now been sold to juice conglomerates, Boost. Since this scandal, as you can see, George has been forging a way to a prosperous future and has paid his dues to the world of cooking.

He launched his well-received restaurant this year, and his plans for the future are looking bright. He has been seen meeting with his fellow MasterChef judges, Gary Mehigan, and Matt Preston, on a secret new project; where the trio is traveling around India in November 2023

For a foodie adventure, film an all-new cooking show about the wonders of Indian food. The exciting project is currently still in filming, so you should have your eyes peeled ready for a launch at some point in 2023.