Is Gregg Wallace mad? Two minutes into MasterChef: The Professionals (8.30pm, BBC1, 4 November) and he called the fearsome Monica Galetti “Mon”. Such overfamiliarity risks being gutted with a filleting knife, but fortunately for Wallace he was so complimentary about Galetti’s mascarpone pudding she was soon smiling away. He’ll never know how close he came.

So MasterChef is back! It’s like it’s never been away, which of course, it rarely is. At least in the ‘Professionals’ version we get Galetti, who even cracked the occasional smile. Like all the best talent show judges, she can be harsh but she knows her stuff. So do the producers, who gave her top billing, demoting Wallace to grinning sidekick while Michel Roux Jr vanished altogether, although he’s back in episode two.

After Don Galetti, the contestants are the stars of the show. Ordered to create something special from seven ingredients including chocolate and quinoa, some were more successful than others. Greg consoled one contestant over a split chocolate tart, telling the crestfallen lad he “shouldn’t lose any sleep over it” at this early stage. “I would,” muttered Galetti, darkly. “I will,” he stammered in reply.

If that split chocolate was bad, Matt’s “quirky” attempt at quinoa rice pudding was so scary I may never sleep again. Galetti was livid and told Matt it was the “kind of plate that really winds me up”. I’d have bolted for the door but he just stood there, devastated, as Galetti icily claimed another victim. . Maybe I’m glad MasterChef is back after all?