MasterChef Australiawill have three new judges when it returns to our screens next year.

On Monday, Melissa Leong shared she would not be returning to the series in 2024, and of course, the series will be the first to be filmed since Jock Zonfrillo's death in April.

Instead, season four winner and Melissa's fellow judge since 2020, Andy Allen, will continue his hosting role on the show, along with runner-up of the competition's first season, Poh Ling Yeow, Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli and food writer Sofia Levin.

"After an extremely difficult year in 2023, and upon reflection, the decision to return to the series is not one I took lightly," Andy said in a statement issued by Network Ten.

"But there is something special in theMasterChef Australiakitchen, and it feels right to come back to work with the amazing production team, and to play my role in seeing the contestants do as I have done," he added.

On Instagram, he said he was also "super pumped to get back into the kitchen and continue Jock's legacy" while mentoring a new crop of Australia's best home cooks.

Here is what we know about the newMasterChefteam, ahead of the series' return next year.

Poh Ling Yeow.

Poh hardly needs an introduction.

Poh was runner-up to Julie Goodwin in the very first season ofMasterChef Australia, and has returned to the show both as a mentor and a contestant during theBack to Winseason in 2020.

She has released three cookbooks, hostedSnackmasters, appeared in theI'm a Celebrity...jungle and starred in two of her own TV shows,Poh's KitchenandPoh & Co.

"Talk about a thrilling, full-circle moment," she said of her new judging gig.

"MasterChef Australiais where my food story began, so this feels like coming home. A big part of me will always be standing on the other side with the contestants and I hope when they look to me, they see proof you don't have to win to win."

Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Jean-Christophe is a French chef with multiple Michelin stars. He's also a pretty recognisable face, with appearances on shows likeChef Academy,Top Chef,MasterChef HollandandJunior MasterChef UK.

He has been awarded Michelin stars while working at Gordonton Mill in Hampshire, the Four Seasons at Park Lane, Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell Green and Maison Novelli in Mayfair.

And he really is a master chef... even running his own cooking school, the Novelli Academy, in Hertfordshire, UK.

"Fostering culinary talent is something I have cared about for many years, and it is a passion I am excited to share in theMasterChefKitchen," he s