'MasterChef' judges promise "big" season

George Calombaris has promised that this year's MasterChef Australia will be a "big deal".

The Aussie celebrity chef, who has been a judge on the reality cooking show alongside Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan since it started in 2009, said that fans should start getting excited for the May 1 premiere.

At the launch of the third season, Calombaris told The Daily Telegraph: "[It's a] big, big deal." He also said that he, Preston and Mehigan are not on the show "because of [their looks] but because of their "love of food".

Preston admitted that he finds the show "exciting" because of food "heroes" such as Maggie Beer, Heston Blumenthal and Nigella Lawson making guest appearances.

Beer, who took on MasterChef contestants in a stopwatch cooking challenge last year, said that she had "never been so frightened" in her life and insisted that she will "never" do it again.

Chef Matt Moran is believed to be playing a more integral role in this year's series. When he signed his contract last year, he said that he looked "forward to contributing even more".

The debut episode of the third season of the show is scheduled to go head-to-head with the broadcast of the Logie Awards.