Judge Joe Bastianich to Depart FOX's MASTERCHEF

According to The Hollywood Reporter, judge Joe Bastianich will be leaving FOX's MASTERCHEF after its third season. The series is on the hunt for a third judge to join Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot as the show continues. Bastianich will continue through MASTERCHEF JUNIOR's third season, which returns on January 6, 2015.

"Joe has played an integral role in the success of bothMasterChef and MasterChef Junior, and we all appreciate his incredible culinary insight, sense of humor and passion," said producers Shine America, One Potato Two Potato and Fox in a statement. "He will always remain a member of the MasterChef family."

Bastianich also commented on his departure in a statement, saying: "After several gratifying years as a judge on MasterChef and MasterChef Junior, I have decided to step down from my role on the show. It has been a pleasure working alongside Gordon and Graham on five seasons of MasterChef and three seasons of MasterChef Junior, and I look forward to continuing my current collaborations with Shine America. As co-owner and partner of the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, as well as Eataly throughout the Americas, I will be focusing my time and energies on their continued global expansion."

The chef, who has restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Singapore, is also set to appear in CNBC's RESTAURANT STARTUP season two and will continue his role as a judge on MASTERCHEF ITALIA.

MASTERCHEF is based on the format created by Franc Roddam and Shine. Shine International handles distribution for the MASTERCHEF format. Elisabeth Murdoch, Eden Gaha, Paul Franklin, Robin Ashbrook, Gordon Ramsay, Adeline Ramage Rooney, Patricia Llewellyn and Ben Adler serve as executive producers.