Network Ten today announced Russel Howcroft will join the second season of TEN’s innovative series Recipe To Riches.

Russel – an acclaimed marketing expert, Executive General Manager of Network Ten and panellist on ABC TV’s The Gruen Transfer, Gruen Nation and Gruen Planet – will become the third expert on the show, alongside Carman’s Fine Foods owner Carolyn Creswell and talented chef Darren Robertson.

Production has started on the new season of Recipe To Riches, which gives viewers a fascinating insight into a recipe’s journey from its creator’s kitchen to supermarket shelves around Australia.

Russel said: “Recipe To Riches is a great format. It celebrates ideas, entrepreneurship, passion and the power of marketing. I am looking forward to meeting this year’s contestants and seeing if I can give them a hand with their success.”

As well as being the CEO of advertising agency George Patterson Y&R, Howcroft was appointed as Executive General Manager of Network Ten in February 2013.

As early as November 2013 and again last week this website reported that many at Ten were unhappy with Howcroft’s role at the ABC with one highly placed Ten source stating it was increasing being considered a “bad look” to have a manager of a struggling network playing such a key role at a successful rival.

Host and producer of Gruen Wil Anderson has previously indicated that Gruen would be unlikely to continue if Russel or Todd Sampson left the show.

Anderson now living in the US where his stand-up comedy career is starting to take off, has made no secret of his desire to take a 12 month break from the high rating ABC program. In a recent Mediaweek podcast he said.

"We don’t want to do another series unless we believe that we have got something better that we can do, than we have previously”

The ABC continues to deny claims by this website that Gruen is not returning in 2014 with the Head of Entertainment Jon Casmir telling us last week

 "There are no plans to retire Gruen. In fact, planning is already underway for the next series. No date has been confirmed yet."

Airing later this year on TEN, Recipe To Riches takes everyday Australians’ much-loved home recipes and turns them into the next top sellers in Woolworths supermarkets.