Did you go into MasterChef with a plan or were you winging it?
A mixture of both. My only plan was to stay true to my style. I think if you have a passion and belief for a particular cuisine, that’s where your confidence lies. If I could have done things slightly differently I might have taken a bit more time to work on my presentation style.
You have to be able to learn from the feedback. Gregg and John have been judging the show for a long time and they want you to do well so the criticism is constructive. You’ve gone into an environment like that to learn, so don’t ignore the feedback.
Did you go in aiming to win?
I don’t think you can enter a competition without wanting to win it on some level, but “don’t go out first” was my only clear objective. Once I got past that I started to change my goals, so then I decided I’d be happy to get to the quarter finals. Actually looking back I probably wouldn’t have been happy but when you’re in it you set smaller goals because it’s so tough. There are definitely stages where you start to feel out of your depth and you know the next stage is going to be even harder. For me it was the first time I hadn’t gone into something all guns blazing, trying to do everything. It taught me to be more methodical, to think in smaller steps, which was a good lesson for me.
How did you manage the stress of the competition?
I’m very lucky to have a supportive husband who let me have all my diva moments at home. There were tears and tantrums and diva strops, being able to have that relief made it much easier. Watching it now I can see the emotions on my face but when I’m cooking it’s the one time I’m really focussed – that’s hard in the beginning because you’re aware of being filmed. But at home I have four kids round my feet so this was an opportunity to put my head down and just cook, I took it as an opportunity to just enjoy having the space to do what I love. In a way I actually found it quite therapeutic.
How did you keep your focus across all the stages?
It’s filmed over months, so I pretty much put my life on hold for it. I think if you’re in that competition you have to accept there’s very little room for anything else in your life. I think it was probably quite tough on the kids, I wasn’t the normal mum that I am. Even when I was at home my mind was elsewhere. The real credit goes to my husband, he was so supportive. I run a business with my sister, so in terms of work I knew I could be confident that it was running well. It was tough but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
This is the first time I’d auditioned to be on the show. I’d been such a fan of the show and I’d always wanted to know what they’d think of my food but there was always another excuse not to apply. Then last year I turned 40 and thought, “I want to do it”. I also watched Ping (Coombes, 2014 MasterChef champion) win and I felt quite empowered by her, she was just so brilliant.
What advice would you give someone else facing a period of tough competition?
The biggest thing is confidence. Ironically, people tell me I come across on the show as very confident when in fact I’m not at all. But when you’re in that environment you have to maintain your self-belief. If you don’t believe in yourself others will start to doubt you. The other thing is to have the courage of your convictions. Often in interviews we say what we think people want to hear, if you say what you feel and believe in it’s far more convincing. They say that confident cooking produces confident food, I believe that applies across the board so even if you’re not feeling it, try and look it.
MasterChef: The final continues tonight at 8.30pm on BBC1
.png?w=600)
