Taking a penalty in front of 100,000 fans was a real pressure cooker situation... just ask John Barnes.
So when the England and Liverpool legend likens Celebrity MasterChef to taking a spot kick, the heat must be on.
John – who scored one of England’s all-time great goals, against Brazil – hits our screens this week for the latest instalment of the cooking challenge.
And he says: “In football it’s all about, ‘Can I take a penalty in front of 100,000 people?’ I felt if I could do it in training, in front of nobody, why couldn’t I do it in front of 100,000?
“So if I can cook for my kids at home, why can’t I cook on television in front of excellent chefs, with people judging you?
“It was really a test – can I really do what I think I can?”
John, 56, loves doing curries and stir-fries for his seven kids at home in Wirral, Merseyside.
But he struggled with some elements of the show, filmed before lockdown. And he knows his children – they include a doctor, a surgeon and a banker – will be watching closely.
He says: “They love to watch and criticise me. I think I’m a fantastic cook. I love strong flavours, Indian, Chinese food, and there’s no such thing as too much garlic. But I’m no good at presentation or cooking for the right amount of people – I make too much.
“The show was a challenge. I understood what tastes good, but it’s not just that. It’s about presentations, timing. I have new-found respect for people who work in restaurants.”
John bonded with the other contestants – especially pop star Myles Stephenson, comedian Judi Love, Death In Paradise actress Shyko Amos and Apprentice candidate Thomas Skinner.
He says: “We all got on really well – no bitchiness, no back-biting. Myles surprised me because he is a single pop star, I expected him to just be having takeaways, but he was very good. He’s from Watford and I used to play for Watford.
“Judi is from Jamaica, so am I, so we had a lot in common.”
And was he onside or offside with judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode? He says: “Gregg’s nice, bubbly, supportive. John plays bad cop, a bit more critical. Off air, they’re nice guys.”
John is an anti-racism campaigner and suffered plenty of abuse as a player.
But he was always treated well off the pitch – because of his fame. In light of the Black Lives Matter movement, he adds: “I’ve experienced racism when people don’t know I’m a celebrity.
"Police stop me in my car. All of a sudden, they go, ‘Oh, sorry Barnesy, it’s you’.
“When you walk down the street, does a woman clutch her bag and cross the road? When you go into a newsagent, does the man at the till think you are going to steal something?
“That’s the norm for black people. And if I wasn’t a footballer, I’d be treated the same as any black person. Education is the answer, but it is important to look at what we are teaching our children about race.”
- Celebrity MasterChef starts on BBC1 at 9pm on Wednesday.
