You were often extremely emotional during the competition, why did it mean so much to you?Cooking is my creative outlet and when something is your creative outlet and you’re not just copying what others do, it has to come from within you. It means so much more - you’re being judged for who you are basically. I wanted to know if I was a good cook, whether all my creativity was leading somewhere. Cooking is the only thing that gets me fired up and excited and the competition meant a lot because cooking means a lot. What impact has MasterChef had on your life? I learnt a bit about my cooking, but more about myself. I realised I could cope with more pressure than I thought I could and I found out how to be incredibly focussed.  From a tasting perspective, I discovered how to concentrate and think about how flavours work in my own mouth, as well as other people’s. Do you still dream of your cooking reaching Michelin star level one day? When I said on the programme that I wanted a Michelin star, this was an aspirational thing, rather than something I have ever expected to achieve. Food from Michelin-starred restaurants is the style of food I like to eat and these restaurants excite me. I’d really love to emulate their cuisine, but it’s a dream. You changed your life once before and now you’ve done it again. Do you think MasterChef will change your life further, even though you didn’t win the title?Before I opened the cheese shop in Cheltenham, I was working as a head hunter in London. It got to the point when it was a great career with good money, but I always knew I wanted to do something with food. It took a year-and-a-half to develop the business I wanted. I had considered going into the restaurant industry, but this would have involved learning a new skill as well as learning how to run a business. Going into the selling of fine food seemed like a safe bet. I’m still planning on going into cooking as a career once I’ve stabilised my cheese shop business. MasterChef was five weeks of solid commitment and I need to concentrate on the shop for a while. You sometimes seemed to struggle with cooking recipes outside your haute cuisine comfort zone - such as in the Cyprus army barracks - why was it so difficult for you? I learnt that I am not a fan of cooking slop for a large amount of people. To me, that’s not what a MasterChef is about. Anyone who wants to be a great chef doesn’t need to cook the best shepherd’s pie for school kids or make do with army rations. I just can’t get inspired with that kind of food. It was bad enough smelling the stuff, let alone having to taste it! Out of all the people who tried your food during the programme, whose opinion did you most respect?I’ve got to pick the people that said the most positive things, so let’s say the food critics. Though, let’s face it, they probably have the most informed view of restaurants. It’s their full time job to visit restaurants, so they have a wide view of what food is available commercially, what works and what doesn’t. Though you can’t deny that the Michelin-starred chefs at the Savoy have a huge knowledge of food and the negative comments from them were a real disappointment. Which chef or cookery writer has most influenced the way you cook?Probably one of the books that first got me changing my style of food was Jean-Christophe Novelli's. I also admire Thomas Keller from the French Laundry in California. Most recently I’ve been inspired by David Everitt-Matthias at Le Champignon Sauvage. Our shop supplies him and I love the food at his restaurant. I also like Claude Bosi of Hibiscus in Ludlow. How did you feel when see yourself crying on TV?Embarrassed in some ways. Everyone deals with their emotions in different ways - some people bottle it up and it all comes out in one go; some people never show it. I wanted to win so badly, so it made me more vulnerable in front of people. Those moments of waiting go on for so long, longer than you see on TV. It’s a difficult experience, physically and emotionally. It was embarrassing, but it was proof that I wanted it so badly and it meant so much to me.
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