Amber : So was the MasterChef experience what you thought it was going to be when you entered ?
Steve : I didn ’ t do too much research about the show ; I really looked at it as a competition . I was just looking back on YouTube and seeing what the previous challenges were and I started to get like a glimpse of what the show was about , but it was nothing like I expected . I mean it ’ s really familiar when you ’ re stood in the room but the feeling you get is like a cauldron . I still remember the first time I walked in and there was just Monica and Greg who were stood at the front and I think they walk in , over to your bench and put down your apron and I still remember like struggling to tie my apron straps , you could just feel the pressure and it was exactly how it is on TV , you know the look of it . You pinch yourself , am I really here and wow ; I ’ m starting to feel a little bit nervous now . But also the length of time filming , so say for a half an hour episode we ’ re there for maybe14 hours and that was on my days off so 5 days at South Lodge and my 2 days off were going into London and then doing these 12 to 14 hour shoots .
Before you ask it wasn ’ t 12 to 14 hours just cooking to get it right , it was literally an hour for cooking on some of them but it ’ s all that Green Room stuff . The judges walking round the corner , that takes about an hour to do , but just even the shots when you ’ re outside the front of your restaurant or hotel where they shoot you and then they go up to the sky and bring it down , it ’ s all that , all the background stuff that you don ’ t realise goes into a show . Since being on it I look at other programmes and think about where the camera flips over the shoulders if you ’ ve got to do a double interview , it ’ s all that stuff that you take for granted when you watch a TV programme and you realise that ’ s what takes the time and the cost to the show . I wasn ’ t expecting it to be that long a day .
Jason : So what are the presenters like ?
Steve : Michel is one of my idols , I grew up aspiring to be like him , he ’ s a French chef , he ’ s come over to England or his father came over to England and they set it up really . Let ’ s be honest , their family along with like Raymond Blanc and Pierre Coffman , they ’ ve kind of come over here and started this whole foody generation , so he ’ s an absolute inspiration . He ’ s firm but fair , but he ’ s the one I really keep in contact with after the show , he ’ s always interested to see how I ’ m getting on . We both support Man United , not sure if that ’ s a good thing in common . Monica ’ s quite busy , she ’ s got her own restaurant she ’ s setting up and Greg ’ s just great . He ’ s larger than life , a bit of a show off and I don ’ t see why he would want to keep in contact with the chefs either , it ’ s not really of interest to him . He ’ s a presenter , whereas Michel he ’ s got that genuine interest in how we ’ re all doing and I don ’ t mean that from a winner , that ’ s for like everyone that takes part in the show . He ’ s got a real care .
Jason : Do you have any contact with any of the other contestants ?
Steve : Again it ’ s difficult just because of time , I ’ ll be honest I ’ m friends with a few of them on Facebook but it only tends to be every now and again “ hey how you doing ?” We don ’ t meet up too often , just because time ’ s quite precious . But what we share in common is being on MasterChef and being chefs , especially for some that wanted a bit more from the show ; they don ’ t want reminding that ’ s why we know each other . It ’ s just general chit chat , nothing over the top where we ’ re meeting up every year and celebrating . I ’ m not that sort of person anyway , to be like “ oh it ’ s my year anniversary since I won MasterChef , let ’ s go out and celebrate ”. I ’ m always looking to better myself .
Amber : And whose opinions hurt the most on the show ?
Steve : The critics round was the hardest , it always is . You ’ ve got the shortest time limit and also for some reason as a chef you think right , you ’ re going to do a little bit more than you need to , because they ’ re critics and they eat out all the time so for me the hardest bit was serving them the food but then not hearing their feedback until the show aired so we got no direct feedback . So I ’ m sat there with my family watching it for the first time and they all think I know what the critics said , there was no over the top nastiness from them , the only comment that really stood out for me was when I did Michel Roux ’ s classic
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