You trained as a barrister, how did you come to make such a dramatic career change? Why did you go on MasterChef?
Being a barrister was really a measured decision, I always said that I wanted to do catering and I made a conscious decision to change from being a barrister to being a cook. I asked my Dad when I was quite young which shall I do because I wanted to do both and he said ‘Well if you train as a barrister you can always then go and be a cook, whereas if you become a cook and then you go “Ooh I want to be a lawyer”, it’s quite hard to come backwards.’ So although it was quite a big change, it was actually kind of the plan.

So you always knew you wanted to be a chef?
Yeah, I always loved it. I was a kitchen porter when I was 18 just so I could get into kitchens and see what was going on.

And it didn’t put you off?
No. I think people who want to be a chef almost have a very masochistic streak, it’s almost military in nature, the way a team works in a kitchen. There’s something quite army-like about it where the head chef barks at you like a sergeant major. It’s quite easy in life to be told what to do, it’s almost lazy. I’m quite good at carrying out orders and quite bad at planning my life, so I’m really enjoying being in that environment!

What made you enter MasterChef?
A friend of mine recommended I do it because I had left law and wanted to become a chef and I didn’t know how to do it. My wife and I tried to set up a hotel and restaurant in Spain and I didn’t even pick up a pan, I was building for two years. Then I came back and needed to earn some money and my friend said, ‘Well why don’t you do MasterChef?’ So after a glass of wine I sort of said ok I’ll apply then and the next thing I knew they were calling to say come and have a trial.

How did it feel to win against such strong competition?
I think one of the best things about MasterChef was the fact that I really put myself on the line, which I don’t like doing very much, and I put my own dishes into it. I hated using other people’s recipes, so they are all things that came from me. So for John and Greg to say really nice things about me when they were judging, it meant that much more. It was a very personal experience.

How did it feel in the time between the end of filming and the show being aired?
I had that whole “in denial” feeling where I had to block it out because I didn’t believe I’d actually won. It was all just so surreal and then to have to pretend that we didn’t know who won, it was a really odd time. It was a very fascinating period in my life because I went back to working as a mechanic and I was washing cars and changing oil. People knew that I’d been on in the early stages and they were like, ‘Oh, well you can’t have won then because you’re still here.’ So it was quite frustrating because I couldn’t get into a kitchen and start work.

Since then you’ve worked with some fantastic chefs. Are you going along the path you wanted?
Definitely. Now I want there to be a new MasterChef champion because I want someone else to get the benefits that I’ve had. It’s opened kitchen doors for me, and I’ve worked in some superb places with superb chefs, Michael Caines, John Campbells, and the Roux brothers, and now Brendan [Fyldes, head chef at Bentley’s Seafood Bar & Grill] and Richard Corrigan. And I love my job. I’m working 16-hour days, not getting enough sleep, and my knees are knackered, but I can’t wait to get back to work the next day. I’ve been really lucky that a lot of chefs I met have been really accepting of me and seem pleased to have me in their kitchens. They respect the fact that I want to graft as hard as they do, and that I do anything I’m told. For the first time I really feel at home. I walked into Bentley’s kitchen on 1 September and I took a deep breath and felt really comfortable, it was the first time in my life I felt like I really belonged somewhere. I’ve been a lawyer and a mechanic and I’ve never felt like one of the boys.

Have your family been supportive through the whole journey?
Yeah, my wife’s incredible. She’s a really, really wonderful person, because she knows that she’s going to lose me by supporting me in this, that I’m going to disappear into thin air, but she knows how happy it makes me. You know, life always throws up difficulties and there’s tension, but bottom line is she’ll follow me all the way through it.

And what about your daughter, do you cook with her?
My daughter is an incredible cook, she’s two and a half and she just grabs the chair and pulls it over to the kitchen whenever I’m cooking - my wife always looks worried! She chops onions with me and then she does this wafting thing where she draws the smell from the pan to her nose with her hands, and then the other day cracked an egg into a cup even though I have never shown her how to do it, she just did it! ‘Help Daddy cooking,’ she says in this very sweet voice… she’s brilliant.

You come from a big family, what was Christmas like as a child?
I have incredible memories of massive parties with loads of people, when I was little there were just insane numbers of people. I’ve got four sisters and a brother and there’s extended family as well, I’ve had Christmases where there are 35 people sitting down for roast dinner. It was a logistical nightmare getting all the food out, so we became quite good at numbers.

Christmas must be extra special now you have a daughter?
This year’s going to be really good because Sophie’s in a position where she gets excited, she knows something’s up. I’m really looking forward to this year – I’ve got my job sorted, my life on track and I’m not such a flagrant hippy!