Published: 07:00 pm, 31 March 2024
Global phenomenon MasterChef is set for a stellar 20th series, launching on 1 April on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace embark on an exhilarating journey across eight weeks, to discover the UK’s best amateur cook, one plate at a time, serving up surprises and extra special occasions along the way.
Find out who's cooking for John and Gregg in the first heat of MasterChef 2024.
Please note this information is accurate at the time of filming; certain aspects may have since changed but this represents the contributors as the competition starts.
Watch all week one episodes on BBC iPlayer from 1 April, with the first episode of the new series on BBC One on 1 April at 6.30pm
mairi@plankpr.com
Meet the Contestants
Brin
Location: Bristol, grew up in Chelmsford
Bio: Twenty-eight-year-old Brin is a Veterinary Surgeon who lives with his fiancée, Anna. He was born in Ilford, grew up in Chelmsford, Essex and now lives in Bristol.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“My cooking style is unique – I try to balance an array of bold flavours in one dish whilst also using quite classical techniques. I like to push the boundaries and give the people I cook for flavour combinations they wouldn’t always expect. The flavour profiles I use are influenced by Asian ingredients. This includes both the influence from my Tamil Sri Lankan heritage and from the food I love to eat and recreate from East Asia.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
“My earliest cooking memory is adding chopped up Frankfurters to packet noodles and feeling like a very accomplished chef at the age of eight!”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“I always remember watching MasterChef with my family as a kid. There was never a year we missed it. I think MasterChef is one of the main reasons I’ve pushed myself as a cook – and each year the skills of contestants gets better and better. As I got older I'd try to recreate or experiment with ideas I'd seen on the show, which was an important aspect of my cooking development. Seeing all these amazing professional and amateur cooks grow influenced my creative side and helped me become the risk-taking cook I am today.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I applied for the series because I wanted to see how good a cook I truly am. I was very nervous about the idea of going on the show but Anna, my fiancée, really pushed me to take part as she believed I’d be able to go far. Friends and family had also been pushing me to apply for the show for a while as they've seen what I can do in the kitchen.
I feel like I am a really creative person but I'm not necessarily in a creative industry. Cooking allows me to be original, bold and innovative and showcase my passion. One of the reasons I applied to the competition was to see if I was good enough to make a career out of cooking.”
What is your food dream?
“I want my future to be surrounded by food. Be it through cookbooks, cookery shows or opening a restaurant, I want to bring food to others and share my passion. I’m not sure in which direction that will be, but being part of the competition has lit a culinary fire in me and I want to make the most of it.”
Cirilo
Location: London, originally from Panama
Bio: Cirilo, 49, was born and raised in Panama. He then lived in St Lucia for four years before moving to the UK six years ago. He works in a large London hotel and lives in Wembley Park with his wife Carla, and his older step-daughter lives in the US.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“My style of cooking is a bit different because it’s a combination of all the cultures and flavours that have been part of my life. Panama's cuisine is a mix of Latin and Afro-Caribbean. As a proud Latino, my cooking style is inspired by Colombian, Mexican, Caribbean, Spanish and some Italian cuisine. It’s very varied. I use all the different cuisines and come up with my own version of a dish. I love cooking for my family. It’s how I show my love for them every day, by making dishes they love eating. I love sharing my culture with friends and giving them new dishes to taste that they may have not had before.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
"My earliest cooking memory was when me and my family moved to St Lucia. I was in my mid 30’s, my wife was at work and I wanted to recreate my favourite Black Bean Stew from back home. It took me a good three hours, and lots of research on the internet but I got there in the end and it tasted great, even my wife's work colleagues loved it. From then on, I kept practising and cooking dishes from Panama that we grew up eating and really missed. No matter where you live in the world, it’s nice to cook food that reminds you of your roots.”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“I remember I started watching MasterChef in 2009. That was when I realised that there was a competition for home cooks. I always thought that only professional chefs could cook food to a high level but watching MasterChef showed me that I could try too. The show made a great impact on me, watching and trying some of the dishes that I've seen on screen.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I entered this competition because of my wife. She encourages and motivates me all the time. She always compliments my food and believes in me, so I thought why not! I got a huge confident boost when the production team got back in touch, I never thought I’d be selected to participate and be given such an amazing opportunity to showcase the Latino dishes that I love so much.”
What is your food dream?
“My food dream is to come up with a line of quality Panamanian and Latino frozen food. Eating well is hard when people are busy working, so I want to be able to put things like Empanadas, Tamales, Plantain Tarts and other Latino dishes in supermarkets.”
Fateha
Location: Birmingham
Bio: Forty-One-year-old IT teacher Fateha, “always a brummie” was born in Birmingham. She lives there with her husband and two young daughters.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“I enjoy cooking Bengali dishes and like to experiment with other cultural dishes for my family. I love to batch cook meals. I am so busy with work and looking after my family, so as long as there is a home cooked meal at the end of the day then everyone is happy.”
“My biggest cooking inspiration was my late father, who was a chef and ran his own Indian restaurant in Wolverhampton for over 25 years.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
“I remember as teenager, I started off learning the basics of a Bengali curry - I had to peel ginger and garlic to make a paste for my mum to cook at home, then learnt how to chop onions. I started to cook meals when I was in my early 20s and really enjoyed experimenting with different flavours and infusing Eastern and Western cultures.”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“MasterChef is very special to me as it was the one show I used to love watching with my father as a child on a Sunday afternoon - back when it was the first version with Lloyd Grossman . My father’s commentary was always entertaining to hear when dishes were served as he always used to speak in Bengali with his famous tagline ‘nothing beats Bengali food’.”
“I remember, there was one series I watched with my father avidly when the contestants went to India for their Finals Week. This made me realise British culture could and does easily embrace other food cultures; and that I could, as a British born Bangladeshi, showcase some of my Bengali heritage and culture too.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I’ve thought about applying for MasterChef for over 10 years, after my father died in 2011. It baffled me growing up, why my father cooked Indian dishes at his restaurant and not our Bengali dishes, which are totally different in terms of flavours and use a range of fruits and vegetables unique to Bangladesh.
“I want to showcase a different type of South Asian food and the variety of Bengali dishes out there. I also wanted to challenge myself and show what my father enjoyed eating at home, that he could not cook at his restaurant. I felt like he’ll be with me throughout this surreal and once in a lifetime experience and I’m doing this as a sort of tribute to him.”
What is your food dream?
“I believe cooking is a life skill that everyone should know. I would love to teach people how to cook from scratch using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. I hope to write my own cookbook showcasing British Bengali dishes and I have many ideas about cross regional and fusion cooking which I have been experimenting with at home kitchen.”
Hope
Location: Newton Longville, Buckinghamshire
Bio: Thirty-One-year-old Hope works as a Digital Project Director. She lives in Newton Longville, Buckinghamshire with her husband Laurence, their Pomeranian, Oishi, two cats, Kiki and Q-tip and their five chickens.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“My style of cooking is modern European small plates with a big focus on bread – especially sourdough. Any dish that can be put on toast or mopped up with a slice of my fresh sourdough is something I love to make.
“I’m heavily influenced by amazing dishes from dining out and travelling. I’ve visited 60 countries and love to take inspiration from places I’ve been. I love how food is an international mutual ground with everyone. You can connect with strangers through the language of food and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
“I remember helping my nan prep a Sunday roast – peeling the potatoes, stringing the green beans. She was a brilliant traditional cook and loved to have me and my sister help her in the kitchen.”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“My husband and I watch all the MasterChefs, Celebrity, The Professionals and amateurs. It’s been a part of our relationship from the start – I can’t remember a time we didn’t watch it together. We do a lot of dinner parties and, in the early days of our entertaining, MasterChef really shaped the quality and level we would cook too. As a couple, we would regularly pretend we were on the show ourselves when cooking meals! We have a lot of fun in the kitchen thanks to the inspiration and quirks MasterChef have shown us.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I want to know if I’m as good as my friends and family say. They’re always going to be kind to you, so it would be great to hear what John, Gregg and any other professionals have to say.
“I want food to be something I can ‘do’ in my professional life. I want to have my own supper clubs, share my recipes on my social media and share that love of food with the community. I’d love for MasterChef to be able to help be a platform to enable me to do that.”
What is your food dream?
“I think everyone should have the confidence to cook great food. I’d love for the public to be able to follow recipes I share on my social media and be inspired to give things such as sourdough a go. I want to share my passion for bread and help people make great bread-based dishes themselves. I love sourdough and how versatile it is. I want to be able to host workshops to help people with their sourdough and coach people through them. I think everyone should have access to great bread!
I’d love to host supper clubs and create a “bring a plate” community where I host small events for people to bring along a dish they love and are proud of and share this with other people.”
Matt
Location: Blackpool
Bio: Butcher, Matt, is 32 and grew up in Blackpool, where he his wife Leanne and his three young children live.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“My cooking style is a mix of different influences. I grew up eating mostly home-cooked meals, so I'm comfortable with making a variety of dishes from scratch. I also love trying new things, so I'm always looking for new recipes to try out. In general, I would say my cooking style is pretty and flavourful. I like to cook modern food but sometimes you can’t beat the classics.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
“I started cooking at the age of 15. I used to love making the family a Sunday lunch or a homemade burger. I never thought my cooking was anything special, but everyone always asked me to make tea. I don’t know if that was because they enjoyed my cooking or simply could not be bothered to make it themselves! Either way it gave me great confidence to get in the kitchen and make people happy.”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“I started watching MasterChef around 10 years ago and have been hooked ever since. It has given me so much inspiration for cooking and presentation. The food you see on the show I wasn’t what I was used to seeing in restaurants around Blackpool, so when I first watched the programme it was a huge culture shock.
I believe MasterChef has really influenced people’s thoughts on cooking. I also think it has encouraged people to branch out and try top end, high quality food and go to restaurants they might not have before.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I entered MasterChef because I love to cook - it’s my favourite hobby. MasterChef is the Champions’ League of cooking competitions and is great to watch. I’m also keen to see how I fare against other amateur cooks.”
What is your food dream?
My cooking dream is to open a butcher’s shop-themed restaurant, where diners can choose how their meat is served. For example, what cut of steak they want and how thick, and then have in-house butchers cut it in front of you.”
Muir
Location: Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, originally from Scotland.
Bio: Muir, 53, is a Children’s Mental Health Services Manager. Born in Turriff, Scotland and growing up in Banff and Perth, Muir now lives in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire with her 13-year-old daughter and wee dog Millie.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
“My cooking style is eclectic. I love cooking for a crowd, developing a theme and adding different dishes. Yotam Ottolenghi has been my favourite chef for many years, but I am getting more and more interested in different cooking techniques like sous vide or making culinary foams and gels.. I enjoy cooking with friends and experimenting with different flavours and styles.”
What is your earliest cooking memory?
“I helped mum out with cooking and we baked a lot when I was growing up. I started to get interested in cooking when I left home at 18 and my aunt Una taught me how to make lentil soup and leek and tattie soup.”
MasterChef turns 20 this year – What are your earliest MasterChef memories? What kind of impact do you think it’s had on you or the country’s approach to food?
“I can remember watching MasterChef when Lloyd Grossman presented – it was very serious and the studio was very black. I’ve watched this MasterChef a lot over the past 20 years and love the range of styles people bring and the challenges it presents to home cooks.
I think MasterChef really encourages people to be more adventurous with their cooking and also brings a whole new language to our kitchens. Anything seems possible at home now.”
Why did you enter MasterChef?
“I have always fancied entering MasterChef just to see how I get on. It’s the ultimate cookery competition, so I wanted to check it out.”
What is your food dream?
“I would like to run a supper club in a local café – the main objectives being fantastic food and fun, fun, fun!
I’d like to own a restaurant which offers opportunities to young people and adults who are struggling to get into the workplace. I’d like to offer training and NVQs for the staff. I’d like to provide high quality food and a good experience for staff and customers alike.”
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