Sports journalist Jack Wilkinson has won through to the semi-finals of MasterChef.
The 30-year-old has now made it from 45 hopefuls to the last seven of the TV competition to find Britain's best amateur cook - earning praise from judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace for his modern British classics with bold flavours and presentational flair.
If Islington-based Jack pulls off the task of getting through the second semi-final on Thursday (May 25), he will bid to be the 19th MasterChef champion.
"I've had some really good moments on MasterChef, but the pressure is my overriding memory," says Wilkinson, who grew up in Stratford, East London.
"Initially it was first things first, get the apron and the pressure was on because I didn't want to fall flat on my face. I thought I was going home on that first invention test. Now I don't want to leave and want to see how far I can get."
The audition round included cooking a family favourite dish, and because Jack's stir fry didn't go straight through, he was faced with an invention test. It was followed by a nail-biting knockout week, and a quarter-final.
"I feel I can handle pressure. Everyone says 'you're so chilled.' You aren't inside, but the thing about cooking is you don't think about anything else when you are doing it. It's great when you cook something you are proud of and get good feedback from these people who have tasted a million dishes on TV for 20 years."
He praises Torode and Wallace: "They know people are nervous and try and put you at ease."
If his best moment was a 'pot luck' challenge making lamb, hummus and carrots, his worst was having to remake his pasta in front of formidable chef Monica Galetti
"That was very stressful."
The Man United fan lives with his girlfriend and works as a football reporter at Sky: "I have always loved eating. We were not a household where we were all cooking, but I do remember how our family always came together around food. My mum is a single mum who worked tirelessly and, once I was in my teens, I wanted to have dinner ready when she came back from work. It spiralled from there."
Although he rarely ate out as a child, Jack picked up techniques and tips from watching cooking programmes like MasterChef and Saturday Kitchen.
"I loved cooking shows, the personalities, and the drive for excellence. I would get ideas and always try extra things."
For years he was "that guy sat at home watching MasterChef thinking 'I could do that'." Then he decided to push himself out of his comfort zone.
Jack loves the satisfaction he gets from cooking great food for others, and attributes his success in the show to "meticulous attention to detail."
"I like making people happy, bringing people together to have a good time. You can always keep going, and I have the time to do the extra bits that my mum wasn't able to. I don't like being showered with praise, I am quite humble, but I like eating good things too, and I get to eat it as well."
His main take-away from Master-Chef is "learning to believe in my flavours," and his ambition is to mix football and cooking, perhaps with a podcast creating footballers' favourite dishes.
"MasterChef is easily the best thing I have done in my life. As I have gone through the heats the feedback from the public is amazing, but the attention is surreal.
"I knew MasterChef was big but I hadn't thought about what it would be like to have people stopping me in the street."
MasterChef Semi Finals continue on Thursday May 25, 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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