BBC Masterchef: Doncaster born amateur cook Claire down to the last four, here’s where and when you catch watch the final
A Doncaster-born woman who has inherited a love for Scandinavian flavours will this week appear in the final stages of TV’s BBC One cookery show Masterchef, up against three other contestants.
Mum of two Claire was born in Doncaster and lived in Yorkshire as a child. She went to university in Lancaster during the late 1990s and then lived in Canada for 12 years where she met her husband, Paul. She now lives in Newark-on-Trent.
Claire, aged 46, who works as a copywriter, says most of her favourite meals involve cooking with garlic, said: “My husband really pushed me to apply for MasterChef so that I could celebrate how much cooking has meant to me in the last nine years during a tricky time in my life.
“I would love to write a book that compiles delicious family recipes with life and cooking tips that have saved me during a hard time.
“I think teaching people to cook on any budget is a very powerful tool and a dream would be to push for a national cooking programme in conjunction with a budget supermarket.
“So much of our health and wealth starts at the dinner table.”
MasterChef returned to TV screens last month after a difficult period for the show.
Its presenters, Gregg Wallace and John Torode, were both sacked after a report into conduct on the programme upheld allegations against them.
The BBC decided to still show this year's amateur series - filmed before they were sacked - saying it was “the right thing to do” for the chefs who took part.
In previous rounds Claire received glowing praise from food critic William Sitwell as well as from Torode and Wallace, saying: “The cooking of the fish is exemplary”, “beautiful little strands of courgette, it’s a very decent dish”, and “I love the saltiness and the sweetness of the banana, it’s beautifully balanaced”.
After reaching the quarter final Claire said: “It was so much fun and so stressful simultaneously. I hope the guest judges could see how much love was in there.”
MasterChef, The Finals, airs at 8pm tonight Wednesday September, Thursday 25 and Friday 26 on BBC One.
Previous MasterChef episodes are available to watch on iPlayer.