Growing up in Britain, we didn't have much, worked for everything. To leave food on the plate, Mom classed it as being rude and so we ate because we were hungry, not ate because we had a choice in the fridge.

What you're experiencing now [on "MasterChef," on "Junior"] is what life's going to be like for the next four, five decades. You're going to go through those bumps. Bringing you back in contention and giving you that kind of confidence, they're huge. But they let it go, there's no fear, they're naughty, they're rude, and they know there's no parents and there's no school teacher so they can have fun, and it shows.

Chelsea has always been a foodie heaven and it will never change in that respect.

I cook, I create, I'm incredibly excited by what I do, I've still got a lot to achieve.

The issue I have is that the cooking techniques are up for questioning, today more than ever before. If you waterbath beef at 22-degrees for 12 hours, it may taste fantastic, but if you don't cook food at a high enough temperature, you risk not killing the bacteria. Things like that make me nervous of venturing into it.

I've always said that I think females make the best chefs anywhere in the world.

A lot of people think that I am only in town when I'm doing the publicity circuit, but I actually come [Bread Street] regularly. I just don't publicise it.