We're fragile, fragmented souls who are very sensitive to criticism.

[I spend a] lot [time travelling]. Between the restaurants, filming for TV, producing MasterChef, seeing the kids... it's pretty constant.

Cooking is about passion, so it may look slightly temperamental in a way that it's too assertive to the naked eye.

I grew up in a funny way.

The pressure on young chefs today is far greater than ever before in terms of social skills, marketing skills, cooking skills, personality and, more importantly, delivering on the plate. So you need to be strong. Physically fit. So my chefs get weighed every time they come into the kitchen.

We outsmarted ourselves and raised the bar even higher, I think.

Pressure's healthy. It becomes stressful when you can't handle that. I mean, if you don't want to become pressurized in this environment, then don't be a chef.