I am what I am. A fighter.

The problem with Yanks is they are wimps.

If you become a chef because you're obsessed by becoming a celebrity, getting my ass kicked and working my nuts off the way I did in France and getting pushed around those kitchens wasn't about becoming famous.

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.

I like finding talent. That's what really turns me on, I suppose.

My father was a swim teacher. We used to swim before school, swim after school.

Cooking today is a young man's game, I don't give a bollocks what anyone says.