I think, to Chelsea's [Handler] point, I still need directing because sometimes I go a little bit off beat in a way that it's like, rein it in. I welcome that kind of support.

I suppose I might be a player-coach nowadays. I'm a great teacher, and I enjoy teaching. But I'm glad I got injured and ended up turning to cooking. It was an accident but the happiest one of my life.

I think when we opened in 2001, it was holy ground. There was nothing here. Back then, being on the Dubai Creek was an amazing position, and I would come one or two times a year, max. Now it's so different. The travel dilemma has disappeared and it is so easy to get to Dubai. What is it, seven hours from London? It's pretty easy.

MasterChef Junior for me was about working closely with these kids and getting them to reeducate their parents to understand that food is as important educationally as Math and English and it's important that we don't take it for granted.

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

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've been in New York for 15 months. Winning two stars in the Zagat number one best newcomer within ten months of opening in New York has taught me a big lesson.