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.

I was a naturally aggressive left-back, a cut-throat tackler.

I cook for a living; I'm not a scheduler.

Someone sent me a picture of my name that was tattooed on their a***! The first thing I said was, the least you could have done was spell it properly!

The kids now, on "Junior," we educate the parents and it's quite a fascinating turnaround. You can just see the parents thinking, "S - , 10 years ago I was eating so bad, and now I'm seeing it through the eyes of my kids at 9, 10 years of age." There is an upside to that side of reality TV. It's not all negative.

If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that's exactly what I did.

There's nothing new. I think that's the weird thing for me. Over the last couple of months, the keep-fit shows, and then at the end of it you get to lose weight and one of you is going to win a million dollars - that's not real. In many ways, even 10 years ago that wouldn't have worked.