The thing is, I can teach. I can teach bloody well. So few chefs have that level of generosity. I demand a lot, a f***ing hell of a lot, but I give a lot back.

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

We have never done anything in a cynical fake way

I love eating out. I don't deny that. But I don't want 12 or 15 courses because the chef wants me to taste this or taste that. I just want to be able to decide.

Something you need to do three times a day, seven days a week, and something you need to stop worrying about. If [kids] don't know how to cook, they go to junk, and then the junk becomes addictive, and then all of a sudden they're left with no choice.

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.

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.