Meet the finalist chefs for MasterChef: The Professionals 2022
After weeks of intense competition, six chefs will battle it out this week to be named MasterChef: The Professionals champion 2022.
Sagar, Charlie, Owen, James, Wilson and Nikita have made it to the last round of the prestigious BBC cooking show after 32 ambitious chefs from across the country originally embarked on the journey.
In the kitchen, they will come up against judges Marcus Wareing, Gregg Wallace and Anna Haugh.
Episodes will air on Tuesday and Thursday with the 2022 winner crowned on Sunday.
– Who are the finalists?
He said his family inspired him to cook, his mother at home and his father who worked as a chef.
Sagar said: “Influences on my cooking style are from my childhood food memories from India and my mum and dad’s food.
Charlie, from London, is a senior chef de partie who has worked at Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester for the past five years.
The 24-year-old started as a pot washer in the Yalbury Cottage Hotel in Dorset where he grew up and was then taught how to cook.
He said: “I could never repay Jamie and Yalbury family for what they taught me.
Owen, 25, from Gwynedd, Wales, is a sous chef at the Penmaenuchaf Hotel and has been working in restaurants from the age of 15.
He described his style as “modern British with different flavours from around the world, such as French, Thai and Spanish” and “never imagined being a finalist”.
He said: “I’m a bit do or die when it comes to work and I find chefs like that truly inspiring.”
Angolan and Portuguese Wilson, who lives in London, was a senior sous chef at the time of filming and now has ambitions to open his own restaurant.
He describes his food as of “French, Mediterranean influence and African heritage”.
Nikita from London is working at Michelin-starred Kitchen W8 and has recently been promoted to junior sous chef.
Nikita said she went in to “partly” get her mother off her “case” and it’s “completely amazing and terrifying” to have made it to the final week.
Finals week of MasterChef: The Professionals airs 8pm Tuesday and Thursday, and concludes 6.15pm on Sunday, BBC One and iPlayer.