A Darlington man has described the experience of being on the popular BBC One show MasterChef as “an absolute whirlwind.”
Venezuelan-born Nickolas is through to Knockout Week and the challenges are getting tougher and tougher.
The 31-year-old amateur cook spoke to The Northern Echo about his experience and he said that getting used to coping under the pressure has been a learning curve.
Nickolas said: “It goes so fast, but when you’re in it you’re in absolute terror!
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“In the first episode, I was pretty nervous. It just takes over your life. You spend a good portion of your time cooking, learning recipes, and trying to hone your skills and it’s an incredible experience. I loved it.
“On the first day, you are absolutely terrified that you won’t get an apron so you’re terrified of humiliating yourself on national television. All of us were shaking we were so scared.
“I think that’s why I talked a lot at the beginning of the series because I was so nervous. We didn’t sleep because we were so nervous. I remember being in the hotel the night before and it was just impossible to sleep.
“Learning to cook under a time limit was the hardest challenge to begin with. Obviously, I’m not a professional cook or a chef so doing the briefs to the time limit was so hard, because you’ve got so many different elements you’re trying to do and obviously you want it to look really good and when you’re there time just goes so fast but I think as I went on I got better and better. Practice makes perfect.”
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Nickolas said that his favourite dish he has cooked was his fillet of beef with sweetcorn and poblano velouté, Peruvian huacatay oil, seared king oyster mushroom, chimichurri sauce, and a porcini mushroom tweel, which was aired on Tuesday night (May 16).
“I was over the moon that I’d done it right and the feedback I got was insane.”
The aspiring chef also said that Greg Wallace and John Torode are “really lovely guys off screen and that they genuinely want each contestant to do well."
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The delivery driver also said that working under Peter Sanchez-Iglesias at Decimo in London was an amazing experience.
Nickolas added: “Peter was great, he’s such a nice guy, and that whole environment. I didn’t reveal it on the show but I do have ADHD so that’s why I’m quite high-energy and being in that environment was great because it was like my ADHD was a superpower because I was so focused and had so much energy so when he said ’20 pigeons’ I said ‘right, let’s go!’”
Nickolas will next appear on MasterChef on Friday, May 19, at 8:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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