'Celebrity MasterChef' winner revealed

[dutchman]

TV actress Lisa Faulkner has been crowned the winner of the fifth series of Celebrity MasterChef.



Judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace awarded the Holby City star the title after battling through two weeks of semi-finals and finals against Dick Strawbridge and Christine Hamilton.

"I've never won anything and now I've won this! I'm really proud of myself. Honestly, not in my wildest dreams did I think this was possible!" said Faulkner. "I've loved learning so much about food and I just want to learn more."

Presenter Torode said that he was "proud" of the actress and praised her "natural touch" in the kitchen. His co-star Wallace added: "You can't want for anything else from food other than to put it in your mouth and go, 'Oh my word' - Lisa elevates humble food into something beautiful.

"She's a brilliant champion and possibly the best Celebrity MasterChef winner we have ever had."

Faulkner's challenges during the final week included cooking for principle dancers at the Moulin Rouge, catering for the Champagne masters of France, serving elegant food for diners on the Orient Express and preparing a three-course Michelin standard meal at the L'Autre Pied for five of the best chefs in the country.

In her final task for Torode and Wallace, she served a three-course meal, which started with a plate of goats cheese and red onion tart with thyme pastry, served with red onion marmalade and a rocket salad. She followed with a main course of pan fried monkfish with a butternut squash fondant, French beans wrapped in pancetta and a sauce vierge, and finished with a dessert of almond panna cotta with poached tamarillos and berries.

Speaking after filming, Faulkner said: "You know, John Torode says MasterChef will completely change your life - he is completely right, because it has totally changed my life. I now cook all the time, I cook every day.

"If I'm stressed I go cook, I try things I've never tried before and I absolutely love it. It's just opened up a whole new world to me and I can tell you I just want to learn more - I've just become obsessed with it."

Faulkner will now appear as a special guest at the BBC Good Food Show in Scotland later this year and will also visit MasterChef Live, which takes place at Olympia from November 12 to November 14.