Age: 38

From: Bristol via Wolverhampton

Occupation: Solicitor

Cooking Style: "I like to cook with seasonal food, often vegetables from my parent's allotment, and challenge myself to use them in different interesting ways, like combining them with my love for spices and food from around the world. I find that cooking food that you've tasted or learnt to cook on holiday, is the best way to transport yourself back to that time and place.

"If I can, I cook over an open fire outdoors. I love being outdoors and cooking over fire is a great opportunity to take a break from a busy day or week, as you have to focus on tending to the fire and keeping the temperature right for cooking."

Why MasterChef?: "Outside of my career, cooking is what I spend most of my time thinking about and doing. I'm a competitive person and always striving to do more! MasterChef is the pinnacle for amateur cooks and so it was natural that I wanted to give it a go. I'm keen to push my cooking on, learn new skills, and see where I could take it."

Ambition: "I'm interested in food production and it is a big challenge we face in Britain. My food dream would be to set up somewhere that investigates the possibility of growing food in a sustainable and affordable way. From there I would love to develop recipes that showcase that you can use sustainably grown, seasonal food, from the UK in exciting, interesting ways."

MasterChef continues Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.