MasterChef: The Professionals 2022 is in full swing with a new judge and a new line-up of contestants all hoping to impress in the kitchen. The 15th season kicked off on Wednesday, November 2 and over the course of six weeks, viewers will watch 32 eager chefs from across the country battle it out with a mixture of gruelling challenges to become MasterChef: The Professionals 2021 Champion.
In order to compete in the show, they must have experience in the kitchens of pubs, pop-ups and fine dining restaurants, to private homes and super-yachts. In the first heats, the final of which is tonight, viewers will see four chefs cook against one another hoping to impress Marcus Wareing, Gregg Wallace and new chef Anna Haugh in a bid for two-quarter final places.
And Wales has been lucky enough to have not just one chef, but two to represent our gorgeous country with their incredibly skillful cooking in these rounds.
Read more: MasterChef: The Professionals 2022: Who is Welsh contestant Owen Vaughan?
Mathew Griffiths, who appears on the eleventh episode of the latest series, was a private chef on a superyacht when filming for MasterChef took place and hails from Chester originally. He now lives in Wrexham after spending his formative years in Spain.
The contestant, 32, has had a pretty impressive culinary career not just in the UK but in Europe too. He worked in Spain in restaurants for 14 years before he relocated back to UK - in particular, north Wales - where he worked in some pretty luxurious settings aboard superyachts as a private chef.
Speaking about his love of cooking, Matthew said: “I’m passionate about cooking and working as a chef because of the environment. I absolutely love it and cannot get enough of cooking at a very high level and making my customers and guests happy.”
With a style of cooking that is "very detailed, creative and packed full of flavour", we have high hopes for this Welsh chef to make an impression on the BBC One cookery show, which will air on Thursday, November 24 at 9.10pm.
As for why he wanted to go on the prestigious programme, the 32-year-old father of two said: "I wanted to give MasterChef a go to expose myself to that kind of environment where I’m learning how to compete at a high level whilst cooking – something that would improve me as a chef for my job and other food challenges in the future."
With a career that spans over a decade, Mathew revealed the highlight - to date - that he's most proud of. He said: "I’ve always aimed high and wanted to cook food at the best level I can. Working as a private chef on super yacht’s has allowed me to do this. The fact that I’ve been given the opportunity to push myself all the time at work creatively and personally is a huge achievement.”
He unveiled the news that he would be appearing on MasterChef on his Facebook page towards the end of October with a picture of him standing with his arms crossed next to the programme's logo.
He captioned the picture: "I do love a good challenge. MasterChef UK Coming soon!"
Mathew will be competing on MasterChef: The Professionals tonight (Thursday, November 24) 9:10pm, on BBC One and iPlayer in a bid to get through to Friday’s Quarter Final at 9pm.
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