Dawn O'Porter for Celebrity MasterChef 2025 / BBC
Age: 46
Known For: Author and journalist
Why did you want to take part in the show?
“I wanted to do Celebrity MasterChef because I love cooking. I’m either writing or cooking, so it’s just really nice to get away from my desk for a bit be around other people. Most of the time I’m on my own, it’s quite intense! So I thought if I do MasterChef, I’ll do the other thing that I love and get to be a little bit sociable.”
How does your cooking go down with friends and family?
“There are different palates and preferences in my household, so I have to really work hard at family meals, which, for me, is a pleasure, but it means I can’t just chuck anything on the table. My youngest Valentine has just been so in love with me doing Celebrity MasterChef that recently he’s like, ‘mummy, I’ve got some feedback – I think if you cook this on MasterChef, you have to add more salt, or it has to be more crispy!'”
What is your favourite dish to cook vs. your favourite to eat?
“Sunday roast is my favourite thing to cook. I love the challenge of having to get it all out on time, hot and all the different elements to it. I either cook it on a Sunday or we go to the pub, and it’s a real ritual for me, and even when I lived in America for 16 years, trying to do a roast or some sort of sit-down meal and pull people together every Sunday. Roast potatoes, especially, I want them scattered on my grave!”
What is your ultimate comfort food and why?
“My ultimate comfort food is probably a Sunday roast or just anything salty and garlicky and carbs. I really love carbohydrates, and if they’ve got salt and garlic on them, then I’m happy. Another is chips and garlic mayonnaise. My kids know that that’s my favourite food, they always say ‘On your birthday, we’ll make you chips.'”
Celebrity MasterChef continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One and is available now via iPlayer.
