Meghan: “MasterChef was so different to reality TV!”
Celebrity MasterChef is back with a host of aspiring chefs, including reality star-turned-singer Megan McKenna, who tells Closer how she’s found success in her career and love
She came into the spotlight as a reality TV star – as famous for her fiery relationships as her hot-headed meltdowns. But six years on and Megan McKenna has reinvented herself as a successful singer, having had number one hit singles and touring around the UK.
But she’ll return to TV this week as she steps into the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen
– a dream come true for the keen home cook, who learned to create her own recipes after her coeliac diagnosis meant she had to find creative alternatives to wheat for her meals.
NERVOUS
And she admits the BBC show was a welcome change from the reality TV circuit, and that she loved the experience.
Megan 28, says, “Having been a fan my entire life, it was so exciting to do MasterChef. It was so different from reality TV – I was much more nervous here! I could feel myself shaking. It’s not like cooking at home where you can mess up and change things at the last minute. You’ve got Gregg and John watching you all the time!
“I’ve always cooked from a young age and my mum taught me to cook a lot from scratch. It was a focus because I’m coeliac – people don’t realise how much wheat there is in a lot of foods. You can swap some things around and make it pretty tasty.
But being coeliac was one of the reasons I wanted to go on the show, too. I wish, obviously, that I didn’t have it, but I can cook some good coeliac-friendly meals!”
Having starred on Ex On The Beach, TOWIE, Celebs Go Dating, Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity X Factor, Megan’s return to TV comes after she decided to focus on her music career, which has been successful. This summer, she’ll support pop legend Tom Jones on his tour and will be on the main stage at the Isle of Wight festival.
Megan also hit the headlines for her love life over the years – after splitting from her EOTB co-star and ex-fiancé Jordan Davies, her relationship with TOWIE Lothario
Pete Wicks played out on the show in 2017, which culminated in him admitting to messaging multiple other women.
HAPPY ENDING
She then dated Love Island star Mike Thalassitis for seven months and, after their split, more heartbreak followed as Mike tragically took his own life a year later.
But after two years of being single, Megan has found happiness again with boyfriend Josh Riley – who she recently holidayed with in Mallorca – and she says their relationship is “going amazingly”.
She says, “I didn’t want to come home from our holiday. It was so nice to do something normal in a relationship after lockdown. It’s so positive with Josh right now. I’ve always wanted my happy ending. It’s going amazingly with him right now, it’s looking good, so we’ll see!”
By Lauren Hill-Roger