Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Daughter cooked up TV sur rise for Ross
BUSINESSMAN Ross Smyth had the surprise of his life when he got a call early last year from the team at MasterChef – telling him he would be in its 17th series.
Unknown to him, avid home cook Ross, 58, from Carnoustie, had been entered for the TV favourite by his daughter, Catherine Barnett.
He said: “It was amazing. I was thinking they had the wrong person; that was until Catherine fessed up and told me she had entered my name.
“She entered online and had sent in some pictures of my food that I had taken at home.
“I like to photograph my dishes and use them as a point of reference,” said Ross, who has a successful fibreglass manufacturing firm.
Series 17 of the popular BBC One show airs on Monday as Ross competes with four other amateur cooks for two quarter-final spots.
He said of filming last October: “It was such a surreal experience. As a family we enjoy watching MasterChef and having seen it on the TV to then being in the actual studio...it was hard to believe.
“On set they were very good and were very compliant with Covid-19 restrictions.
“We had to wear masks, there was hand sanitiser everywhere, and they even had people in place to keep us all in check and ensure we were socially distancing all the time.
“There were only five of us cooking to make sure we could all socially distance as well.”
Judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace return for the new series.
Ross said: “It was great getting to meet them. Everyone was great and there were no showbiz egos at all. I really didn’t know what to expect when I went down.
“The whole MasterChef team, including John and Gregg, were really lovely.”
This year’s competition has a new round in which each cook showcases their favourite ingredient.
“My signature dish was a seafood dish...comprising lobster and I accompanied it with chips,” said Ross. “It was high end meets low end.
“Arbroath is five miles along the road from Carnoustie and I cook lobster quite regularly. It is an excellent larder for seafood to have on your doorstep. Cooking is my main hobby.”
The managing director of Smyth Composites, which employs 25 people, is looking forward to watching the show with his wife – and to receive plenty of excited calls from family and friends.
“At the time of filming in October I thought all of this malarkey would be over by now, and we wanted to have a bit of a party to celebrate it,” Ross said.
“But obviously that can’t happen so it will just be myself and my wife in front of the TV. I’m expecting my phone to be red hot.”
Five contestants from Scotland feature in this latest series.
The other Scottish hopefuls are Katy Tan from Glasgow (episode four), Laura Michael from Carluke (episode two), plus two other men who have yet to be named but hail from Dunfermline (episode seven) and Gorebridge (episode 11).
Last year’s series was made up of 24 episodes and this year’s is expected to have the same number.