Missing puss heads home 8 years later

BLIND Celebrity MasterChef contestant Amar Latif has astounded millions of viewers by making the show’s semi-finals.

But today he reveals that nobody’s more surprised by his skills in the kitchen than himself – and his mum.

The height of TV travel presenter Amar’s culinary skills used to be taking some chicken out of its packaging – and bunging it in the oven.

But viewers have watched him feed 120 people in a busy canteen and rustle up spectacular dishes in a Michelinstarred kitchen as part of the BBC cookery contest.

“There were comments about me going on the show,” said Amar, 45. “A lot said it was a BBC box-ticking exercise.

“Even I had a preconception I wouldn’t be able to do much in there, but I got my head down and worked really hard.”

And Amar’s newfound passion for food has even helped him to forget his blindness.

He said: “In lockdown, I’ve been busy making incredible meals – vegetable curries, my signature chicken curry, cheesecakes… the show has given me huge independence in the kitchen.

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“I forget I’m blind when I’m doing it – and now my mother trusts me in there.

“I made her a spicy scrambled egg. She watched so calmly as I whipped out my knife and she took it in her stride. That’s special.

“Before, if she saw me pull out a knife to cut onions, she’d take it off me.”

Amar’s proud parents Rashida and Mohammed have got used to their seeing their son defy the degenerative eye condition retinitis pigmentosa that struck him at four. They were told he’d lose his eyesight in his teens.

Scottish Amar, who has hosted TV shows about travelling with disabilities, recalls waking up at 18 to find he was blind.

“I couldn’t see the Madonna poster at the end of my bed. All I could see was light fog,” he said. “It dawned on me this was it. I thought, ‘Why me?’ I’d just started university and suddenly, the world was closed.”

But support from his family helped Amar’s confidence grow. As he studied to become an accountant at university, he stunned his parents by declaring he would spend his third year in Canada.

It sparked a passion for travel that saw him set up Traveleyes, the first holiday firm for the visually impaired, in 2004.

The following year, Amar’s TV break came on BBC Two documentary Beyond Boundaries about adventurers with disabilities. And earlier this year, he appeared with stars such as Dom Joly and Adrian Chiles in Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul on BBC Two.

His was first approached to do Celebrity MasterChef last year and rejected it –but later changed his mind.

“I wasn’t much of a cook,” Amar said. “I’d use the microwave a lot. I didn’t chop up things or make sauces.

“But I believe if you have the right mindset, you can achieve something that may have seemed impossible.” So how did coming face to face with John Torode and Gregg Wallace feel? “It

Amar with mum, dad and his sister Humaira was terrifying,” he said. “Walking up with your plate in the right direction. They can be pretty serious.

“When they’re tasting, they don’t speak. It’s hard to know what’s happening.

“So I imagine this longmarried couple having a romantic meal in a restaurant who have nothing to say to each other.”

Amar thinks his heightened sense of taste, touch and smell has given him an advantage on the show.

He said: “Getting through to the semifinals is incredible. My highlight was cooking for 120 people in the canteen. I asked people what they wanted. They didn’t know I was blind and for a moment, I forgot I was. That was quite a special moment for me.”

“Lots of people losing their sight or blind have got in touch. They have said I’ve inspired them to give cooking a go.

“That is so incredible as it’s changing lives.”

So what’s next for Amar in his career? Could a cookbook be on the cards?

“Who knows?” he said. “I want to show people anything is possible.”

Catch Amar in the MasterChef semifinals from Wednesday on BBC One.

A CAT that went missing eight years ago turned up looking lost 30 miles away.

Marisa Davies, 23, said her pet Buble would follow her to school in Blackpool when she was 15.

He disappeared when he was just a year old – but last week, a vet phoned Marisa’s mum Lisa after scanning his microchip in Chorley, Lancs.

Flight attendant Marisa said Buble was “still a baby” when he went missing.

She added: “When I walked to school, he would walk with me – it wouldn’t have surprised me if someone took him since he was so friendly.

“We put up posters everywhere, we thought he must have been run over.

“I’d love to know who’s looked after him. I cried when I picked him up.”

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