Having a Ball: Tommy is still rocking on
IT was one of the “what the heck” moments for MasterChef’s millions of fans.
How did Tommy Cannon manage to knock super-confident cook, Donna Air, out of the show?
Speaking ahead of this week’s tense semi-finals, Tommy admits he still doesn’t know!
“I think I was as shocked as everyone else,” Tommy told iN10.
“I kept thinking that any moment I was going to be out of there.
“I was pretty sure of my dish, though, because it was the one I’d done for years whenever the family got together.
“It was well-cooked and I think, while Donna had done a lovely dish, it was raw.”
The pair had been teamed together in the mass catering challenge, rustling up meals for more than 100 staff at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
Donna took on head chef duties, with Tommy revealing it mirrored his domestic role where wife Hazel takes the lead.
“Donna told me that at home no one told her what to cook and she was the boss,” laughs Tommy, 78.
“That’s pretty much like my wife, so I reckoned I’d just be the slave for whatever she wanted to do.
“It worked out OK, but the first challenge we did was terrifying.
“When you walk in there for the first time it frightens you to death.
“On the first day when I saw the produce there, I didn’t even know what half of it was, never mind what to do with it.”
Over the years Tommy and his partner Bobby Ball have singly or jointly appeared on numerous reality shows, including I’m A Celebrity and Strictly Come Dancing.
But he reckons MasterChef tops the lot for sheer good fun.
In the 1980s Cannon and Ball were telly royalty. Their TV shows were attracting incredible audiences, up to 18 million tuning in to hear catchphrases such as “You little liar” and “Rock on, Tommy”.
They were earning millions, starred in pantos and films, made albums end even had matching Rolls-Royces.
At the height of it, though, there was sadness behind the laughter.
While it was all smiles on stage, the duo had a major fallout that was so bitter they didn’t even speak off stage.
“Out of 54 years together we had three dodgy years, which isn’t too bad,” insists Tommy.
“And when things started going wrong it never interfered with our TV shows or whatever we were doing.
“I think one of the problems was we had entourages in those days.
“I’ve got no idea why – we’re a comedy act, not a rock band. Bob had an entourage, I had an entourage and I think it was the gossip more than anything.
“Some of it was made up, that I’d said this about Bob or he’d said that about me. That really got in the way.
“After all our time together and having got to that stage in our career, what a shame that we had those years of turmoil.”
The pair made up years ago and Tommy says simply, “He’s my best pal.”
The duo are in rehearsals for a play which could end up as a national tour and this year they will team up once more to star in their 36th panto.
He says they love the fact that everyone from kids to grandparents lap up the family humour.
Youngsters gather at the stage door to tell them how funny they are while asking for an autograph.
“They ask why we aren’t on telly without realising we were 30 years ago,” adds Tommy, who now lives a quieter life in York.
“There isn’t any of the comedy we do on TV these days but I’m sure it will come back. “Everything goes round in circles. “I’m sure that somewhere down the line someone will have a look at the archives and decide to get two lads to do that again.
“People say there were only three or four channels when we were around.
“But there was a lot of good stuff to compete with on a Saturday night, and we were at the top.”
Catch Tommy in the semi-finals of Celebrity MasterChef on Thursday at 8pm on BBC1.