DION DUBLIN
Ex-striker and keen percussionist on challenge of cooking on national TV
Blessed with a belief he can turn his hands – or feet – to almost anything, striker turned TV presenter and talented musician Dion Dublin wasn’t daunted by the prospect of Celebrity Masterchef.
Until, that is, he tied on the famous apron and attempted his debut dish.
He says: “In the very first challenge you lift up a cloth and you have to cook with whatever’s there.
“That’s when you think to yourself, oh right, maybe there’s a little bit more to these chefs than I realised. Maybe they do know what they’re doing. For me it was more like, ‘Oh no, what do I do now?’ Can I put it on toast?”
But, as anyone who saw Dion play football for Coventry, Aston Villa, Cambridge United or England knows, he’s not one to just throw in the towel.
That grit was learned, he reveals for the first time, from his dad, Eddie who kickstarted young Dion’s football career when it looked like it was, well, toast.
Aged 15, he was released by his hometown club Leicester City. “They basically said, sorry, you’re not good enough,” says the Homes Under the Hammer host.
While heartbroken Dion took on a series of jobs – at a hosiery factory, an ice cream factory and a leisure centre – musician Eddie wrote to every other club in the football league asking them to give his son a chance.
Dion reveals: “My dad was that convinced I was good enough, he wrote a letter and he photocopied it 92 times. “He sent them to every professional football club. He was asking for trials, saying, ‘Give my son a chance’. He said, ‘He’s very good, he’s this, he’s that,’ and then he just sat back and waited for the replies. I didn’t know a thing about it. One of the replies that came was from Norwich City.”
And the rest is history. The East Anglia club signed the teenage Dion in March 1988. While he never moved back to Leicester, at 52 he is still very close to his family.
He is the youngest of five siblings, with sister Carmen and brothers Eddie, Clem and Ash ahead of him. Both Eddie and Dion’s late mum, Rose, had come from the West Indies as part of the Windrush generation.
While Rose worked as a district nurse, Eddie – who is now in his 80s – had the option to be a pro-footballer. “At one point my dad had a choice whether to sign proforms for Fulham or go on tour,” says Dion, who lives in the north-west with wife Cheryl and daughter Ruby.
“He chose to go on tour with Rod Stewart. Music was closer to his heart. He still plays now. He’s 82 and he’s still playing bass in a reggae band.”
Following in his dad’s footsteps in many ways, Dion is a keen musician. He even invented an instrument – the Dube – a drum with four playable sides.
“We all play music,” he says. “I play percussion. My mum played the mandolin and we’ve got Clem who plays
lead guitar, Eddie who plays drums, Ash, my eldest brother is a bass player and Carmen used to play keyboards.
“If I’d taken up percussion earlier I might have gone for it, but I’ve been very fortunate to have played on a couple of tracks with Ocean Colour Scene and Toploader. I play more or less every
I saw the ingredients and thought, what do I do? Can I put it on some toast? DION DUBLIN ON FACING HIS FIRST SET OF INGREDIENTS
day. Percussion is my passion when it comes to music, it’s something that’s come straight from Mum and Dad.”
He is clearly a man of many talents. But Dion admits feeling the heat in the kitchen trying to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace. “It’s hard to explain the pressure,” he laughs. “You walk into the kitchen and think, ‘Oh my gosh I’ve seen this on TV and I’m here. It’s nerve-racking, but really good fun. I absolutely loved it.
“Working under pressure in your own area of expertise is one thing. Whatever’s thrown at you, you’ve dealt with it before, whether you’re a defender or a striker. But when you’re told to cook with something you’ve never cooked with before you think, ‘What do I do with this? Your mind goes completely blank.”
For tonight’s heat, which also features model Katie Price and King of the Jungle Joe Swash, Dion drew on his childhood. “Everything was spicy growing up,” says Dion. “Caribbean flavours, jerk chicken, green bananas and yams. My grandmother liked it nice and spicy. My mum was a little bit more conservative. My dad’s a great cook as well.”
Dion is giving nothing away about how far he gets in the cookery series, but jokes it has made an impact.
“I’m doing more cooking at home,” he says. “That’s a good thing!”
While Dion enjoyed the build-up to the show this summer, he was heartbroken to see footballers facing the same racist abuse after the Euro 2020 final he endured back in the 1980s.
“I’ve had the anger. I’ve had the frustration,” he said. “But it makes me sad that young black people born in this country are still getting cr*p for it.
“I had it. Before me you had Cyrille Regis, God rest his soul, and players of that era like Viv Anderson. So you’re talking right back to the 1970s until now. We’re 50-odd years in and we’re still talking about racism.
“But it’s a very small minority. I love our country. I love Britain.
“We’ll never eradicate it. But the closest you can come is diluting it..
“Black people need to learn about white culture. White people need to learn about black culture. We all need to learn about one another, every culture, and we need to learn together, from a very, very young age.”
Celebrity Masterchef, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, BBC1, 9pm.