Have read a couple of the opinions here and thought I would throw my hat into the ring.

My ex girlfriend put me forward for this show, unknown to me, a few years back. First I knew of it was a call from Bazal, the production company to ask me to come along for an audition. Thats right you have to be auditioned..

So I went along to the auditions in London and after a week or so got the call to go down to there studios in the Crawley area to be on the show.

They looked after all of us (4 shows were filmed that day) really well with free food and drink while you were waiting. I met Fern Britten, Lesley (cant remember her second name), Phil Vickery (my chef) and the scottish bloke whose name also escapes me. They were all really nice and took time to chat to the contestants and seemed interested in what you had to say.

The day seemed really long but the 20 mins flew by. All I seemed to do was cook some onion rings. He did the rest !! We made a honey glazed Ducks Breakst on couscous salad with deep fried onion rings (my bit :-) ) it was lovely. As soon as the cameras were off the crew swooped and ate most of it.

I won on the day but the whole experience was the most important thing and I would encourage anyone to take part. I treasure my souvenir apron, cuecard and the copy of Good Food magazine which my recipe is in.

There are a couple of "secrets" about the show (like the sinks running straight into plastic dustbins "dont leave the taps on PLEASE said the producer", wise words).

But the main thing is they DO it all in 20 mins and they work very hard.