MasterChef 2023 Contestants Week 5 Interviews: Cristina

MasterChef 2023 Contestants Week 5 Interviews: Cristina

Find out who is preparing their best dishes for MasterChef 2023’s fifth week of heats in the hopes of impressing John Torode and Gregg Wallace.

Cristina, a retired tour guide, is 63 years old. She was born in London, spent her childhood in the Canary Islands, and eventually settled in Kingston upon Thames, where she raised her own children. She and her husband have two grown children and a grandchild who all live in the area.

How would you describe your style of cooking?

“Family cooking – I like nothing more than Sunday lunch or a BBQ with my kids and now their kids! I am also brave too – I’m always happy to try things out, even if they don’t work first time, I’ll give it another go. Food has to be fun too.”

What is your earliest cooking memory?

“I grew up in London, to a Spanish mother and an Irish father so I had lots of different influences from a young age. My mother’s Sunday lunch is one that stands out, it was unusual. Her favourite Sunday pudding was a sponge, covered in coffee flavoured butter, covered again in almond slivers. It looked like a dinosaur!”

Why did you enter MasterChef?

“I was diagnosed with Stage 3 bowel cancer in 2018 and underwent 12 gruelling rounds of chemo. As my oncologist said, it was close but not quite midnight so I am very lucky that it hasn’t returned but it does crystallise in you that life is so very short and you have to GO FOR IT.”

What is your food dream?

“I would absolutely love to have a food truck serving Spanish street food, wouldn’t that be marvellous.”

MasterChef Season 19 is currently airing weeknights on BBC One.