Whilst driving home from work one day in my little yellow mini with my huge standard poodle sitting upright in the front seat next to me (it’s a long story) my phone rings; I answer it (hands free of course). It’s a producer from Shine TV apparently my application for Masterchef has been chosen out of 11,000 applicants; I am through to the first round of auditions for the next series. Congratulations!
Before I could tell Mr Producer that I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about he asked me if I could spare a few minutes to go through my application with him on the phone. Now I am intrigued so I said ‘Yes, of course, I would be delighted!’ ‘What application?’ I asked myself although I did eventually track down the culprit who set me up for this.
Apparently I am a very good cook, always inventing dishes from scratch and able to make a delicious meal out of whatever is available in the fridge and cupboard. I would like to own my own coffee shop selling homemade cakes or even a bistro and my dream is to live and work in France
‘Yes’ I found myself saying ‘I am passionate about food and I love France and I speak French too’.
The conversation then continued for 45 minutes all about food, recipes, signature dishes, could I be available for 3 months if I got through to the final until filming finishes – Yes, Yes, Yes I found myself saying – this is marvellous.
After a very successful telephone interview Mr Producer informs me I am through to the second round and someone else from the Production Team will be in touch. After several rounds I got down to the last 700 applicants (yes I know nothing to shout home about) before being told to hang up my pinny.
My Masterchef experience taught me a valuable lesson; do not lose sight of your goal, never take your eye off it.
My goal has been to finish my degree; I have been working towards it for a number of years whilst working full time. It has been challenging at times trying to fit everything in but I had always remained focussed and with my eye firmly on the prize. That was until Mr Producer called; this little indulgence cost me several weeks of valuable study time.
I now know I should have declined that first interview. As Steve Jobs said ‘Focussing is about saying no.”
Driving to work the day after the Masterchef Final I was thinking of my next assignment for my degree, the subject area was conversation analysis. I had the radio on in the car when I heard an interview with the winner of Masterchef that year, Dhruv Baker, and I thought great I’ll get a transcript of the conversation and use that for my assignment.
I achieved a distinction for my work on Conversation Analysis. Every cloud …
