TV chef Jamie Oliver has confessed that cooking competition show's such as The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef are "not his cup of tea."
The 46-year-old cooking whizz - who has made his fortune with cookbooks, cooking shows, cookware and restaurants - is launching his show The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver on January 31, but has told that due to him not being keen on those types of series that he was hesitant to take part.
Admitting that he know's lots of people love to view cooking competition shows, Jamie says he finds them "uneasy" and "stressful."
"I know everyone else loves them, but they just make me a bit uneasy, a bit nervous, and it's a bit stressful, and it's not my cup of tea," he told BBC News.
"I'm not judging the shows per se, I know people love them, but it's never really been my bag. So when I was asked to do one myself, my first response wasn't particularly polite.
"But because it's through the lens of publishing and the written word, strangely that did honestly change everything, and as I started to get into it, I was only wanting to do it if the show was more soulful and unexpected and aspirational."
Jamie has sold 47 million copies of his 26 cookbooks and has also scooped a Bafta, an Emmy and been awarded an MBE since he was spotted as a sous-chef at The River Cafe in 1997.
He was given his own BBC series, The Naked Chef, and the rest is history.
The Essex native recently revealed that he employs "cultural appropriation specialists" to check his recipes over before they hit the publishers.
In 2018 he landed in hot water and had to defend the name of his "punchy jerk rice" after Labour shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler accused him of racial appropriation.
The argument was whether Jamie could call the rice jerk, which is fusion of herbs and spices including allspice, thyme and nutmeg.
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She told him that the meal, which was a combination of brown rice and red kidney beans with aubergine and peppers served in a coconut "jerk-style" sauce was "not ok".
She said she wondered if Jamie "knows what Jamaican jerk actually is", adding: "It's not just a word you put before stuff to sell products."
Jamie hit back and issued a statement: "I've worked with flavours and spices from all over the world my whole career, learning and drawing inspiration from different countries and cultures to give a fresh twist to the food we eat every day.
"When I named the rice my intention was only to show where my inspiration came from."
The full interview is available in the Radio Times.
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