Dan Merriman has been announced as the winner of the 2024 series of MasterChef: The Professionals.
The 29-year-old overcame competition from 31 other chefs to become the 18th winner of the BBC cooking show, impressing restaurant critics, top chefs, and judges Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace.
Speaking about his win, Merriman said: “To walk away as MasterChef champion, it means the world to me.
“There’s not been that many times where I’ve been proud of myself in my life, but I’ve hit the pinnacle. This whole competition has changed my life. I’m forever grateful.”
During Thursday’s final, Galetti said the Droitwich-born chef was “one of the most humble chefs I’ve seen” but added “we see something great in you”.
She said: “From the moment he walked in, he let his cooking do the talking. I don’t think Dan realises how good he is. The kind of cooking he’s been doing takes years to get right.”
In Thursday’s episode Merriman, and runners-up Chiara Tomasoni and George Birtwell, were challenged to make three courses in three hours.
Merriman’s menu started with barbecued scallop glazed in a sumac, chilli, paprika and Turkish red pepper paste, before moving on to ex-dairy beef cooked in beef fat and smoked butter, served alongside a beef hash brown for his main.
The chef’s dessert was a blackcurrant cassis mousse topped with a yuzu curd, wood sorrel and honey tuille dusted with a blackcurrant and sherbet powder and grated macadamia nuts, finished with frozen clotted cream pearls, inspired by his grandfather.
After Merriman was announced as the winner, Wareing said: “We have a star. I see Dan’s cookery as fine dining at its very, very best. His food is precise, technical, it’s incredibly creative. I think it’s outstanding.
“This guy is shining. I can’t wait to see what this chef is going to do in the future.”
Merriman, who began his career in hospitality as a pot wash, went on to say that his family “didn’t have a lot” growing up, but said they “all loved each other” and credited them with helping him to win.
He added: “I definitely wouldn’t have done it without them. All of this has surpassed, absolutely, every single expectation that I ever had.
“I didn’t even expect to get into the competition, let alone win. MasterChef has changed everything for me. It’s made me realise that I am talented. I am good at what I do.
“The one thing hospitality is that you can come from absolutely nothing. You can really make yourself something. All you need is hard work and love.”
It comes after the show continued to air amid a storm of allegations of misconduct against Wallace, which saw other programmes he was due to feature on, such as Christmas special MasterChef Meets Strictly Festive Extravaganza, pulled.
Wallace announced he was stepping away from presenting the cookery show after producer Banijay UK announced it would be launching an external review into historical allegations of misconduct.
The 60-year-old’s lawyers said “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.
MasterChef: The Professionals is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
