MasterChef contestant from Forest Gate through to semi-finals

Michael Sanders hard at work (Image: Archant)

A MasterChef contestant from Forest Gate is through to the semi-finals of the culinary competition.

Michael Sanders is one of just six amateur chefs left standing from thousands of hopefuls.

His confit of cod with egg yolk, burnt leeks and couscous impressed judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace in Friday’s episode enough to put him through to the next stage - but Michael, 30, admits choosing his show-stopping dish was a difficult decision.

“When you have got a short amount of time to think about what your next dish is going to be, it is really hard to narrow it down,” he said. “You just have to try and do something that you’d like to eat and hope other people would like it too.”

His dish didn’t go exactly to plan and part of him thought that he had not done enough to go forward.

“I did have a moment when I had heard my feedback and heard other people’s where I did think that there was a reasonable chance that I could go,” Michael said. “It was really nervewracking and I was really relieved when I found out that I had got through.”

Despite his success, he admits that he finds it “horrible” to watch himself on television.

“It is pretty cringey because you are just watching yourself hoping that the little cringey sound bites that you know that you said haven’t made it onto the programme - but they often do,” he said.

In tomorrow’s episode, Michael will be tasked with catering for the EastEnders cast and crew, before heading back to the studio to create his own refined dish.

Find out how he gets on by tuning in to BBC1 tomorrow night at 8pm.

Read more: Forest Gate budding chef one step closer to becoming MasterChef semi-finalist