Wynne Evans has been crowned Celebrity MasterChef champion for 2023.
The Welsh opera singer, 51, beat Emmerdale actress Amy Walsh and former Love Island competitor Luca Bish in the final round of BBC One’s celebrity cooking competition on Friday.
Evans, best known as the moustachioed tenor from the Go Compare adverts, said: “This is a brilliant feeling.
“The kids will love this: they’ll be like ‘Dad! I can’t believe you did it when all you cook for us is beans on toast’.
“The experience has totally changed my life. It has just been beautiful and I can’t thank (co-presenters) Gregg (Wallace) and John (Torode) and everybody here at MasterChef enough.
“When you start to believe in yourself, that’s when good things start to happen. I don’t know how a MasterChef winner celebrates but I know how a bloke from Carmarthen celebrates.”
His winning meal, prepared over two hours, included a starter of Carmarthen-Japanese sumo tuna tartare with avocado, edamame beans and wasabi, served with deep-fried cockle popcorn and a mango egg.
This was followed by a main course of cannon of lamb served on samphire with wild garlic, porcini mushrooms and lamb-rendered fried bread, with pommes dauphine and a fondant leek, finished with a red wine and red currant jus.
Evans opted to reference his Welsh heritage further in the dessert course, making a traditional bara brith tea loaf accompanied by Caerphilly cheese and fig jam, and served with brie ice cream on crumbled bara brith and poached figs.
He said: “I think these dishes represent everything that I am – local produce, stuff that I can easily get at home, and everything that I like to eat.”
Torode said: “Every single dish tells a story. His food, it’s exciting, it’s ambitious, and it’s got a little bit of artistic flare.
“He’s a proud Welshman with a big heart.”
Wallace said: “Wynne gives us theatre. I have never seen a celebrity like him ever before and I’m not sure we ever will again.”
Evans saw off competition from 19 other celebrities including Strictly Come Dancing professional Dianne Buswell, Black Eyed Peas rapper apl.de.ap and The Inbetweeners actor James Buckley.
Previous celebrity winners include former Britain’s Next Top Model host Lisa Snowdon, retired athlete Greg Rutherford, EastEnders actor John Partridge, TV presenter Angellica Bell, ex-Pussycat Dolls singer Kimberly Wyatt and former rugby player Matt Dawson.
