MasterChef: The Professionals 2014 contestant, Sven-Hanson Britt worked at The Ritz in London which gained its first star in the Michelin Guide UK 2017.

Let's meet the final five who have made it this far and are hoping to impress Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti to be in with a chance of taking this year's title.
  

Name: Sven-Hanson Britt Region: London (grew up in Hampshire)

Age: 26 (25 at time of filming)

Profession: Sous Chef

Personal: Living with girlfriend    

Cooking Background: “I think I have always been interested in food, from the very early days of cooking at home.

“My first interest came when I suffered the pressures of choosing somewhere for work experience in Year 9. I ended up in a neighbourhood restaurant in Bishops Waltham run by a great man name Pete and his wife Rachel. They had a lot of time for me and showed me the ropes.

“I trained as a chef at Bournemouth and Poole College as one of their Specialised Chef Apprentices, run by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts. I was lucky enough to be sent to The Ritz as part of my apprenticeship. It is where I learnt how to cook.”

Cooking Influences: “Cooking excites me when there is an opportunity to work with ingredients that mean something - when a dish is much more that just a sum of its parts. Whether that means livestock that has been carefully reared, is a rare breed or nurtured to be more delicious; or vegetables that are grown and cooked in the same place, picked moments before being on the plate. Cooking, for me, is a direct expression of what is outside the window: the time of day, the season. It can never be the same twice, even when following a set recipe. Cooking should be determined by nature and encourage a strong community, this is why I love being a chef.

“The people who have influenced me the most are my parents, they have taught me so much about what kind of person I want to be and they are always at the end of a phone! John Williams, the Executive Chef at the Ritz where I completed my apprenticeship, has taught me so much about food, and the honesty and integrity you need if you are to be successful. I admire the work of Magnus Nilsson, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Dan Barber and Fergus Henderson for having a clear vision and sticking to it.”

On MasterChef: “I entered as I decided I wanted a new challenge. MasterChef: The Professionals is the perfect competition to test yourself.

“Getting to the final is a fantastic feeling. The experiences that I have had along the way will stay with me for a long time. Each challenge has been nerve racking but taught me something new about myself and gave me belief.

“The biggest challenge was trying to create worthy dishes to put in front of the judges. A couple of times I had set myself too much to do in the time and failed miserably!”

Cooking ambitions: “The thing that drives me the most is the potential of the legacy we can leave our future generations. As chefs we are in a prime position to change, for the better, the food production systems that are in place and are outdated and unethical/unsustainable. I want to change the way we think of food so that it has a positive impact on us and the environment. My ambition is to do that whilst having a restaurant that portrays these core values.”

What Monica and Marcus said:  "He's hit us with big flavours throughout the competition. Loved the theatre of Sven's pigeon dish - roasted on the crown, that's the way Pierre (Koffman) would've liked it. "It was a heavy weight dish and it packed a punch."

>>> Read more about MasterChef: The Professionals 2014