Parkhurst to represent in Masterchef SA kitchen

Having watched every Masterchef episode since the first instalment of the UK series aired years ago, Robinson said she had always dreamed of having the courage to enter, but felt she never had the confidence to do so.

“This year a dear friend cajoled and browbeat me until I finally succumbed to her bullying and went to the cold auditions. Sitting there I had an ‘ah ha’ moment and realised how much I actually wanted to go through – this gave me the courage to finally take the leap of faith and put myself out there,” she said.

On 24 August, the first episode of season three of the cooking reality show aired; South Africa saw Robinson join 15 other potential chefs chosen to go through to cook in the famous MasterchefSA kitchen.

The 49-year-old said she had cooked a lot throughout the years and had, because of it, developed a strong mix of creativity and experience.

“I am not afraid to experiment and now that I have decided to take the initial risk of entering, I don’t believe that fear of failure is going to hold me back,” she said.

Regardless of how far she gets in the competition, Robinson said she realised that she wants to pursue food as a career.

“I am in the process of setting up a Food Truck and I am hoping that I will be able to use MasterchefSA and whatever I am able to achieve in the show to start a training and empowerment non-profit organisation to up-skill cooks and enable them to eventually own their own Food Truck, thus achieving financial independence,” said Robinson.

“I think that if I could make it to the Masterchef kitchen, the experience of being surrounded by others with a similar passion, will be extraordinary.”

Robinson said this was a fantastic opportunity for her and counted herself lucky and proud that she could one day say, ‘I competed in Masterchef’.

“I am not scared anymore. That is a huge advantage,” she said.