Wayne Sleep says MasterChef is tougher than I’m A Celeb

Dancer Wayne Sleep has night terrors about cooking for MasterChef.

He’s faced deadly creatures in the jungle but Wayne Sleep says that’s nothing to cooking for John Torode and Gregg Wallace. The ballet legend insists Celebrity MasterChef was definitely tougher than I’m A Celebrity.

“I was scared to death,” Wayne told The Sunday Post. “I’ve never done anything more frightening in my life. It was worse than a first night on a new ballet.

“It’s scarier than being in the jungle because in there you don’t know what’s being thrown at you. Cooking’s a skill and the thought of looking stupid in front of the nation by not being able to cook was really frightening.

“I think everyone felt that and most of the rest could cook. I was the novice. You look at all the selection of produce and all the machines and you just start panicking.”

Scot Alex Ferns, Leslie Ash, Tania Bryer and Millie Mackintosh are the other celebs putting themselves through culinary torture in front of the cameras this week.

While some are decent regular home cooks, Wayne says it’s been decades since he really got the pots and pans out. And the name of one of his last dinner guests, close friend Princess Diana, proves the point.

“I don’t want to drop a name but I think the meal for Diana was the last I cooked. I made trout and almonds and then she washed up with me afterwards at my house. That must have been in the 1980s.

“The only other thing I did occasionally was make something with David Hockney, who lived in the next street. He’d do something like a cassoulet and I’d make a stir fry. But when I was performing I was never at home.

“I was away touring all the time and when I did get back there was never anything in the house to cook with anyway. So I’d always eat out, just whatever Indian or Chinese was open late at night.”

Despite his anxieties Wayne, now 65, insists he’s “very brave” and always up for a challenge. And he had at least one good reason to try to brush up on his culinary skills.

“Now I’m not away so much I’ve just moved to near Kew Gardens and I’m building a beautiful kitchen,” adds Wayne, who presented Channel 4’s Big Ballet series recently that saw larger men and women trained to dance.

“Rather than just sit and look at it, this gave me the chance to actually learn what to do in it. It gave me a kick-start and I’ve now found a new hobby.”