Journalist-turned-presenter Michael Buerk on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ and his new cooking show

HIS report on the famine in Ethiopia was famously the catalyst for Band Aid and Live Aid.

Michael Buerk’s days as a foreign correspondent frequently put his life at risk.

One explosion killed his soundman John and cost his best friend and cameraman Mohamed Amin his arm.

Now, though, the veteran newsman’s life is very different.

At 70, he hosts documentaries and lifestyle programmes.

The latest, starting next week, is BBC1 daytime show Royal Recipes.

And it brings back memories of another food-related TV appearance, when he agreed to appear on Celebrity MasterChef without ever having seen it.

“It was a terrible mistake,” admits Michael honestly.

“I was on a foreign trip with my wife Christine who has given me hell for years about not doing Strictly Come Dancing.

“I’m a terrible dancer as she points out whenever we trample a dance floor together. But the idea of being paid some juicy lump of money while being taught to be some swoony dancer was a win/win situation from her point of view.

“It was a point of friction between us. And with neither of us having seen MasterChef I made the mistake of thinking it was similar and I’d be there for a long time and be taught how to cook.”

It was only on returning to the UK in the run-up of these series that reality bit.

And it bit hard for a man who can only ever recall making a game effort at some scrambled egg on toast when Christine was laid low.

But it was too late to back out and when he got to the studios his protestations about his lack of even the basic kitchen skills fell on deaf ears. “I kept on saying I was there under false pretences and I couldn’t cook at all,” continues Michael,.

“Of course the barrow boy fella Gregg and the Australian with his shirt hanging out (that’d be John Torode) looked at each other and thought I was a dark horse.

“It was an absolute nightmare. And you were constantly being followed by these 19-year-olds with their little cameras saying: ‘Are you feeling the pressure Michael?’

“I still watch MasterChef and get a chill when I hear the music. It was grisly.”

So, if his cooking skills haven’t improved, might he curry – as it were – favour with Christine by taking up one of the Strictly offers?

Sadly, it seems following in the footsteps of last year’s dance floor diva Ed Balls is unlikely.

“Christine is still campaigning, I have to say. But it’s become less attractive now as the only role I could play is the ‘Eddie The Eagle’ role and that’s been done by John Sergeant and Ann Widdecombe.

“You know, the bumbling, useless one. I don’t see myself as a swinging Balls.”

Michael has, however, had other reality TV exposure.

Most strikingly was taking part in I’m A Celebrity in 2014, won by World Superbike champ Carl Fogarty.

US reality star Kendra Wilkinson, TV presenter Melanie Sykes and model Nadia Forde were standard jungle fare.

An award-winning journalist wasn’t.

Especially one who subsequently donned a colourful bird costume atop a high wire. Or formed an unlikely friendship with rapper Tinchy Stryder. “I went into it with my eyes open and I did it for the money,” he says frankly.

“Did I enjoy it? No.

“But it wasn’t quite as horrible as I thought it was going to be.

“And the people I was banged up with weren’t – with one or two exceptions – quite as awful as I thought.

“The ITV mob who run it, when they weren’t torturing you, were quite pleasant and kind.

“There was a bit of a buzz to it so you feel a bit guilty for saying how swinishly cruel a negative experience it is.

“That makes it look like you don’t see the joke. But if you’re lying there with rats running over you then you don’t see the joke as easily as you do at home wriggling uncomfortably in your armchair.”

The money – a reported £150,000 – wasn’t quite what Michael anticipated as almost half went in taxes to the Australian government. The reaction from the public, on the other hand, was an entirely pleasant surprise.

“After 45 years in TV, as it is now, I was suddenly famous overnight.

“People stopping you in the street, in mostly charming ways, was quite an experience.

“You find yourself poking your way through the nation’s consciousness in a way that doing the news for goodness knows how long completely failed to do.”

‘Doing the news’ saw Michael front the BBC’s flagship nightly bulletins after foreign correspondent days that saw him booted out by a South African government that hated his reporting.

And it was telling the truth, however unpalatable it was, that was an Ethiopian lifesaver.

Showing the “Biblical famine” in the “hell on earth” in October 1984 sparked a worldwide humanitarian relief effort.

He knows, although he’d rather it wasn’t the case, that it’ll be what headlines his obituary.

“I don’t know about it being my proudest moment,” he says quietly. “I feel rather ambivalent about being known or celebrated for something that’s dependant on the misery of other people.

“But secretly there’s that journalistic feeling about getting a scoop.”

Royal Recipes, thankfully, requires no cookery expertise whatsoever on Michael’s part. It sees him based at former Royal Palace, Audley End in Essex, where he’s joined by top chefs, including Paul Ainsworth and Anna Haugh.

He also explores the annals of servant Mildred Nicholls, who worked in the Royal Kitchens over a century ago and recorded the recipes for dishes prepared for the king and queen.

“Most people these days seem to be interested in either cooking or the Royal Family,” says Michael.

“The makers obviously decided putting the two together was a winner as far as television was concerned.

“Royalty’s always fascinating from the outside looking in. And what the Royal Family have eaten has to a degree set the pattern for the rest of us.

“The way things are served, afternoon tea, the popularisation of curry have all been influenced.

“And everyone seems to be fascinated by cooking – including those who have never cooked anything in their lives.”

Royal Recipes starts Monday 23rd Jan, 3.45pm on BBC1, and continues weekdays.