Success is often about being in the right place at the right time. Naturally, you need talent and enthusiasm too, hard work and so on, but as the banquet guests gather at Alexandra Palace, the familiar faces of British broadcasting have, between them, surely enjoyed a little luck along the way.
There’s Prue Leith, who’s become even more of a national treasure since leaving Great British Menu. And fellow ex-judge, Oliver Peyton, who hopefully bears no grudge that one of last year’s guests, Ed Gamble, clearly found himself in the right place at the right time and nabbed Oliver’s place at the judging table.
Sometimes luck (like Oliver Peyton) is just sitting there waiting to be pushed. At the start of Finals Week, Tom Kerridge asked if any chef had their eye on the starter course. ‘Yeah, I’d love this one’ said Nathan Davies, his hand shooting up eagerly. The judges and chefs laughed and cheered at his enthusiasm and, as if by magic, his ‘Merlin’-themed dish got it!
‘I’ll try that tomorrow’ grinned the course’s runner up, Spencer Metzger. It worked – he duly netted fish with his ‘Sherlock’-inspired ‘Be Careful What You Fish For’. Proving to be a prophetic title, Spencer soon found himself responsible for the main course too.
Desperate to bag the last slot on the menu, Chris McClurg made sure his hand was up for dessert, even before Ed Gamble had finished asking the question. However, by now the chefs’ lucky ritual was beginning to lose some of its potency and Chris found himself tied on forty points with the practically invincible Spencer. Unable to decide between them, the judges roped in Andi Oliver to break the deadlock and, much to everyone’s relief, surely including Spencer’s, Chris was able to add his name to the menu board.
‘I’m so glad we’ve got another pair of hands’ admitted Nathan, and the chefs were further cheered by the news that Sally Abé, as highest scoring runner up, would be there too for canapé and pre-dessert. It’s a good job she was, as Nathan, still awaiting a Covid test result had to miss the first day of prep and leave his dish in Sally’s capable hands.