Heston surprise guest on MasterChef

Few names create as much excitement in foodie circles as Heston Blumenthal, internationally feted British chef and owner of the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck.

So it's little surprise when contestants' jaws drop on learning Blumenthal is to appear as a guest on MasterChef Australia.

Blumenthal was in Australia last month to film Heston Week, his fourth and longest stint on the reality cooking show.

In the first challenge of the week that airs from Sunday, contestants have two hours to recreate Blumenthal's royal jubilee trifle, while those in the elimination challenge will face a Fat Duck dish - bacon and egg ice-cream.

The hardest day of filming for Blumenthal was the immunity challenge, where three contestants cooked an entree, a main or a dessert and he had to cook all three, having never set foot in the show's pantry.

"I just didn't know where anything was," he explained. "I didn't even know where the pots and pans were. I knew there were some shelves, you're looking for a grater and can't find a grater. I'd run into the larder and get memory loss. That was very chaotic I'd have to say."

Blumenthal clearly remembers when MasterChef first grabbed his attention. He was watching season one on a UK satellite channel when Poh Ling Yeow was eliminated for incorrectly naming the ingredients in minestrone, having confused the similarly shaped barley and faro. He knew this was one serious cooking show.

"In some cooking competitions I have seen before it is all about the jeopardy created by the person doing the voiceover," he said. "This had a lot of jeopardy because the challenges are so hard and you can see the contestants have to spend months of their lives and take it really, really seriously. They get great chefs to go on there and as a viewer you can learn loads of stuff as well which I think is really important.

"Most of all, one of the reasons I think historically why MasterChef became so huge is they don't belittle the contestants.

"If something is wrong they tell them. If something tastes horrible they tell them, but at the end of the day when they get voted off it is more about a celebration of what they achieved. I can't think of any other food show in any country that has had such an impact on the general public. I like it.

"Over the years I have become friends with the guys, I've got a growing number of mates in Australia anyway, so it is all the more reason to come back here."

The good news for WA fans is that Blumenthal will be in Margaret River in November for Gourmet Escape, having had to withdraw last year after the shock death of two of his chefs in a Hong Kong traffic accident.

"I had heard about how beautiful Margaret River was, and obviously I knew some of the wine estates like Leeuwin Estate," he said.

"I had done a little bit of research and I was really looking forward to seeing the area and going to some wineries as well.

"When we come in November I am definitely going to grab some extra days. I am really looking forward to seeing the country because I have spent most of my time in cities."

A teenaged Blumenthal set his sights on a career in food after a memorable meal with his family at three Michelin-star restaurant, L'Oustau de Baumaniere, while on holiday in Provence.

Has he ever returned and was it as good as he remembered?

"I did go back, about five years or six years ago. In terms of setting and all of that, yes, definitely. In terms of the food, no," he said. "It's really about the setting. But even when I find myself telling the story it wasn't really just the food, actually it wasn't really about the food it was about everything else - the smell of the lavender, the noise of the crickets, that sort of stuff. It was the whole package. It is still a beautiful place. Their ratings have dropped in the guide so the food is not as it was a few years ago."

Blumenthal still has similarly exciting food experiences, from trying chrysanthemum flowers and tasting sea urchin to eating the red prawns found off the coast of Spain and Italy and exploring local produce markets.

"It could be an amazing glass of wine or sometimes it is about being in a time or a place," he said. "It might be you're with the right people, the sun is shining, you might have a day off. The amazing thing is it is so rooted in context."

'I had heard about how beautiful Margaret River was, and obviously I knew some of the wine estates like Leeuwin Estate.'