Liskeard chef, Charlie Walters has been knocked out of this year’s MasterChef: The Professionals, doing Cornwall proud by taking fourth place.

Charlie, 22, is the head chef at the Sardine Factory in Looe, however, for the last few week’s he’s been working his culinary excellence in a new environment, the MasterChef kitchen. 

So far, Charlie has been wowing judges Monica Galetti, Marcus Wareing and Gregg Wallace with a variety of creative dishes. However, Charlie has truly impressed with his fish, a staple within his cooking arsenal. 

A highlight of his time in the kitchen, came when judge, Monica Galetti said he had “done Cornwall proud”, with his tribute to his home, Cornish steamed turbot, roasted potatoes topped with anchovy butter, honey, pickled fennel and caviar, asparagus in a seaweed emulsion, and a Cornish clotted cream and champagne sauce.

For Charlie, his love of cooking really grew in Cornwall. “When I was younger I did a lot of baking with my mum on weekends,” Charlie explained. “But I always wanted to be a policeman growing up. It all snowballed from my first kitchen porter job at 14. I fell in love with it straight away. I remember my parents picking me up from shifts that finished at 1am and then dropping me back off in the morning. It didn’t put me off!”

Since then, Charlie has worked his way up, even working in some Michelin star restaurants. “I worked in a Michelin star kitchen for six months and that’s where I really started to develop my skills.”

When Charlie found out he had made it to the finals, he said “To be in the final four is a dream come true. When you first get here, the trophy is 32 people away, it’s now only four. It’s so close but it’s only going to get harder from here.  “I’ve just got to keep pushing, really.” 

Unfortunately, facing against three other brilliant chefs, Charlie did not progress into the final three.

After his exit, he said: "I'm just happy to have got this far. I'm up against three other great chefs, it was never going to be easy.

"I've had a really good journey,I think I've found myself as a chef. A lot of things to be proud of."