For more than 20 years, people from all walks of life have entered the MasterChef kitchen with dreams of launching their own culinary careers.

Then there are those who arrive already clad in chef whites, their hands scarred from long hours in the kitchen.

MasterChef: The Professionals, the spin-off to the hit BBC programme, launched in 2008 and allowed working cooks the chance to test themselves under the watchful eyes of Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti.

Where there is opportunity, there is also risk, however. One bad round and confidence can collapse like a knocked soufflé.

As former contestant Adam Handling puts it: “Would you eat somewhere where the chef had done badly [on MasterChef]?”

When the cameras stop rolling and they return to their kitchens, what is life like for those who put their careers on a knife edge? We speak to three former Scots finalists who explain how the programme affected their lives.

"They said my invention test challenge was the best they’d ever had"

Adam Handling is about to board the Tube on his way to a meeting and is too busy to speak right now.

He’s the kind of busy you would expect of a man who is running his first restaurant with his name emblazoned above the door at London’s Caxton hotel.

"You are a tiny fish in a massive pond and unless you think out of the box and try something different or go on a show, you might get stuck there," Adam says. "And separate to that, even if you go on a show like MasterChef it might not work out for you."

Originally from Dundee, aged 16 Adam became the first trainee chef at Gleneagles, the only restaurant in Scotland to hold two Michelin stars. He then became the youngest head chef at the Fairmont St Andrews before winning Scottish Young Chef of the Year in 2011.

Hungry for more, the 27-year-old decided to take a chance and apply for MasterChef, his simple style of cooking impressing judges, critics and viewers alike.

Adam's invention test dish of a ginger and butternut squash panna cotta served with a quick butternut marshmallow made with Italian meringue is perhaps his most memorable, earning praise that has stuck with him three years on.

"I still haven’t heard comments like it since – they said my invention test challenge was the best they had ever had on MasterChef," he says.

Three years on, the show still brings back fond memories for Adam, like wandering through Hyde Park’s Christmas market with his mother days before the finals aired.

He says: "I took my mother to Winter Wonderland while it was finals week and she was acting like my photographer, there were queues of about 100 people at one point wanting a photograph.

"I think that’s the first time my mother felt really proud of me."

While he says he has no regrets entering MasterChef, Adam now feels ready to shrug off the title as he prepares for a reprint of his first book and plans his first standalone restaurant.

"2016 will be my best year yet, I'm planning to open my own independent restaurant in London. But [this] year nothing will be MasterChef-related."

"Some people think it's odd that I have no formal training or qualifications but it has never bothered me"

Brian McLeish has just stepped outside to grab a moment of quiet from the tiny kitchen in the Moonfish Cafe in Aberdeen.

Hidden down a cobbled street in the city’s Merchant Quarter, it's the restaurant where the 32-year-old began his Masterchef journey and where he remains 12 months on. It may seem as though the programme was no more than a fleeting glimpse of culinary fame but that was never really his aim.

Plus, he has far bigger things to worry about now that he part-owns the restaurant.

He explains: "[MasterChef] definitely benefited me. I didn't enter it for that reason but it certainly has in the long run. It's opened up a lot of doors, a lot of opportunities."

Brian's career began with family encouragement; his sisters suggesting he take on an apprenticeship offered by his uncle at the Hilcroft Hotel in Whitburn, West Lothian, in his late teens, learning everything he needed in the belly of the kitchen and not in a classroom.

He says: "Some people think it's odd that I have no formal training or qualifications but it has never bothered me. Every new job was picked to challenge and improve me as a chef."

He kept his head down on MasterChef, determined to make it through the programme with a mixture of hard work and by absorbing critique. He left the programme as a finalist with a new outlook on food – favouring simpler dishes in a move just as strategic as it is stylistic.

"I realised over the process of what Marcus and Monica were telling me, [my dishes] don’t need all these bells and whistles, you can lose a few bits and bobs along the way and just focus more on getting things cooked properly."

Brian’s simple plates are crowd-pleasers for the MasterChef fans who fill Moonfish's tables each evening but longing to demonstrate his culinary talents, he has launched a series of pop-ups in restaurants across Scotland.

With the freedom to demonstrate his creativity in the kitchen, his new venture is allowing him space to distance himself - at arm’s length at least - from Moonfish.

"Winning was like going into a brand new kitchen, we had brand new equipment and five new chefs"

Jamie Scott was almost in the running to compete alongside Adam in the sixth season but was forced to reapply the following year after his last-minute application was rejected.

Perhaps a happy circumstance then that those 12 months of extra preparation helped the 27-year old from Arbroath take the MasterChef trophy in 2014.

Working as head chef at Rocca in St Andrews at the time, Jamie was so desperate to compete he went from directing his team one moment to flying to London the next, going behind the bench on his days off to prove himself a worthy contestant.

"The pressure was immense and I was worried about going back as head chef if it hadn't worked out," he says.

"I saw a guy who completely melted, it was almost comical what he did but I’ll never forget what Marcus [Wareing] said to him.

"I knew I never wanted to go there and thought about how he had to go back to his kitchen and face [his staff]."

Thankfully returning to Rocca was easy for Jamie, with the trophy under his arm and the impact of his success reverberated throughout the restaurant.

"Winning was like going into a brand new kitchen. All of a sudden we had brand new equipment and five new chefs and I was developing the lunch menu each day."

Jamie’s dream of full control of the kitchen led him to buy the former Newport Hotel in Fife a few months later, transforming it into a flourishing restaurant with a dreamy view over the River Tay.

"Fife is buzzing right now. The food and the produce is blossoming and it’s bleeding into Dundee with the likes of the V&A opening," he says.

As the construction of The Newport took place, Jamie and his team hosted pop-ups across Scotland, teasing the menu and testing audiences to build a ready-made clientele he hopes will flock to his Fife restaurant which opened earlier this month.

"People want to travel for good food and that’s what I want to do, I want people travelling from places like London to eat here," he says.

"I just want to cook food brilliantly."

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