The MasterChef kitchen is filled with the mouth-watering scent of frying onions. There aren’t too many more comforting smells in the world than onion-meets-butter, but there’s nothing homely about the dishes being prepared. A contestant is competing against a professional chef in an immunity challenge. The clock is ticking. The stakes are high. And overseeing it all is MasterChef alumnus and season eight runner-up Matt Sinclair.

In the frantic last 10 minutes he calls the time in classic MasterChef style (“EIGHT! MINUTES! TO GO-OH-OH!!!”), leads a round of applause from the gantry, checks what the chef is up to, tests a freshly-baked cracker for crunch, and counts the number of grapes on the contestant’s plate while murmuring calm words of encouragement. Sinclair is the newly appointed mentor in the MasterChef kitchen – one of three – and he looks like he’s been doing it all his life.

Of course, looks can be deceiving.

“The anxiety’s still there. It’s like muscle memory,” he says. “The emotion, the anticipation, the anxiety, the nerves. Even though I’m not the one competing I feel like I’m a part of it. Being a mentor you really do approach it as a team. You still feel the highs and the lows. I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”