Celebrated chef, author and television personality Colin Fassnidge has achieved a lot in his career. Now, he’s adding to his CV as the new cooking presenter on lifestyle favourite Better Homes And Gardens.
But despite his many achievements, Colin admits to feeling intimidated.
Colin is the new chef on BHG!
(Image: Supplied)“There’s a lot of pressure, as I was taking over Fast Ed’s [Ed Halmagyi, the show’s food presenter for the past 20 years] mantle,” Colin, 50, tells TV WEEK. “I was nervous about that, because everyone loves the other guy, and then you come in. I had to find my feet – I felt like the new boy at school.”
Colin was the first chef to earn a pub – the Four In Hand in Sydney’s east – two chef’s “hats” [a rating of excellence given to restaurants and chefs] in Australia.
You have to be tough to be at the top of the food chain in a hyper-competitive industry, but the My Kitchen Rules judge says he’s softened since he had daughters. He and wife Jane have two: Lilly, 14, and Maeve, 12.
“When I had a kitchen in the top 10 in Australia, I had a lot of fear,” he explains. “I think that fear of failing led to anger – but when I had daughters, I changed the way I worked. I thought, ‘I’m not going to have a heart attack over cooking someone something.'”
My Kitchen Rules judge says he’s softened since he had daughters.
(Image: Supplied)Becoming ill while filming My Kitchen Rules in New Zealand also put things into perspective.
“My stomach felt wrong and my doctor said it could be bowel cancer,” he recalls. “I had to have an operation, but had to wait two weeks. So obviously you’re on Google searching everything – you’re already dead once you’re on Google. It was two weeks of waiting to go into hospital, where there could be an outcome that changes your life.
“Luckily, it was something else, and I remember the next day being like one of those [social media] influencers sitting on a cliff taking photos of the sunrise at 6am, saying, ‘My God, how good is my life?'”
Colin says he has no regrets about leaving behind the damaging stresses of the restaurant industry.
“If I had stayed, I think I would have aged a lot more,” he says. “I know chefs my age who are still doing the same hours as when we were younger, and they’re not happy people. I know a lot of chefs who are not around anymore, because we have the highest number of [people using] drugs and alcohol. Doing that job can consume your life.”
“I like to put the fun back in cooking,” he explains.
(Image: Supplied)One of the things the Irish larrikin loves about his work on MKR is that he gets to work with his mate and fellow judge Manu Feildel all year round.
“We’re the best of friends,” he says. “If you can go to work and be in a different city every day with a guy you have a laugh with, it’s really cool. It’s like going on tour with a big family. Our office is Australia.”
Colin is looking forward to showing his happier, “erratic behaviour” in the Better Homes And Gardens kitchen. He also hopes that, as the cost of living bites for many ordinary Aussie families, to share tips and tricks about how to make meals go further.
“I like to put the fun back in cooking,” he explains. “I have a family and kids, and with the way the economy is, I like to use cheaper cuts and give hints on how to stretch ingredients so things last for the next day. I think that’s what people are crying out for.”
