Ex-UCB student Monty wows judges on BBC's MasterChef: The Professionals

A former student chef at University College Birmingham has wowed TV judges to reach the Knockout Week in the latest series of BBC show MasterChef: The Professionals.

Monty Stonehewer, who studied Level 3 Professional Cookery at UCB two years ago, will appear among the final 12 chefs in the competition next week after battling through the heats and quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old, who is a junior sous chef at the Michelin-starred Hampton Manor in Solihull, first had to pass a 20 minute skills test set by chef Monica Galetti, producing a braised artichoke with saffron aquafaba mayonnaise.

He went on to receive glowing reviews from Monica and fellow judges Gregg Wallace and Marcus Wareing for his lamb signature dish, sweeping straight through to the quarter-final stage.

In the next round, Monty had to get creative in an invention test centred on using squash, which he incorporated into a dish of pan-fried lemon sole.

He then served up two dishes for the show's trio of critics - Jimi Famurewa, Jay Rayner and Tracey MacLeod - impressing them with his pan-fried turbot main course as well as his brown butter sponge dessert infused with chocolate and orange, inspired by one of his favourite childhood Christmas treats.

Monty will next appear in the show's Knockout Week, which will be screened on BBC2 from 8pm on Tuesday, 3 December.

He is not the only ex-UCB student to have appeared on MasterChef in the past 12 months. Alice Tapiwa Makahamadze, a former BA Culinary Arts Management student, also appeared in the heats of this year's competition.

And last December saw ex-BA Culinary Arts Management student Claire Hutchings see off four rivals to win the Masterchef: The Professionals Rematch special, having previously appeared as a finalist on the main series in 2011.

The trio are just some of the star chefs to have trained at UCB's acclaimed College of Food and Hospitality Management, with many of our graduates having gone on to work in Michelin-starred restaurants around the country.

Find out more about our range of food and hospitality courses here. You can also follow the latest updates from the College of Food and Hospitality Management on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Shine TV/BBC