TWO Wiltshire chefs have taken on the challenge of BBC1's MasterChef: The Professionals.

But one of them has already been eliminated

Richard Synan, owner and head chef at the Weaving Shed in Bradford on Avon, was ruled out by judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti after competing in Tuesday's episode.

In his heat, he completed a skills test to prepare and cook a pastry tart and cooked his two-course signature dishes – a Szechuan pepper-spiced duck with puréed carrots, braised carrots and pickled carrots and a caramelised chocolate rice pudding.

He told the hosts: “I am married to a pastry chef, so I do quite a bit of pastry. There’s quite a bit of competition in our household but I can’t get anywhere near what she does.”

Richard added: “I was disappointed to go out but the feedback was generally good. They thought I could have enhanced the duck dish with a bit more flavouring.

"At the time, I was obviously disappointed. It was a very difficult heat and the other chefs performed really well.

“I did not make any horrendous errors and I executed the dishes the way that I wanted to.”

Richard, is married to Natasha, who he met while working for chef Michael Caines at the Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter.

After training at the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine, he started off working in London then moved down to Exeter and moved to the Bath area.

He said: “I entered MasterChef now because I like a challenge. If it’s good enough, great. If it’s not, then learn from that.”

Richard started his career in London working as a chef de partie for Gordon Ramsay before he moved to become chef de partie at the L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in London.

He was head chef at the Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa near Chippenham from October 2008 to April 2012, before moving to become head chef at the Old Bell Hotel in Malmesbury until 2015 when he left to open the The Weaving Shed.

The other MasterChef: Professionals Wiltshire contestant is Jamaar Semper, who works at Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa. His episode is yet to air.

He won the South West Young Chef of the year Award in 2019 and was a finalist in this year’s Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year competition.

MasterChef sees 32 chefs from across the UK try to cook their way to the trophy, with 16 contestants left to battle it out in the final week.