ONE of the two young chefs from Wiltshire competing in this year’s BBC MasterChef: The Professionals was eliminated from this year’s competition.

Thirty-six-year-old Richard Synan left the popular BBC cooking series yesterday.

Richard was head chef at the Old Bell Hotel in Malmesbury from 2012 until 2015 when he left to open his own restaurant at The Weaving Shed in Bradford on Avon.

It sees 32 skilled 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.

They are put through a heat round before finding out if they make it through to the quarter-finals and then the semi-finals.

In last night’s episode, Mr Synan completed a skills test to prepare and cook a pastry tart and cooked his two-course signature dish for the three judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace.

He told them: "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."

Mr Synan is the owner and head chef of the Weaving Shed, a riverside restaurant in Bradford on Avon, and comes from a Michelin star background.

He said: “I predominantly come from a Michelin star background. I started off working in London then moved down to Exeter and the moved from Exeter up to Bath and worked in two hotels and then ended up deciding to do the silly decision of opening up my own restaurant.

“I love doing comfort foods, with really big, bold flavours but not too heavy, so not that you need to have a nap afterwards.

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

Mr Synan 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 his own restaurant at The Weaving Shed.

His restaurant opened in August 2015 at Bridge Yard in Kingston Mills, Bradford on Avon, and produces seasonal food, locally sourced wherever possible. The restaurant is currently closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.The other MasterChef contestant is Jamaar Semper, who works at Lucknam Park. 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.

The 2019 MasterChef: The Professionals winner was Stu Deeley, 28, from Birmingham, who is now producing At Home menus during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.