INTERVIEW WITH DONNA AIR

 

“I spoke to Ant and Dec the other day and said, ‘Right, you’ve got to come over for dinner. I’m doing this show with Marco and I’ve got to practice!’ Hopefully I won’t kill them.”

 

Geordie actress, TV presenter and busy single mum Donna Air, 30, is most looking forward to the luxury of spending whole days in the kitchen, creating meals she never has time to cook at home.

 

“And you never know, I might learn a thing or two from Marco. I am not saying I’m a cook, because being a good cook is a real art. What I do is ‘feed people’ a lot. And like most women today, I only cook in a hurry.

 

“So that’s why it’s a real treat to do this show, because at home, I don’t the time to make sauces and pastries and a lot of the foundation dishes. Most women are working or have kids who need feeding fast.”

 

She admits that nerves might kick in before she begins the challenge of cooking for so many.

 

“Before I do anything, I will often get anxious or a bit panicky and stress a little. But when I actually start doing it, I’m okay. The main thing is I need to feel that I am prepared. Which is why I have been practicing at home.”

 

Friends Ant and Dec, who she has known since all three starred in the kids’ TV drama Byker Grove agreed to come to Donna’s house for dinner to be judges.

 

“I was only nine when I started on Byker Grove with Ant and Dec. I spoke to them the other day and said, right you’ve got to come over for dinner. I’m doing this show with Marco and I’ve got to practice.

 

“They haven’t given me any tips, but they are coming over. So hopefully I won’t kill them. They’re so great.

 

“We haven’t planned it yet, so I don’t know what I’m going to cook. I had a dinner party last week and made wild mushroom risotto, with a monkfish wrapped in parma ham, and an Amaretto cheese cake. I am a big fan of stews and soups like Minestrone. I really like hearty food and things that are easy.

 

One friend who has been given her cooking tips is Susannah Constantine, of Trinny and Susannah fame.

 

“We went to Cornwall for our holidays in the summer with the kids, so Suzie and I were in the kitchen pretty much every day. We had the kids eating all sorts of things like asparagus, and fresh fish.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of her fiercest critics as she prepares for the first heat, is six-year-old Freya, her daughter with her former fiancé, high-society zoo keeper Damian Aspinall.

 

“Ever since I agreed to do the show, I have been cooking at home a lot more, much to my daughter’s amazement. So I’ve already started learning.

 

“Freya found it very funny when she got home from school last week. Instead of me saying, ‘This isn’t a hotel you know?’ she’s actually getting a choice of meals each day.  I hand her a copy of Mummy’s Menu, and say, ‘I need your opinion on this dish’ and ‘what do you think of  that one?’ She is taking her role very seriously. But she did say, ‘Mummy I don’t think you should make porridge.’”

 

Passionate about organic and locally produced food, Donna makes sure that meal times are special.

 

“For me the kitchen is very much the heart of the house. Although I am a single mum, I am a big advocate for sitting up to eat. I’ve got one of those large wooden farmhouse kitchen tables.  It’s not so much the food we are cooking, it’s where we all swap stories and our news from the day. It really does bring everyone together.  So I always create that sense of family, whether it’s godmothers, sisters, aunts or friends. I think that’s because I am from the North, like Marco.

 

“The northern girl in me comes out because I always overcook and get my portions a bit wrong. That might serve me well in this competition as we’ve got so many people to feed.”

 

She thinks she’ll get on well with him, even if all hell breaks out.

 

“If he shouts at me, I will tell him to chill out. I love a man who can cook and is passionate about food. It’s really important to enjoy it.  I love my mum’s lasagne, and big family lunches. There are so many things that make a meal, apart from the food. It’s the people and the sentiment around it.

 

“Although I never cook on a first date. That’s too much pressure. Also you don’t want to start from day one cooking for a man, because you’ll end up cooking for them all the time.”