A PETERSFIELD chef who started out washing up in a town centre restaurant as a teenager has reached the knock-out stage of MasterChef: The Professionals.

After four weeks of intense competition on the BBC2 programme, 48 chefs have been reduced to the 12 most talented, including Tom Peters (24), of Herne Farm.

The knock-out week starts at 8pm next Tuesday, December 5, and will be the first time they all come together in the MasterChef kitchen.

Tom, who went to Petersfield Infants School, Herne Junior School and The Petersfield School, said: “It’s been a fantastic journey to get this far.

“It’s completely different to what you would normally expect in a kitchen.

“It has really pushed me as a chef, you have to ignore the television cameras, and get your head down and focus on what you are doing.”

He was inspired to start cooking after working part time for chef Steve Ransom, who owns Annie Jones restaurant in Lavant Street.

Tom said: “I really enjoyed the buzz of the kitchen.

“And as soon as I showed an interest in cooking Steve let me help prepare the food, and we are still friends.”

On leaving school Tom studied at South Downs College in Havant for three years.

He did so well he was offered a commis chef post at the highly regarded Roux in Parliament Square restaurant, owned by Michel Roux junior.

Its head chef is MasterChef 2009 winner Steve Groves.

Tom said: “I was sleeping on a sofa in a flat with a leaky roof and working long hours, but it’s a great place to work and I’m still there and still enjoying it.”

Now the sous chef, he is responsible for the day to day running of the kitchen, its staff and ordering produce.

He said: “It’s very hands on, and I have to be able to help out wherever needed.”

And as well as spending most of his spare time refining his signature dishes for MasterChef, Tom is also training for next year’s London Marathon. He enjoys a challenge, he says.

But one risk he won’t take is offering cooking advice when visiting his mother, Gillian, and father Warren.

He added: “Home cooking is the best, and I wouldn’t dream of telling mum what to do in her kitchen.”

And after MasterChef? “I hope to be a head chef by the time I’m 28.

“And then there are lots of opportunities, opening my own restaurant is just one.

“On MasterChef I have met lots of amazing people and, however far I get, it’s been a fantastic and testing experience.”