Keep a secret? It's a master stroke.

Can't say I'm surprised Shelina Permalloo is MasterChef 2012. The rumours for weeks have suggested as such - or more accurately that a woman was the winner this year.  As it became clear that Shelina was the only woman left, it would seem a done deal.

I'm sure most people know now that Masterchef is recorded months previously, and the winner has to sit on their hands for a very long time.  They are gagged to the hilt with a strict agreement that nothing of a hint or a suggestion will pass their talented lips.  I do know a little of this, kind of first hand.

My nephew Tim was a Masterchef finalist two seasons ago  (Dr Tim) and was seen cooking for royalty in India etc and so on.  Just like you, I had to hide behind the settee barely able to cope with the tension of John Torode's damning announcement of who would be leaving. Because I didn't know.  Nor did I know Tim had been in London filming the day before I spoke to him at his brother's wedding.

In fact the only people who did have half a clue were his wife and parents.  It's a very tight ship.

So not only am I pleased that Shelina won, because I honestly believe she was rather more inventive, I'm also pleased that she can tell everyone now,blurting out the hardest secret she's had to keep.