MasterChef final: Meet Giovanna Ryan, Steve Kielty and Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed

It’s set to be a tough end to the competition – find out who’s in with a chance of lifting the trophy 
Final countdown: Giovanna, Steve and Saliha
BBC

Alison O’Reilly may have missed out on a place in the MasterChef final, but talented contestants Giovanna Ryan, Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed and Steve Kielty are preparing to battle it out to take the title of 2017 MasterChef champion.

The final looks set to be a tight competition after the remaining three wowed Steve Groves, Paul Ainsworth, Tom Kitchin, Shaun Rankin, Ashley Palmer-Watts and Clare Smyth with their scallops, duck and chocolate mousse topped with granita in the semi-final.

As they gear up to go to battle, here’s everything you need to know about the three finalists:

Giovanna Ryan

Ready, steady, cook: Giovanna Ryan 
BBC/Shine TV

Age: 29

Lives: London

Occupation: Musician

From a foodie family, Giovanna has been cooking her whole life. She has a flair for Italian cuisine, thanks to her Italian grandmother, plus her boyfriend is also a butcher and often brings home unusual cuts of meat for her to experiment with.

She hasn’t had the easiest route into the final with a slow start to the series. However, her more recent dishes have wowed the judges, and her decadent deconstructed lemon meringue pie received lots of praise in the semi-final.

Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed

Ready to impress: Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed
BBC/Shine TV

Age: 28

Lives: Reading

Occupation: Hospital doctor

Saliha has been cooking since she was 12, taking tips from her mum. Her Pakistani family uses food to bring everyone together and Kashmiri and fusion cuisine are her particular strengths.

If she won the competition Saliha would like to remain a doctor but write recipe books in her spare time.

A healthy cook, Saliha has gained fans with her flavoursome dishes and in the semi-finals her spicy patties left the judges lost for words. Quietly confident, the doctor has had a fairly smooth journey to the final.

Steve Kielty

Fighting talk: Steve Kielty
BBC/Shine TV

Age: 39

Lives: London

Occupation: Sound engineer and DJ

The oldest contestant in the final, Steve was a latecomer to the world of fine food – only developing a love for cooking in his 20s. He’s a big Masterchef fan and often tries out dishes seen on the show at home, especially ones with technically challenging ingredients.

Steve’s precise style has helped him stand out from the start, and his seven-element desert early in the competition won praise for its execution. The other contestants will be looking to outsmart his clever cooking in the final.

The biggest and best TV shows of 2017

1/10

What will the finalists have to do to win?

The contestants will have to wow hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode one last time by cooking up a perfectly-executed three-course meal.

With only three hours to pull off all three dishes, the pressure will be well and truly on. Whoever's menu is best-received will become the 13th winner of MasterChef.

When’s it on?

The final is on BBC One tonight at 8:30pm.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in