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She's the "purple-haired pixie" who has kept millions captivated with her incredible food combinations on MasterChef.
And whose chocolate sorbet is so delicious that Michel Roux Jr stole her recipe. Claire Hutchings is only 23, but has a glittering future ahead of her after her impressive performance as a MasterChef finalist.
Claire, from Moseley in Birmingham, lost out to Australian Ash Mair in last week's gripping final of MasterChef: The Professionals.
The series delivered the show's best ratings yet and "truly magnificent" food.
Michel Roux Jr declared her main course of birchwood-smoked Anjou pigeon to be "heavenly", although he was terrified she was going to set the kitchen ablaze as she started a bonfire of twigs on her hob.
"I just thought it would add a bit of theatre to my cooking," laughs Claire.
Gregg Wallace said of her: "She serves unique, inventive, creative food with a style of her own. She is destined for greatness."
The judges were impressed by the "Claire twist", the way she puts together unusual flavour combinations like oysters with buckwheat, cucumber and ham, and pigeon with beetroot.
Claire says: "I try to be creative and different. The other day I invented a dish of lobster with spices, veal sweetbreads and blackcurrants.
"Maybe I push it too far, but I don't just pluck ingredients out of thin air and put them together. There is a lot of research and...