Christine McGuinness praised for bravely opening up about autism struggles

Christine McGuinness has been praised by Celebrity MasterChef viewers for her courage overcoming her struggles in the kitchen.

The TV personality, 36, starred on the cooking competition against I’m A Celebrity’s Jake Quickenden, actor Tamer Hassan, comedian Jamie MacDonald and model Emma Thynn. 

And though she didn’t make it through to the next round, the mum-of-three was praised for her bravery in facing her fears surrounding food.

Christine – who split from Top Gear star Paddy McGuinness in 2022 after 11 years of marriage – has spoken about being diagnosed with autism as an adult in recent years, and fronted documentary Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism last year, where she explored how the diagnosis affected other parts of her life.

‘I do have a lot of sensory issues around food, the smells, the textures, not just cooking, but tasting, it is something I avoid an awful lot,’ she explained on the BBC One competition.

‘I know it’ll take a lot more energy for me to try and shut out the sensory issues of the smells, the noises, the textures of the food on my hands, and try not to get too overwhelmed by it all,’ she added.

The first Celebrity MasterChef task saw Christine tasked with cooking with white sausages, which she transformed into a breakfast dish with bacon, eggs and tomatoes.

During preparing the meal, which saw Christine cook bacon for the first time, she told judge Gregg Wallace: ‘The smells, the textures of everything is quite a lot, but I wanted to do it.

‘My children are all autistic, really, really struggle with food. The only way to really overcome that is to touch food, to taste it, to smell it.’

She added that even in her 30s, she still eats a ‘very plain, basic, beige diet,’ but took part in the competition to try and overcome her fears.

For her second course, Christine wanted to replicate her children’s favourite: chicken nuggets and chips.

She managed to make it more extravagant with a dipping sauce, and a tiramisu for dessert, inspired by her mum’s recipes.

However, despite overcoming her fears, Christine failed to impress judges Gregg and John Torode, and was the celebrity leaving the competition.

‘I’m relieved,’ she later admitted.

‘Thank you very much for all your courage, your great food, your big smile, and for being so brave,’ John told her.

She added to the camera: ‘I’m really, really proud of myself that I even went into a kitchen I wasn’t familiar with, that I tried to make food I’d never made before, but I was well out of my comfort zone, that was too much of a stretch for me.’

‘I’m happy I’ve done it, but I’m relieved I don’t have to keep practicing in front of the nation,’ she said.

Christine was praised by viewers at home for facing her fears, with @welshbooky writing: ‘I thought Christine was really brave to face her fears and seems like a sweetheart!’

‘Christine has autism so fair play to her,’ @Rosie12_1994 added.

@Eva_GBTheatre praised: ‘How courageous was Christine McGuinness! That must have been so stressful for her but she did a wonderful job & is rightly proud! She also did a wonderful job educating on #autism.’

@AmyJoanne_ said: ‘As an autistic person myself, Christine did extremely well on #celebritymasterchef outside her comfort zone. ( I know it’s out of most people’s comfort zone ) but for someone who struggles with sensory issues and gets overwhelmed she did so well.’

Celebrity MasterChef is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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