For Melbourne property lawyer Peter Kritikides, cooking up a storm on reality TV show MasterChef was a rejuvenating experience. He speaks to Claire Chaffey.

When faced with a choice between racking up billable hours and rubbing shoulders with culinary goddess Maggie Beer, Peter Kritikides is perhaps somewhat torn. On the one hand, he is a self-confessed happy lawyer (if, he laughs, that is not an oxymoron) but on the other hand, he is now a famous amateur chef with an irre­pressible passion for food.

It is this passion - and a tendency to provoke unre­strained food envy amongst his colleagues - which plucked him from his comfortable office at Melbourne firm Lan­der & Rogers and landed him on MasterChef.

"I am one of those annoying people in the office who comes in and says, 'I made the best thing for dinner last night!' and brings in the leftovers while people are eating ham sandwiches," laughs Kritikides.

"My colleagues got sick of me talking about [cooking] and told me they were going to fill in the MasterChef appli­cation." And they did.

It was, in fact, a supervising partner who took the plunge on Kritikides' behalf, and a few months later, Kritikides was bemusedly lining up for an audition. "I didn't think I would get through," he says, "but I thought it would be a great story to tell over a couple of beers."

Despite his nonchalance, Kritikides blitzed the audition and was sent straight to Sydney to join the top 50 - and soon the top 24 - contestants.

Surprisingly, jubilation was not Kritikides' initial reac­tion. "My heart just sank," he says.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, this has gone from being a bit of fun and a good story to now actually being [on the show] ... now I have to talk to work!'"

But Kritikides' concern was short-lived, and after some hasty arrangements and a pat on the back, two weeks leave soon morphed into several months.

Kritikides is adamant he has always had the full support of his workmates, though admits the circumstances sur­rounding his leave didn't give them much choice.

"My colleagues couldn't exactly say much, seeing as one of the partners actually filled in the application form for me," he laughs.

However he ended up there, Kritikides says the experi­ence of being on television, in front of two million sali­vating viewers, changed his life.

"How do I explain it? It has been such a whirlwind. My life over the last few months has really been quite amazing," he says.

"It came at a great time for me. Before it all happened, I was wondering whether I might want to take a [break]. Then this opportunity came along and it has just been incredible. I have never looked back."

And few viewers would dispute that the ever-smiling Kritikides took to his newfound public persona like a fish to water, and being surrounded by many a lens and micro­phone was something with which he seemed remarkably comfortable.

"I just enjoyed it," he says.

"[I never] thought I'd end up being on television, hav­ing been a lawyer bailed up in my office for five years. It's just so funny. It has really been a barrel of laughs."Kritikides also believes being a lawyer helped him to remain cool and calm under pressure.

"I certainly think my experience at work and the pres­sures of having to impress people under tough time peri­ods did help," he says.

"I'm a pretty pragmatic bloke, [so] at the end of the day if I made a mistake I was able to say, 'I'm on Mas­terChef. If I make a mistake, no-one's going to gaol. I've just cooked a bad dish.'"

Unfortunately for Kritikides, this "bad dish" came in the form of an overcooked oyster terrine, and while he was correct in that no-one went to gaol, he was eliminated from the final 12 contestants.

Despite his disappointment, he is somewhat pleased to be back to relative normality, albeit one peppered with curious clients and proud colleagues.

"It's good to come back to some sort of normal life now, because I have been living in a complete bubble ... It has been a lot [about] touching base with clients, who are all pretty excited about it all, and just easing back into it," he says. "And conversations by the water cooler are now pretty much always MasterChef related. I don't mind the attention - I actually love the attention- so I am happy to play along."

Though Kritikides didn't win the competition, he says the experience has given him a new perspective on life, as well as the confidence to pursue his love of food - in the form of a providores - on the side.

"One of the best things coming out of the whole expe­rience was meeting people I absolutely idolise, like Neil Perry, Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer," he says.

"I saw how humble they are, and with a bit of hard work and determination you can really have fun in your life and be passionate about what you do. I am really happy with the job I've got, but there is always room to do other things to make you happy as well."

And while everyone who watches the show knows Kri­tikides and judge George Calombaris share a special bond, it seems that Kritikides, if pressed, probably would prefer to whip up a dish with Maggie Beer than accumulate bill­able hours.

"I just wanted to hug her," says Kritikides.

"She was just so nice."