A week later, amateur cook Jhané Gibson has yet to fully process that she's the winner of one of Britain's enduring reality shows. "I still can’t believe that I am a ‘MasterChef UK’ champion! I worked so hard throughout the show to improve with every dish, so winning really feels like all of the hard work paid off," said Gibson, a second-generation Jamaican born to a father who hails from Clarendon and an English mother whose parents grew up in Kingston. The 30-year-old — raised in a family of fervent yardie cooks — was the last woman standing last Friday of the BBC TV-aired cooking competition that began with 48 contestants.

That number was dramatically whittled down over the show's 21-episode run. Gibson advanced over a series of challenges that included 'The Calling Card', where hopefuls had 75 minutes to prepare a dish from scratch to prove their cooking mettle, and 'The Impression Test' that presented the task of crafting a two-course menu for a panel of past ‘MasterChef’ champions and finalists.

"The journey throughout the show was an experience I’ll never forget. Every week, I was pushed to cook the best food of my life. It was definitely challenging at times, but I think that’s why the experience was so valuable," Gibson tells The Gleaner in an exclusive interview, shortly after wrapping an in-studio appearance on the TV morning show, BBC Breakfast.