Profession: journalist, broadcaster, author

Signature dish: coq-au-vin

Peter Fitzsimons is one of Australia's most prominent and successful media identities and has just released his most recent book Charles Kingsford Smith and Those Magnificent Men. But for his three children, the pinnacle of his career is signing up for Celebrity MasterChef.

"My children all really liked MasterChef Australia. My 11 year old daughter Billi was really into it, and loved Poh. I don't do much that impresses my kids but going on Celebrity MasterChef has them very excited."

Peter's love for cooking dates back to his days of playing rugby, living in Europe. A year living in Italy and four years in France has influenced his style of cookery, characterising it with classic sauces, and rich risottos.

"I used to cook a lot, especially in France and Italy. I picked up tips from a lady called Madame Celeste. Those tips still come back to me today, and I have a real memory for them. They essentially involved lots of garlic."

"I came back to Australia and got into journalism and really my wife (Lisa Wilkinson) did a lot of the cooking. In the last two years she started doing breakfast TV and I realised that I should be doing the cooking at night."

"My repertoire has been really expanding over the past few months. I like doing classic foods – roasts and chicken dishes. I started out with pasta and that’s the easiest thing. It's not really cooking at all! I've done a few risottos and what I've learnt is to get them right you have to have a feel for it."

While Peter has perfected some basics, he has had a few kitchen disasters, and one major memorable one has taught him a valuable lesson.

"I was writing Kim Beazley's (Labour opposition leader) biography and invited him over for lunch. I cooked a chicken dish for us all, and let's just say the curry paste I put in could have caused pain at 50m away. It was like sulphuric acid. But he laboured on, ate it all, and is such a kind man he even said it was fantastic. It's certainly taught me to follow recipes."

Ambitious in his efforts for Celebrity MasterChef, Peter hopes to attempt a coq-au-vin for his signature dish.

"When you pull it off it looks fantastic. I've been practicing and the feedback from my family is that they are surprised that it's been so good. I've got it down to the minute."

"I want to do a triple somersault in the pipe position and land in chicken soup at 500m and not make a splash. That's my aim on Celebrity MasterChef. The judges may say it's not the finest they've tasted but I want them to say we'll give points for the degree of difficulty."