During the MasterChef Australia audition tour, Joanne was astounded by the overwhelmingly positive response she received from judge Gary Mehigan. He liked her Lebanese sweet doughnuts so much that he ate a whole plate of them, so she's aware that she's set the bar high.

While she considered applying for MasterChef Australia last year, she was dissuaded because her priorities lay with her young children, Faith, six-years-old, and three-year-old Archella, but she now feels it’s time to do something for herself.

"Last year I wasn't ready," she says. "My youngest was a bit young to be away from. Now she's talking, and it's a bit easier. I know it’s going to be a hard road and I think I'm going to cry a lot! When I'm missing them, I see the eyes of my children in my head and it makes me really emotional. My husband Richard is really supportive and won’t let me give up though."

Joanne loves to cook for her children and is extremely passionate about the sort of food she makes for them, and the manners that she instils in them.

"I don't eat fast food and neither do the girls,” she says. “We don't get take out, and when we go out for food we take the girls as well. It's important for them to experience restaurants and they sit there properly and eat with us. Archella loves sushi - it's her favourite."

It's hard to believe that glamorous Jo grew up on a farm, and she insists that she is no stranger to hard work.

"Since I was a kid my parents had a farm that I used to work on,” explains Jo. “From picking fruit in the orchard to working on the tractor, my hands were dirty! We all worked; we had to. Mum and dad didn't have much and they relied on me and my four sisters. My parents still have the farm – they are very traditional Lebanese people, and they are very humble."

While she learnt to make Lebanese dishes from her mum and aunty, Joanne has branched out with her cookery, but admits she is her own worst critic.

"I cook a lot of Lebanese dishes but I do some comfort foods and desserts, and do some things off the top of my head,” she says. “I have a lot of dinner parties but I'm really harsh on myself. People tell me my food is good, but I am my harshest critic. I need MasterChef to hone my skills and find out if I really am good."