Profession: comedian, author, radio host, and creator of children’s book and television series, Pearlie.

Signature dish: loin of rabbit in bacon served with sour cream.

An experimental cook, Wendy is one contestant who isn't going to be intimidated by the prospect of a classic MasterChef mystery box.

"Like most mothers out there, my fridge is a mystery box every day of the week. I can make something with just a cucumber, mince and a carrot. Although occasionally after what I make we decide its time to go out for Chinese."

"My ideal mystery box ingredient would be George Calombaris – can that be arranged?"

With years of experience as a comedian, and accomplished broadcaster behind her, it could be assumed that Wendy would be the last person to let the cameras distract her, but she says it's absolutely not the case.

"I'm terrified of being in front of the cameras. My face will be red with perspiration dripping off. It's not the best and it'd be hard to say I'm looking forward to it."

Wendy has been cooking since she moved out of home and into share houses in her late teens, and as she says: "If you can't learn something in 30 years you should just give up."

"I like trying lots of different things when I'm cooking. Mexican, Chinese, Balinese… all sorts of cuisines. And now the kids are a bit older they are starting to experiment. They adored watching MasterChef Australia and since it's been on I've not been able to keep them out of the kitchen."

Her signature dish for MasterChef will be rabbit, and Wendy has been practising at home while she prepares the kids lunches in the morning.

"The only difficulty will be getting the rabbit to be tender in the time allotted. But it's completely doable and I can't see any use in panicking. I'll leave that until I get there."

"I'm not too bad under pressure, but there's no guarantee for that. I don't think I'll be falling into a blubbering heap. I'll probably just laugh if things go wrong just because of the whole irony of the situation."

Like all home cooks, Wendy has had her fair share of disasters in the kitchen, and one is more memorable than most.

"Years ago, an ex-boyfriend and I had a dinner party to show how well we were getting on since the break-up. We ended up having a massive brawl, I threw the kitchen tongs at his head, and it drew blood. Everyone left after that."