A FORMER Rishton chef has been cooking up a storm by helping a gang of novice celebrities through the finer points of cooking in ITV's Hell's Kitchen.

Tim Payne, a former catering student at Accrington and Rossendale College, spent two weeks helping stars including former boxing champ Barry McGuigan and controversial comic Jim Davidson learn to cook under the guidance of notorious chef Marco-Pierre White.

And Tim said Hell's Kitchen lived up to its name as the celebs went through tantrums and tears in a bid to pick up the tricks of the trade.

He said: "It was hard work as they were having to work 16-hour days, often getting up at 8am and not getting back to the hotel until after midnight.

"Some of them had literally never cooked before in their lives and they didn't seem to know what to do at all.

"They were picking up hot pans without using towels and that sort of thing. It was pretty hectic at times."

Tim, 40, formerly of Hermitage Street, Rishton, is a veteran food expert, having lived and worked as a chef in London since 1987.

A former pupil of Norden High School, Rishton, he is currently head chef at The Paradise, a restaurant in the city.

He was invited on to the programme to help run the Blue Kitchen team as a sous chef as he had previously worked for Marco-Pierre White for about 15 years.

As well as having to cope with the gruelling schedule, there were other controversies for Tim and his team to deal with, including Jim Davidson being asked to leave the show following "unacceptable" comments.

Despite this, Tim said some of his trainees proved they were worth their salt, after going from raw recruits to kitchen wizards in weeks.

He said: "Adele Silva was a decent cook and so was Abigail Clancy.

"And of the men, Paul Young was pretty decent as well.

"Although Barry McGuigan won, he burned his hand quite badly at one stage and he was in quite a lot of pain.

"But he managed to win through in the end."