A firefighter from Rush Green was no stranger to the heat in the kitchen when he was crowned winner of TV cooking competition My Kitchen Rules UK last night.

Danny Egan, 46, of Rush Green road, along with pal Kevin Cook, 55, won the season finale of the show aired on Sky Living HD.

The programme was an Australian import similar to Masterchef hosted by Michelin starred chef Jason Atherton and model turned baker Lorraine Pascale.

The format saw pairs of contestants competing to make the best food each week with the worst pair voted off until they found a winning team.

Danny, who is based at Dagenham fire station, said: “I was ecstatic when I realised we had won. We beat team Wales in the final which we both really enjoyed as there had been a bit of a rivalry between us throughout the series”

Mr Egan entered the show after boasting to his colleagues of his culinary skills and then being put to the test. He said: “There’s always a bit of banter around the office about who’s the best cook and one day my mate came in with a leaflet for the show and told me to put my money where my mouth is, so I did

“I love cooking for people and seeing them enjoy my food so I was looking forward to it at first but it was quite stressful at times when the pressure was on but I enjoyed the experience.”

Co-host James Atherton was impressed with Danny’s culinary skill, calling him a “natural”.

Originally Danny had planned to enter the competition with his colleague Chris Groves, 46, but after going through all the preliminary stages Chris had to pull out.

He then went through the process again with the aptly named Kevin Cook, a retired firefighter, and the pair went on to win the contest.

Mr Egan is looking forward to retiring with his half of the cash. He hopes to use his share of the winnings to set up a mobile takeaway food business with his wife and daughters selling their take on traditional Thai and Indian dishes.

Danny plans to call it the “Scoville Station” the name of his team on the cooking show, inspired by the Scoville scale used to measure the heat of chillies.

He said: “I’ve been a fireman for 22 years and I’ve got a few years before I retire yet but I’m looking forward to it in many ways. I plan to buy a food van and travel around the country selling my own recipe freshly made Asian food with plenty of spice, it sounds like a great way to spend my retirement.”

The pair both shared £25,000 prize money and the My Kitchen Rules trophy.