The 29-year-old mother-of-one has announced that she won’t be giving up her job as a full-time doctor in order to pursue a career in cooking.
While many previous MasterChef winners have gone on to have hugely successful careers in the food industry, with series one winner Thomasina Miers founding popular restaurant chain Wahaca and 2014’s victor Ping Coombes running her own business, Pings Pantry, as well as being the executive chef at Chi Kitchen, Saliha has decided not to give up her day job.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, she admitted that she’s not sure yet where her culinary career is going.
“It’s difficult to say,” she mused. “I’m a doctor so I’ll continue to be a doctor, but at the same time I’ve got lots of things in mind that I want to do, combining food with a career in medicine. But ultimately I think we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
Saliha was announced the winner of the BBC cooking contest on Friday, after battling it out with 63 other contenders to make it to the grand final alongside Steve Kielty and Giovanna Ryan.
She also opened up about the gruelling filming schedule, which took its toll as she struggled to balance MasterChef with working full-time as a doctor, as well as taking care of her two-year-old son.
“There were lots of things for me to juggle,” she confessed. “But it was worth every minute of it.
“I did all of the filming days in my annual leave. When I would have normally gone on holiday, I went on MasterChef.”
Saliha added that the lack of sleep was the hardest part about the competition for her, as she grappled with shift-pattern work and the hectic timetable of filming.
“When you’re excited and loving what you do, sleep just goes out the window,” she laughed.
Fans of the show were shocked when judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace crowned Saliha champion, taking to social media to complain that her rival Steve should have won the title.
MasterChef is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
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