Emma Spitzer narrowly failed in her bid to become the BBC MasterChef champion, on Friday.

The Finchley mother-of-four lost out to winner Simon Wood, despite being told by judge Greg Wallace that her Middle-Eastern and north African cooking, inspired by her Algerian-born mother-in-law, had “brought a new style to the competition”.

Ms Spitzer, who prepared a lamb tagine as her final main course, said she was delighted at having gone so far in the reality cooking show.

“I had no idea how tough this was going to be but I’m really happy with what I’ve achieved.”

Mr Wallace said she was one of the most exciting cooks he had seen in MasterChef.

Forty amateur cooks competed in the series, which was broadcast over 24 episodes over the past six weeks.

Ms Spitzer now hopes to swap her job as a travel company executive for a career in catering or running pop-up eateries.