Ferns starts fire training for 'Burnout'

Ex-EastEnders star Alex Ferns has revealed that he set fire to his kitchen while training for Marco's Kitchen Burnout.

Ferns, who played evil Trevor Morgan in the BBC One soap, claimed that he had an accdent while cooking a prawn pasta dish that nearly had disastrous results.

"I always say that I'm not a competitive person but if I am being honest, I am. I'm the same with playing golf. I want to win," said the 41-year-old.

"So when I found out for sure I was going to do this, I said to my wife Jennifer, I'm going to make this prawn pasta dish. Yeah, I'm going to be great on this show."

He continued: "She went up to have a bath, our sons Cameron, 7 and Mackenzie, 3, were asleep in bed, and I poured myself a glass of wine while I started defrosting prawns at the sink.

"I walked into the living room, forgetting I'd left the empty wok with oil on the gas. And the next thing I know, there are flames in the pan, smoke everywhere, the alarms are going off, and I knock over one of our expensive wine glasses and smash it. Setting the kitchen on fire... not a good start is it!"

Ferns will line up alongside Carol Smillie and Russell Grant on this week's Kitchen Burnout heat. The top two contestants will join Donna Air, Tupele Dorgu, Elen Rives, Ruth Langsford, Nancy Dell'Olio and Deborah Stephenson in the semi finals.

Marco's Kitchen Burnout airs Fridays at 9pm on ITV1.