White: 'I didn't know Burnout celebs'

Marco Pierre White has admitted that he wasn't aware of many of the celebrities on Kitchen Burnout.

Alex Ferns, Tupele Dorgu, Ruth Langsford and Nancy Dell'Olio will compete in tonight's semi-final, which will be judged by 25 diners and the Michelin star chef.

White explained that he didn't recognise half of the contestants at the start of the series, because he chooses to avoid a showbiz lifestyle.

Speaking about his habit of sleeping with curtains open during an interview on This Morning earlier today, he said: "If I close my curtains I just dream and I can sleep for about 12 hours, and I don't have any clocks, no TVs, no newspapers.

"So I don't recognise half of [the celebrities]! And that is the honest truth for the simple reason that I'm not seen in public - I don't do parties, I don't do events, I don't watch TV, I don't read newspapers... but I like cooking at home, it's nice."

He also spoke out about his daily "three course breakfast" and preference for baths over showers.

"A cigarette, a coffee and a cough! Every morning without fail before nine o'clock! And I always prefer having a bath, rather than a shower - because in a shower you don't think, in a bath I sit there and I think," he said.

"I can make the odd phone call and I can smoke in the bath - I can't smoke in the shower!"

The first Marco's Kitchen Burnout semi-final airs tonight at 9pm on ITV1.