Riyadh Khalaf has been captivating Celebrity Masterchef fans with his dazzling culinary skills and quick wit.
But before finding fame as a ground-breaking BBC documentary maker, the Irish-Iraqi Vlogger and his family fought through dark times.
His Irish-Catholic mum Lorraine discovered Riyadh was gay when she found same-sex porn on the family computer but kept his secret for nine months before insisting he tell his father, Sam, over dinner.
Too scared to say the words, Riyadh instead passed a note to his ‘outrageously heterosexual’ dad which read simply, “I’m gay”.
And while Muslim Iraqi Sam did his best to put on a calm, supportive front, he admitted to the Guardian his “head was absolutely wrecked” by the news.
It was a reaction Riyadh had been dreading.
“My parents were right at the bottom of the pile for who to come out to,” he told the BBC.
“It was self-preservation. I didn’t know if I was going to be kicked out and made homeless, or if my dad would try to honour-kill me.
“It sounds silly but you go to the worst-case scenario. My mum was great – confused but great – but my dad took it very hard.”
Indeed, Sam was so conflicted by his own upbringing that he contemplated taking his own life.
That was until a conversation with a family member made him realise how misplaced and unwelcome their opinions were.
“They asked, ‘How come your son is like this? You should change him,’” Sam told the Guardian.
“They said we could help Riyadh: bring him to Syria and treat him there with conversion therapy.”
Appalled, Sam cut ties with his extended family and with help from Lorraine started to rebuild his relationship with his first-born.
These days the pair are closer than ever, with Sam joining his activist son on Pride marches – their first being a protest for marriage equality.
Of the powerful moment, Riyadh recalled: “We were standing side by side. Dad was getting emotional, watching the speeches.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was cheering and shouting for the LGBTQ cause. It was like a personal revolution. It was like, ‘I won’t hate, I will love.’”
Riyadh published the ground-breaking book, Yay! You’re Gay! Now What?, about his coming out journey and uses his YouTube channel to promote gay rights and equality.
He fronted BBC Three documentary series, Queer Britain, which tackled racism, homelessness, body image and porn in the LGBTQ+ community.
* The Celebrity MasterChef semi-final and final is on BBC1 tonight from 7.30pm