crowned his first ever winner for , after an intense eight weeks, which has seen 12 contestants take part in brutal challenges from diving down into the depths of caves to delivering food on a high-wire suspended .
In , the Michelin-starred chef chose to invest £150,000 in, after tasking them with the challenge of bringing their business to life.
, whose business is focused on plantain based snacks, Leah Harkess, who sells free-from brownies for her business , and contestant Stephanie Buttery whose company sells Japanese inspired soft-drinks.
For their final challenge, Leah, Steph and Victoria had to host a unique launch event to promote their product, their brand and themselves, and, after grilling each one, Chef Ramsay chose Victoria as his first ever Future Food Star winner.
Sharing her delight at winning, the 28-year-old called it a ‘dream come true’, saying: ‘I’m feeling overjoyed. It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m so happy.
‘Working with Gordon is a huge deal – its even better than the investment.
‘I’m super excited, I could literally scream.
‘Now the fun times begin, it’s a dream come true.’
Gordon added: ‘A truly deserving winner. The other two finalists were incredible but Victoria just edged it.
‘I said at the very start I was looking not just to invest in the business, but in the person behind it.
‘I couldn’t be any happier in my decision and I’m so excited to see what the future holds.’
Speaking about investing £150,000 of his own money to the winner of the series, Gordon told Metro.co.uk and other publications ahead of the series airing: ‘I don’t mind investing more with the right idea, the right person, so I’d like to see that as just the beginning of that investment.
‘And as you see the progress on the show and just the development of where we take their businesses, it’s pretty ground-breaking.
‘I think that £150,000 is just the start, I’d love to invest in more of those businesses, but there needs to be a winner for obvious reasons.’
Gordon added: ‘You could be one of the most talented chefs anywhere in the world but if you can’t run a business then you become a busy idiot, and what I tried to do with these businesses was stress-test them, put them through the pressure-test that every business needs, and then understand where their weaknesses were and try and create something more tangible than they thought they brought to the competition.’
Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
