YORK’S Masterchef finalist, Sara Danesin Medio, has quit her job as an intensive care nurse at York Hospital to try to make a career out of cooking.

Sara handed in her notice earlier this month, after Masterchef judge John Torode told her and her fellow finalists to “go out and make the most of your talent”.

Sara, 40, was runner-up in this year’s TV show. About 8.7 million people watched the final, in which she prepared chocolate ravioli. It has given her a profile and opportunities she did not want to waste, she said.

“I get stopped in York all the time – the tills stop in M&S when I go in. And I got stopped in Manchester the other day by someone saying ‘you should have won!’”

She plans to capitalise on that profile by launching a dining club at her home in St John Street in early July, cooking meals for up to 12 paying guests at a time.

She also plans to launch cookery classes later in the year and provide private catering, and she has a number of charity functions coming up at local hotels and restaurants.

Leaving nursing would be a wrench, she admitted. She had had the “most amazing 16 years in the NHS”, rising to a deputy sister in an intensive care unit at York.

Her colleagues and bosses had been hugely supportive of her Masterchef adventure – as had patients on her ward. Because the show was pre-recorded, she was back at work by the time it was screened.

“Some of my patients would look a bit puzzled. They would look at me, look at the TV screen, and say ‘is that you?’”

Sara plans to still do occasional stints as a bank nurse. But being on Masterchef had opened up huge opportunities, she said.

“And I thought that I wouldn’t be able to juggle doing two intense things like cooking at that level, as I want to, and being a deputy sister on an intensive care ward.

“So I thought the most sensible thing was to quit. I’ve done 20 years of nursing, so I thought I would create space for other nurses to go in.”

• You can contact Sara to book a meal at her dining club by visiting saradanesinmedio.com