THE POPULAR Welsh celebrity cookery series, Pryd o Sêr, has returned to S4C this week with a plateful of famous Welsh stars - including some familiar local faces - all hoping not to bite off more than they can chew in the kitchen.

Hoping to fight his corner in the kitchen will be wrestler Barri Griffiths.

The Tremadog-born wrestler calls himself Mason Ryan in the ring and has travelled the world wrestling. Born in 1982, he first worked as a carpet apprentice, and then in an undertakers, before turning his hand to wrestling. He appeared in popular ITV programme Gladiators, before moving to America and he’s now a WWE wrestling character.

Barri, who has to eat a lot of food to maintain his wrestling physique, thinks he has what it takes to triumph in the show.

“On a good day, I’ll have as many as eight meals a day,” he said.

“When I cook, I tend to throw everything into the pan. I don’t think I’d like to kill anything, that’s the only problem. But I’m definitely going to win.”

Owain Tudur Jones will be hoping to get the ball rolling in the competition. As a former Welsh football international, who started his career with Porthmadog and Bangor before turning professional and playing for Swansea City, he’s used to tackling tough challenges, and will be eager not to be shown the red card by the judges, but his lack of cooking experience could result in just that.

“I’ve just finished playing professional football, and when I played things got cooked for me,” he explained.

“If someone told me to cook with a pile of ingredients, it would be pot luck if it would turn out okay. I don’t have a clue.”

His wife, Nicola, said of her husband’s cookery skills - or lack of them: “He just puts everything in the microwave. He won’t have a clue what to do on Pryd o Sêr, I’m sure he’ll burn something!

Pryd o Sêr continues on Sundays at 8pm and Tuesdays at 3pm on S4C (with English subtitles), and is also available on catch-up.

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