Chef, TV Presenter and the King of Sunday Sessions
Born and raised in Edmonton, 6ft6 Turkish Cypriot Hasan Semay (or Big Has as he is affectionately known) is currently the judge on BBC Three's Young MasterChef.
He graduated from Jamie Olivers 15 programme in 2011. After a series of jobs that didn't light his fire, and hours spent watching cooking shows, his mum convinced him to apply and from then on cooking became his first love. He went on to spend the next 10 years cooking in high end kitchens all over London until Covid hit and he found himself without a job but with a passion to carry on cooking. This is when his YouTube channel Sunday Sessions was born. It’s all about the food (And some lovely camera work) as he takes beautiful ingredients and cooks them up in his downtrodden back garden come rain or shine and all served with a side of Has’ signature charisma.
In recent years, he has contributed regularly to the Guardian Feast magazine, hosted supper clubs at Jamie Olivers and was featured in the special 20th Anniversary issue of Observer Food Monthly, as one of the ‘next big things’ to watch.
In 2022 Pavilion published his debut cookbook, HOME, and 2023 included Has writing book no. 2, set to publish in Autumn 2024. He also perfected his live cooking skills with spots on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, Channel 4's Sunday Brunch and The Big Breakfast. He continues to grace our screens as guest judge on BBC, E4 & ITV2 cooking shows such Celeb Cooking School, and Bad Chefs.