Ukrainian refugee living in Basingstoke lands MasterChef job

Alina Nesterova now works in the production team of MasterChef UK

A Ukrainian refugee who worked on the country's MasterChef TV show has found a job on the British version.

Alina Nesterova landed the job after fleeing her home in Kyiv after Russia launched its invasion.

But her happiness has been tainted after her phone was stolen from her in the street as she texted her parents who remain in Ukraine.

"I check in with my parents every day, every hour - luckily I remember my mother and father's numbers," she said.

Miss Nesterova, who lived with a Homes for Ukraine host family in Basingstoke, said: "I love Great Britain, it's so safe, it's given me a peaceful sky. But in the past week some guys on bicycles snatched my phone, it's so sad for me.

"I was sending a message to my parents as I was coming home from work and they snatched my phone from my hand."

She said the device contained all her Ukrainian information and photos: "All my memories - my last photo from the bunker, my last photo with my friends."

'Became a family'

Miss Nesterova described how a friend had woken her in the early hours of 24 February, knocking on the door saying: "Get out, the war has started."

"I told him: 'You must be mad, it's the 21st century, what war are you talking about?'," she said.

But after watching President Vladimir Putin's address to the Russian troops online and hearing explosions nearby, they eventually made their way to an underground bomb shelter.

"It was tense but in the two days we spent in the bunker we became a family," she said.

"Everyone took care of each other, guys would go out for provisions, girls would do the cooking, we took it in turns to sleep on the floor."

People in Kyiv have been sleeping in makeshift bomb shelters and underground stations since the invastion began

Deciding they would be safer outside of Kyiv, Miss Nesterova and her friends made their way via small villages and a 12-hour train journey to Lviv in western Ukraine.

From there, she travelled via Romania and France to the UK.

"I now have a job on MasterChef UK," she said, adding: "It's a lovely team, wonderful colleagues,

"It's similar to my Ukrainian MasterChef job but now I'm in the production team, in Ukraine I worked in the food department. I really love this job."

Listen to the interview on BBC Radio Berkshire via BBC Sounds here,

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