Former Masterchef contestant Grant MacNicol delighted to reunite with ‘dynamic duo’ partner Halde Pottinger for Ness Factor 2024
Ness Factor 2024 contestant Grant MacNicol has not ruled out calling on some of his celebrity chef friends to help with fundraising efforts – but says there is nobody he would rather be singing with than duet partner Halde Pottinger.
The pair are lifelong friends, and in the year they turn 40 decided to take on the new challenge of the singing contest in aid of Highland Hospice together to mark the occasion.
It is not the first time they have teamed up. They previously took part in driving TV game show Test Drive, where teams had to answer questions correctly to navigate their way to the finishing line, and won.
After a difficult year for Mr Pottinger where he lost his brother, Mr MacNicol is hoping they can have just as much fun getting on stage and singing together.
“Me and Halde have been best friends since school, but we never see each other because we are both just so busy all the time,” he explained.
“After he lost his brother this year, it was a nice thing for us to make an effort to see more of each other.
“We started doing a weight loss thing together, and we’ve done TV shows in the past and a couple of other things, so he approached me about Ness Factor. We both used to do a bit of singing in school, so I said ‘let’s go for it’.
“The two of us are a dynamic duo, we always have been. Whether it was rugby, acting or TV, or whatever we’ve done together on social media, we’ve always done it together.
“We lost our way a wee bit because family and work gets in the way, and as you get older you can’t just hang out with your pal all the time, so it’s nice to be able to do that again.
“I’ve got a lot of time for the Hospice, what they do and how they do it, and we understand that fundraising is the main reason that they can keep going. We feel we can do something special with the fundraising with the plans we have in place.”
Mr MacNicol has his own background of “performing” in front of crowds, as he was on Masterchef: The Professionals and has since gone on to do cookery demonstrations in front of thousands of people.
As a private chef to some wealthy clients, and the operator of The Angry Seagull, it is perhaps no surprise then that he will look to use those skills as part of fundraising efforts – and the experience of working in front of a crowd will not do Mr MacNicol any harm come showtime either.
“I can definitely draw on those things and use that experience,” he reasoned.
“It’s scary when you look up sometimes and see thousands of people, but you’ve just got to absorb that, especially if there’s a camera involved.
“With The Angry Seagull mobile fish and chip shop, we’re doing a couple of fundraising things already.
“The idea is that we’re going to do a Highland Fling or Highland Hoolie – whatever you want to call it – with the Angry Seagull, and do a bit of the North Coast 500 to go to as many different areas as we can and do some pop-up fundraising there at the same time.
“We’re probably going to try and do a couple of pop up cooking classes or nights with me doing demonstrations and Halde compering – and I might call on a few of my celebrity chef friends to help with that or give us a wee shout out.
“One of my best pals, Jamie Scott, won Masterchef and he’s a really good chef. Adam Handling is a good pal of mine as well, and he’s just got an MBE for services to hospitality, so there are plenty of guys we can call on if we need to.
“We’re pretty relaxed about that side of things, so we just need to pick the right song for the actual night.”
• Donate to Grant and Halde’s JustGiving page for their Ness Factor 2024 fundraising here
