Tim crowned winner of Masterchef 2011

Eccentric American Tim Anderson was crowned Masterchef 2011 Champion last night, beating Englishman Tom Whitaker and Italian Sara Danesin in the final.

After travelling round the world for challenges, the final three made it back to Masterchef HQ to cook their final and hopefully best three-course meal for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.

And it was Tim's, the youngest ever winner at 26, meal of a selection of burgers, Pork Ramen with Truffled Lobster and three classic English desserts with a twist that won him the crown. In truth I couldn't understand half of the ingredients or food prepared by the finalists but the fact that John and Gregg sat their with almost speechless delight, you knew it was good!

In truth runners-up Tom and Sara could both count themselves unlucky that they decided to enter this year, both would have probably stormed to victory in previous series. Sara's chocolate ravioli starter last night in particular looked heavenly.

But it was Tim's spark of genius, often bordering on the weird, that gave him the edge. Often at times looking more like a scientist than a chef (a gastro-scientist as they say), with liquid nitrogen steaming up his glasses, Tim has thought up and cooked some mind-boggling creations.

This year's series of Masterchef has been a huge success, probably the best series and three finalists since the show started again back in 2005. This year's 11-week run has averaged 5.2million viewers.

But whilst last night's absorbing final was a roaring success both for its cooking and as a TV show, the need for (sorry for the obvious pun coming up) Masterchef to over cook the main course has put a slight blemish on this year's series.

Why did we need three straight nights of Masterchef? The challenges, travelling round the world, were entertaining but they didn't tell us anything new about the contestants. We all know they can cook, overcoming being out of their comfort zone or under pressure.

Thanks to Sky+ I ignored most of Monday's and Tuesday's episode until we got to the real final last night. The contestants may have felt exhausted after going round the world but I felt exhausted enough just watching from the comfort of my sofa. Three hours was just way too much.

But once we got there, the mouth-watering finale was well worth the watch. Tim deserved to win purely for thinking up some of those amazingly crazy dishes, let alone cooking them perfectly. I will now go and spend the next year dreaming of chocolate ravioli, waiting for next year's series to start.

Do you think Tim deserved to win? Did you think three nights for the final was too much?

Picture from AOL news