While preparing a heartfelt feast for sick kids at Ronald McDonald House, the mind of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand hopeful Josh King was filled with thoughts of his cherished eldest son's brush with death.
Auckland-based King and Aaron Gascoigne make up the "Corporate Dads" team in the reality TV cooking show, where rivals are battling for a $100,000 winners' cheque.
For the past three weeks the two mates have been cool under pressure, including during the "Instant Restaurant" round in which they served their dishes at King's house dubbed "Two Fat Cats".
But King's starched-shirt corporate image came close to unravelling when he served a sick child, the spitting image of his son Caden, during filming for tonight's episode at Ronald McDonald House.
King told the Herald on Sunday he found himself riding a roller coaster of emotions as memories of Caden's fight for life flooded back after the tot contracted the potentially fatal MRSA infection in an American hospital.
"I just about lost it in the middle of the challenge," admitted King.
"It was if I was teleported back to how we were feeling eight years ago. I came close to shedding tears. It felt like it was yesterday."
King and his wife, Nicola, spent two months at the Los Angeles hospital bedside of their gravely ill newborn son. At the time doctors gave the then 2-week-old baby just a 10 per cent chance of living.
Caden defied the odds and is now a healthy 8-year-old.
King described it as a harrowing period in his life when he was forced to be a spectator watching his tiny son fight for his life, spending day and night in a hospital room snatching sleep on a chair.
Because of Caden's brave battle, cooking for the MKR People's Choice Challenge at Ronald McDonald House was a humbling experience. His thoughts were with the sick kids, and their parents.
"Their whole life is in shambles yet they show such strength and courage dealing with their sick children."
He said the teams involved in the Ronald McDonald House challenge enjoyed doing "something real". King and Gascoigne stayed well after the cameras stopped rolling to spend time with their VIP dinner guests.
My Kitchen Rules New Zealand has now entered the "Kitchen HQ" phase in which the remaining nine teams cook in three groups of three for select groups in the community.
The diners vote for their favourite team, who get immunity from elimination, and the judges choose the worst-performing cooking duo to go to the first sudden-death cook-off.
The remaining non-safe teams head to Kitchen HQ where they cook off in a showdown to determine the second team in the elimination showdown.