As the coronavirus pandemic puts much of the world into lockdown, people around the globe have had their lives turned upside down.

Sports stars, current and former, have also been forced to deal with a situation that has left them without sport to play and their commitments put on pause.

In the next part of our 'In isolation with...' series, Christian Day - former Northampton Saints lock and rugby player liaison officer for the Rugby Players Association - talks about his love of cooking, his recent stint on MasterChef, and also gives us his "Dish of the Day".

Going on MasterChef is something I always wanted to do and I could never do it while playing. You can't really book a week or two off during the season.

My playing career finished, it was the summer and an advert to apply to go on the show popped up on my Twitter feed.

After four or five interviews, I got through and off we went.

I was pretty unfazed when I started the process on MasterChef, as being a professional rugby player, I'd played in front of television cameras a lot during my career.

The producers in my interview asked me what I would feel like if I got sent home during the process and, as a sportsman, I just said 'well I'll go home then!'

During my career I was used to losing just as much as I was just to winning and this was no different.

It was tough. It was five weeks of hell, really. They make it stressful and the days are long. There's a lot of sitting around and waiting while filming takes place.

However, it would be a bit boring if you just go into the kitchen and cook up some lasagnes and it all goes fine.

The physical demands of cooking are a bit different from playing, but mentally it's a tough environment.

It's difficult to describe. In a television studio you've got the cameras rammed in your face, which changed the pressure, but working to a timescale is different.

If you did it at home and messed it up you'd be like 'oh I've messed it up' or you'd do it again and say it would come in half an hour.

But in a professional kitchen you know you're putting your job on the line every time you put stuff out and if you put bad stuff out too many times, you're out of a job.

Rugby is a bit like that. You perform each weekend and if you perform poorly too many times, you won't get a new contract.

They ramp up the pressure and do some pretty weird things, but overall it was really enjoyable and I met a really nice group of people so it was good fun.

Sport opens up opportunities you might not always get so I did get to meet some chefs along the way.

I'd always had a big interest in cooking but doing it on the television is a bit different.

In all, I cooked 12 times on the show and eventually reached the semi-final.

I knew exactly what I needed to do with my dish to reach the final but, for whatever reason, it just didn't happen.

I stuck it up there and I felt it was a bit harsh that I went home that day, but you've just got to smile and walk out the room.

Since I stopped playing rugby, one thing that has changed in my life is that these days I don't consume quite so many calories.

When I was playing I would have a cooked breakfast, cooked lunch and cooked dinner, whereas these days I snack more.

I've gone from consuming 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day to about 3,000.

During the lockdown, we've been quite fortunate in our area. We live in Northamptonshire, which is the bread basket of England and, luckily enough, the shelves in the supermarket have been quite well stocked.

One thing that we've seen has been in short supply around the country is flour, which is a shame as I like doing a fair amount of baking.

If you aren't much of a cook, something basic you can start with is to cook bolognese.

It's a versatile dish that you can expand to other areas. You start by chopping vegetables and using them as the base in a tomato sauce and then you effectively braise a cheap cut of meat - mince - in that sauce.

From there you can master a Sunday roast or gravy because it's the same steps that you take.

Christian's Dish of the Day

Stuck at home and need a recipe that suits some of the beautiful weather we have had in Britain of late?

Christian has you covered with this dish of the day - BBQ steak with a chimichurri sauce, served with roasted rosemary and garlic new potatoes and a feta, watermelon, mint and black olive salad.

For the steak…

For the chimichurri…

For the potatoes…

For the salad…

To serve...

Christian Day was talking to BBC Sport's Jay Freeman.