Hayden Quinn perfectly times move from kitchen to dance floor

Hayden Quinn steps out of his comfort zone, moving from the kitchen to the dance floor, and it seems his timing is perfect.

Hayden Quinn has surfed countless waves over the years, and not only at his favourite northern beaches break, but metaphorically too.

After school he was working as a professional lifeguard, travelling and working overseas, with a passion for marine biology and potential drive to become a firefighter.

Then MasterChef came along, and the world of TV.

Today, the newlywed speaks to Insider with his dancing shoes on. Well, almost – the Dancing With the Stars contestant has swapped them to walk his rescue puppy – a kelpie-cross sausage dog – along the beaches he loves.

“It was incredible experience,” he says of training for the Seven show.

“And, my gosh, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

Lily Cornish and Hayden Quinn team up on Dancing With The Stars. Picture: Stu Bryce/Channel 7

“Physically I was pretty good but, mentally, it was just so challenging.

“The number of hours that we had to do, the amount of work we put in, the memory, the choreography – I just honestly came away from it with such an appreciation for what the professionals do and how much time and effort that they put into the whole art form.”

Hayden Quinn said “it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be”. Picture: Stu Bryce/Channel 7

Quinn joins this year’s Dancing With The Stars ranks alongside the likes of Nadia Bartel, Julie Goodwin, Ant Middleton and Ben Cousins. It was a great crowd, he says, and the group bonded over the experience.

“It’s not like learning to cook, which everyone does, or learning to be a swimmer, or do some mountain hiking, or everyone can sit in a jungle and starve themselves – but learning dancing is actually skilful,” he laughs.

“It was a time commitment, away from my wife, stopping other work – so it was definitely a big decision, but one I’m glad that I made.

“But it was scary. I love learning new things, I’m always keen to give something a go, but I think what really scared me was not only like the skill side of it, but the performance and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in front of a live audience, for very credible judges,” he explains.

“But we had such a good group of guys and girls, and such a spread of different Australians from different industries and backgrounds.

“It was ... it was such a friendly environment though.

“We’d heard in the past that some celebrities have been pretty competitive and full-on and intense, whereas I felt like we all got along so well, and we spent a lot of time together on record days, and all the lads ... it was just like pub banter in the change rooms”

Hayden Quinn and wife Jax Raynor at Turimetta Beach. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Quinn married his long-term partner, American Jax Raynor, in October last year, and often travels for his show, Taste of Australia. He says there’s something about looking out at the ocean off Manly and its surrounds – not only nostalgic of his northern beaches childhood, but also the perfect homecoming, every time.

“Food was always in my life and in my family, and very much a part of my story … and the MasterChef came along,” he says.

“I was very lucky. My mum, when we were quite young, was actually a home economist and she taught cookery at TAFE. Mum was doing the stuff that these celebrity chefs do, before there was such thing as a celebrity chef.

“I learned so much from her, and we always had great meals on the table.

Hayden Quinn learned so much about cooking from his mother, who “was doing the stuff that these celebrity chefs do, before there was such thing as a celebrity chef”. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“We always sat around the dinner table, and whether it was laughing or crying or screaming or shouting, it was always a family moment sharing that time together.

“So it was, for me, that’s what food has always been about.

“But it’s been a lot of hard work to push … and get to where we are today.

“And my big passion, and what I’m most excited about, is our TV show Taste of Australia because we get to hero the Australian farmer – they’re the bread and butter of what keeps this country ticking along, so I’m really proud of what we do there and what we can showcase and, and that’s sort of something that took probably 10 years for it to even come to fruition.”

Life is a beach, yes. But life is busy. In a good way.

“So Taste of Australia is into our seventh season filming, and that’s a big part of my year,” he says. “We also have a film photography studio that we own where we do a lot of our cooking and food production, and also rent out for day hire, and that’s called Studio Maybe.

“Then I have a gym that I own, The Cube Gym, with two really good mates in Brookvale which is 10 years old this year. We’ve got 400 members, 150 sqm of space, we do 80-plus classes a week … it’s a massive business actually. I’m proud of that.

“To be honest, I probably should reflect a little bit more on everything.

“I feel like life moves very, very fast and, when the opportunities are there, you’ve got to take them.

“But if you’d asked a 20-year-old Hayden what he was going to be doing, it was probably not this,” he laughs. “When you’re trying to break through (the media landscape) it’s a bit of a roller coaster.

“Thinking back to 2011, I’m so grateful for the MasterChef opportunity and where that’s taken me and where we’ve ended up.

“It’s all blossomed from there, that’s for sure.”

Dancing With The Stars premieres at 7pm tonight on Channel 7 and 7plus