Rotorua cooks tell 'THE TRAGEDY THAT DRIVES US'

These Cooks On Fire favourites share the family loss motivating them to win the battle of the barbecues

- Cloe Willetts

When Rotorua couple Alia and Shaun Branson heard they'd been accepted to compete in the new reality series Cooks On Fire, they couldn't wait to make their family proud. But there was a special someone who particularly popped to mind.

Shaun's late daughter Alisha was just 15 when she tragically passed away three years ago. Now, as they attempt to grill their way to winning a whopping $30,000 on the barbecue cooking show, the loving parents are using the teen's memory as fuel.

"If I think about how she'd respond to us being on the show, it'd probably be the typical teenage response of embarrassment and excitement," laughs grill guru Shaun, 40, who works in the automotive parts industry. "But she'd be happy we're doing something that makes us happy - she was a meat eater and loved Dad's steaks!"

The couple lost Alisha to suicide just a few months after they married in 2019, leaving an unfillable hole in their family. Shaun still finds it hard to speak about his precious daughter but describes her as a loving big sister to their other children, Oliver, 10, Zoe, eight, and Vincent, six.