RIBBLE Valley restaurant owner Stosie Madi impressed TV chef Gordon Ramsay so much she has been invited to work at his restaurant on her days off.

The 35-year-old, who owns Weezos Restaurant, Clitheroe, was one of 12 trainees chosen to work with Gordon from an initial 1,000 who auditioned for his show The F Word.

She appeared on the programme head to head with another trainee in a bid to win a month's internship at Gordon's Claridges Restaurant in London.

Stosie was sent home on last week's show but has been invited to return as a guest chef at the restaurant when her restaurant is closed on Mondays.

She said: "I am very excited. Hopefully it will become a regular thing. I think they thought I wouldn't get anything out of the show because I had more experience than the other trainees and they wanted a new young face to train up.

"It's good to have a chance to go to Claridges and have a firsthand look at it as a chef. "

Stosie had previously shattered the outspoken, sexist image of TV chef Gordon Ramsay by describing him as a "nurturing, extremely caring, non-sexist" man.

She said the show was a personal challenge and had helped her get an insight into how the young chefs at her own restaurant felt.

Stosie was a successful restaurateur in her native Gambia when she decided to open her Clitheroe restaurant last October and her cooking is heavily French influenced.

A spokesman for Gordon Ramsay's production company confirmed Stosie had been invited back to the restaurant.