What I’ve learned from doing this show is that you can give big on many, many levels. It’s not all about money. Cash has its place and can be incredibly helpful but smaller things like a little pat on the back or giving flowers to strangers also have their magic. Good things can come from these little gestures, and we saw in tonight's episode how even the smallest thing, like paying for the person’s toll in the car behind you, can have a domino effect. There’s something so lovely about giving to someone else instead of only looking after yourself. In both England and America we work a lot and have seen our towns and villages grow much bigger. I think people have sort of lost that sense of neighbourhood and security which translates into the desire to go and do something nice for a stranger. People are busy, working hard and dealing with responsibilities like mortgages and kids. Life moves so fast and we are a bit obsessed with getting what we think is important done. If this show can inspire people to take a little more time out for other people – and pass it on by doing simple things for each other, then I think that will be a great start. Oprah's Big Give inspired me to look at life differently… and I really mean that. It’s a show that makes you stop and think about your neighbours, members of your family who you haven’t called in a while, people who have been good to you in the past or even just total strangers. So, if you too can get into the whole spirit of the show, it can actually change the way that you look at daily life. It’s about having your “Big Give Radar” on – once it’s on, you start to notice things and see opportunities and then you’ll be empowered to go and do something positive for someone else. But who are we kidding – this is a competition and even amongst the most incredibly giving there's likely to be some conflict. In the next episode, the tensions mount so high that one giver actually considers leaving the show. It's really juicy stuff – you definitely won't want to miss it.

In my line of work, I've been lucky enough to cook and work with some of the most inspiring people in the world. Sometimes, those situations don't live up to how you dreamed they would be. But other times, when you meet people like Andre Agassi or Tony Hawk, who are socially intelligent individuals, it's great. Watching these guys in action and seeing how they really listen to people and are not patronising in any way is wonderful. They are both incredibly inspiring and I was really honoured to be at those two events with them.

As far as the elimination goes, I love Carlana and think everyone in America probably does too. But both she and Rachael are strong, intelligent women who can, at times, be so focused on their personal goals that they don't open themselves up to other people's ideas. When you put the two together, then mix in time pressures and issues over whose voice is being heard, you start to create a cocktail which ends up breaking down the team.

So even though both women are big givers and great people, Carlana was not letting her issues with Rachael lie during this challenge. I think there are points in life where - for the sake of the team - you've just got to move on and not shout and scream about things. It was unfortunate that Carlana was let go because I think that had she grasped that lesson a bit earlier, she would have gotten into the pace of the whole show and may well have been there in the last week.

I'm so excited to be involved with "Oprah's Big Give". I’ve been making my own TV programmes for years and seeing how Oprah and her company, Harpo, work on their shows has been totally fascinating for me. The show they’ve made is absolutely brilliant—it's a reality TV show with heart. It isn’t horrible and negative like so much of what you see these days. It celebrates the best of human nature.

In a weird way, I think a lot of the stuff I’ve been involved with over the last five years prepared me for being a judge on this show. Back in the UK, one of my biggest projects has been setting up the Fifteen Foundation, which trains young, disadvantaged people for careers in the restaurant industry. Another major project has been my School Dinners campaign, which is basically about getting kids away from rubbish junk food and getting better, healthier food into them. Both experiences have been brilliant and having them behind me made me feel I’d be okay to do this job.

When I first showed up for filming, there were so many different characters from all over the country with totally different personalities. They could hardly contain themselves when they met Oprah, which was a complete surprise for them, so there was all this fantastic energy and excitement flying around. That sort of thing made it really hard for me to get a clear read on any of the contestants. Let’s just put it this way—on first impressions—the people that I would have picked as having a chance at winning usually didn’t make it as far as I would have thought (but I don’t want to give too much away).

In last night’s show, I paid a visit to Sheg and Carlana, who were definitely having a bit of trouble. When I gave them my advice, I told Sheg that he wasn’t being heard and he had to speak up more. Carlana is a wonderful and inspirational woman, but it was a team operation and there were lots of things that weren’t quite right with what they did.

I suppose I feel they missed the point. The fashion show didn’t seem to have too much to do with Eric's debt. And on top of that, the team just didn’t bond very well. But lucky for them, in the end they didn’t have the poorest performance…Marlene did.

Now Marlene is a dear and a sweetheart. Obviously her personal history shows that she’s a big giver and a person with a big heart. But, the whole point of this show is that the contestants prove they can roll their sleeves up, get stuck in and properly get to the heart of a situation. They have to find out what’s really needed and let their actions speak louder than words.

Unfortunately for Marlene, in that first week it just seemed that the other candidates were more emotionally connected to the people in need than she was, so we had to say, "Sorry darling, you’re out."