The volcanic ash cloud that brought travel misery to thousands was relatively kind to Olly Smith. He spent much of his time in the wine bar he’s recently opened on a Mediterranean cruise ship, stranded with fellow passenger Ronnie Corbett, before making his way back to Blighty via Majorca and Barcelona.

“I missed a wedding and everything, but it was such an adventure, and I’ve just got back, and I’m about to get on a train to Glasgow as well,” he says, barely drawing breath.

It’s his deeply contagious gusto that has made the Lewes-based “jolly Olly” one to watch among television types in recent years. He’s perhaps best known as the roving wine expert on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and his encounter with the nation’s favourite dominatrix Anne Robinson (more on this later).

But this could all change now the unashamedly schlocky cult cookery show Iron Chef has reached our screens, with Smith as its frontman.

For the uninitiated, the show – which began in Japan – pits a group of ultra-competitive Iron Chefs against contestants in a “kitchen stadium” set that has more in common with Gladiators than Can’t Cook Won’t Cook or Jamie’s oh-so-rustic kitchen.

“It gets very fierce!” the 35-year-old says, laughing. “You think Wacky Races was tough? This takes it to a whole new level, it’s Dick Dastardly meets WWF wrestling and these people will do anything to win!”

Smith says the show makes no bones about the mile-wide competitive streak in the restaurant industry.

Contestants compete against the crack squad of Iron Chefs to create a dish based on each day’s special ingredient. Food critics then select a winner to go through to the Friday final, where the best of the week’s challengers go head-to-head with the strongest Iron Chef of the week.

“It is absolutely high camp and there’s a pantomime element, but it wouldn’t work unless the quality of the cooking was sky-high and it really mattered to the chefs,” he says.

Smith, who also writes a wine column for the Mail on Sunday from his Lewes office, was captivated by the American and Japanese versions of the show on YouTube, and when a British equivalent was announced, he told his agent he “was born to work on this show”.

After a last-minute invitation to a screen-test, he was given the gig (“I was the happiest man alive”).

His star could be yet further in the ascendant by the end of the month, when his first book is released. Eat And Drink is a recipe book that matches up wines to the dishes, and Smith says his aim is to make the principles of flavour accessible enough that people will take them and run with them (he’s also drawn all the illustrations himself, which he described as “a hoot”), and he believes the perception of wine as an elitist pursuit is breaking down.

“I think the food revolution we’ve had in this country has helped massively. We were laughed at by the Europeans ten or 15 years ago, but we’re ruling the roost these days and the fascination with food and drink has rocketed.

“Most of my mates now will sit down with a glass of wine on a Tuesday night with a bit of shepherd’s pie, no problem at all.”

Born in Darlington, Smith studied at King’s College, Cambridge before working as a screenwriter for children’s programmes such as Charlie And Lola, Pingu and the universally adored Wallace And Gromit. How did he make the move into wine writing?

“I was writing for all these great shows, but wine and food were my real great passions in life. I’d had a job at a wine merchant and gone and done a few qualifications in wine and I just loved the stuff! But I couldn’t find a way to get in front of the cameras and bellow about it.

“Then a competition called Wine Idol came along [on the now re-branded channel UK Food in 2005], which was billed as the TV search for the Jamie Oliver of wine, something like that … and I managed to win it.

“I was really chuffed, but Sophie, my wife, was about to give birth to our first daughter [the couple now have another] and she was so worried, saying ‘You’ve got this great job and a baby coming, don’t throw it all away’. I’m afraid I did take the risk …”

Since Smith embarked on his new career trajectory, plenty of opportunities have come his way, not least a controversial invitation to touch the breasts of Anne Robinson when he appeared on Celebrity Weakest Link.

After describing the presenter as a “full-bodied red”, he was asked if he wanted to find out if she really was, and despite his protestations that his mum would be upset, he gave it a go. The 16 viewers who wrote to the BBC didn’t see the funny side, and the episode caused a media brouhaha here and across the Atlantic that reached Smith when he was filming in South America.

“I was really surprised by it all. My phone kept ringing! First of all it was someone from Australia, then New Zealand, then the Hollywood Reporter. I was amazed, but I think it was taken in good fun for the most part. Anne was obviously not serious about the whole thing, it was just a giggle. When you see ‘wine expert gropes presenter’ in print it looks a bit tawdry, but it was a playful thing.

"And what can I say? Anne Robinson’s got a great rack.”

Thankfully, mum didn’t object.

“I’m a married man with kids, but I was more worried about my mum because she’s of a similar age to Anne, and I was thinking: ‘This is just too weird’, but my mum was actually dead proud – she was like ‘Get in there, son!’.”

Smith and his family have been settled in Lewes for nearly a decade now. His Brighton- born wife Sophie had been events manager at Brighton Festival and the couple loved Lewes. He thinks Harveys is “the drink of the Gods” and keeps his own pigs and livestock with some friends.

“We all came together in a mini co-op and it’s been brilliant. I’ve really enjoyed the experience. The kids are really into helping muck out and making sure the pigs are happy, and I think it’s a good thing to introduce kids to where food comes from like that – especially in an amazing county like Sussex where’s there’s so much great produce.”

The county itself may soon form the backdrop for another Olly Smith enterprise (on top of his recently launched wine bar with P&O Cruises, Iron Chef, and his free email wine updates). A keen musician and proud son of a music teacher, Smith hopes to get a band together to gig around Lewes and Brighton.

“I think it’ll be a mix of covers and originals. I love singing the songs I’ve written about chefs like Keith Floyd and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. Hugh really liked the song I wrote about him – he keeps badgering me to put it on YouTube.”

I lose track of the number of times Smith says “amazing” or “brilliant” in our chat and it’s this intoxicating, scattergun enthusiasm that is earning him a growing fanbase.

It’d be an ungenerous soul indeed who’d begrudge this likeable, clever, rather posh chap his success – he’s like the cat who got the cream.

“I can’t tell you what an amazing time I’m having,” he says – again, slightly breathlessly.

* Iron Chef is on weekdays on Channel 4 from 5pm until May 28.

* Eat And Drink by Olly Smith is published by Headline and will be available from May 20 featuring Olly’s own illustrations.