The kitchen hots up in Celebrity MasterChef

No offence to ITV1’s Cooking with the Stars, which reached its semi-final stage this week, but Britain’s biggest culinary competition for famous faces is back for a new series.

That’s right, Celebrity MasterChef has returned and, as always, an eclectic line-up will be battling it out to impress judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll see (deep breath) Emmerdale’s Amy Walsh, rapper Apl.de.Ap, drag artist Cheryl Hole, TV presenter Dave Benson Phillips, Strictly Come Dancing professional Dianne Buswell, actor and singer Jamelia, musician Locksmith, reality star, Luca Bish, musician Max George, actor Michael Praed, radio broadcaster Remi Burgz, former glamour model Sam Fox, comedian Shazia Mirza, broadcaster Terry Christian and opera singer, broadcaster and insurance ad star Wynne Evans showing off their skills. (Or at least, that’s the idea.)

However, the first batch of celebs to take part in the competition include James Buckley, who is probably still best known as fantasist Jay from The Inbetweeners, and Dani Dyer, the daughter of ex-EastEnders actor Danny who became a celeb in her own right when she won Love Island.

They’re joined by comedian and actor Marcus Brigstocke, TV personality Mica Ven and Radio 2 regular Richie Anderson.

In the opening episode, they each will be faced with a cloche concealing a different ingredient. They will then be given one hour and full access to the MasterChef larder to create a dish that will showcase their ingredient – and prove to Wallace and Torode that they can think on their feet.

Next, they’ll serve up their dinner party dishes – a main course and a dessert they would make to impress a guest. Let’s hope it also wows Torode and Wallace, because at the end of this round, someone will be going home.

The four celebs who do make the grade will return in Thursday’s episode, where they will take on the Pairs Challenge. As the name suggest, this involves being split into two pairs, and it’s designed to test their teamwork and communication, as well as their culinary skills. The cooking couples will have to produce identical versions of the same crowd-pleasing dish, but only one of them will have the instructions, which they will need to share with their partner.

Having hopefully proved they can work as part of a team, it’s then on to a professional kitchen to deal with a busy lunchtime service, before they face the all-new Food Truck Challenge. Each celeb will have to come up with a dish they would serve at their own dream street-food market, and it’s their last chance to impress before someone else is told to hit the road.

So, just three celebs will then remain for Friday’s quarter-final, where the remaining contestants much cook a faultless two-course meal that will not only be judged by Torode and Wallace, but also Celebrity MasterChef Champions Angellica Bell (2017) and Lisa Snowdon (2022), and 2022 finalist Danny Jones.