Episode 4, Part 2 Celebrity MasterChef

This week's MasterChef heat has seen these four celebrities

taken way out of their comfort zone.

My arm's dropping off!

But look, it's coming.

If they don't like it, I'll stick it in their laps!

Tonight, they face one final challenge,

as they battle for a place in the semifinals.

I'm treating it like a big match, being in MasterChef,

and the next challenge is the next game,

but there are a bit of those pre-match nerves.

It's a little bit frightening now.

I just can't believe I'm still here.

I do hope to get to the semifinals, and if I got through today,

I'd be so happy. I really would.

The more you do, the more you get into it,

and I'm at the stage now where I'm literally waking up

in the middle of the night, wide awake,

going, "Sea bass! Sea bass!"

Good to see you back here in the MasterChef kitchen.

We have invited guests in here today to taste your food,

people that have succeeded in this competition -

Sam Nixon,

Ade Edmondson,

and Phil Vickery.

Two semifinal places up for grabs.

That means at the end of this, two of you are going home.

One hour and 15 minutes, two courses,

four plates of each course.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook!

I don't do, you know,

with trimmings and gooly woolies all over the plate and stuff.

If it looks all right and tastes all right, I'm happy.

Laila, what are your two courses?

Liver and bacon with glazed carrots and mustard mash,

and then I'm doing apple crumble with cinnamon and brown sugar.

-Are you making custard?

-No, and cream.

I can't make custard.

I've never tried, and don't want to when I can get it out of a packet.

But that's not the MasterChef way, is it?

No, but I'm not at the MasterChef thing yet.

I'm just a beginner. I'm a novice.

What about feeding people that have been MasterChef champions?

If it goes right and it's all cooked and it turns out nice,

and they like it, I've done a good thing today.

The liver needs to be crispy on the outside

and a little tiny river of pink through it.

The bacon needs to be crispy.

The gravy needs to be lovely and flavoursome.

The mash needs to be free of lumps and rich with lots of mustard

so it's slightly fiery.

I feel a bit pressured already, now, to be honest!

Yeah, it's definitely coming.

Again, I've just got to try and focus,

block that out, and just hope that mine's good enough.

Amelle, tell us what you're going to cook for us.

I'm cooking us a Halal Thai green chicken curry.

For dessert, I'm doing a mango sorbet-esque dessert

with meringue little pieces in there as well,

so it should be... It should complement the curry, anyway.

How hot do you like your curry?

See, I like mine really hot,

but I'm not going to risk that with you guys.

-Go hot.

-What? Go hot!

-You like it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We like everything hot, me and him.

We're like this. See? It's hot!

I love a Thai green curry. I think it's a great, great thing.

These days, the convenience,

-there's Thai green curry pastes on the shelves.

-That's fine.

However, she can't just rely upon packets to make her way through

to a semifinal place.

I've practised my dish and I'm within seconds.

It's time-critical.

I've got to be right on it.

What are you making for us?

Pan-fried sea bass, with a pine nut and olive vegetable sauce,

with rosemary-sauteed potatoes.

-And your dessert?

-Strawberry shortbread with a vanilla cream,

and a little strawberry coulis.

-You've got three guests in the dining room today.

-Yeah.

And one of those men, Phil Vickery, you know very, very well indeed.

-I do.

-Do you think that after you guys playing together...

It was eight years you played together?

Yeah, about eight years, yeah.

That he is going to have empathy?

No! He knows a good plate when he sees it,

so I'm looking to impress him,

obviously, the other two judges, and yourselves.

In my opinion, Neil has got quite an exciting menu.

My concern for Neil with the strawberry shortbread

is that he's doing three layers and not just two,

and it's going to be this toppling tower

full of strawberries and shortbread.

Well, MasterChef's become huge, actually.

I dream about it. I plot about it.

In my mind, I'm already running scenarios for a future on MasterChef

so I just hope it happens.

Your two courses are going to woo the crowd?

-I hope so.

-What are they?

We're going to have some pan-fried sea bass with some celeriac puree,

and then with some green beans and pancetta,

and then we're going to have a chocolate and hazelnut brownie

with a creme Chantilly.

-Have you given some mind to presentation?

-Well, I have,

but I'm conscious that I am not the Rembrandt of the plate,

putting it mildly.

I'm more like the Jackson Pollock,

but I'll try not to be serving you a plate of Pollocks today.

Very good indeed.

Chocolate brownie, you want a perfect texture -

not too wet, not too dry, almost spongelike.

You're halfway - 30 minutes gone. 30 minutes left on your main course.

OK.

It's lovely to be back, actually,

and it's nice to be back and not feeling nervous.

I specifically remember, for me,

this was a turning point in the competition.

To this day, I always say a Scotch egg saved me, which it really did.

It was ridiculous. It got some incredible comments.

-I don't think he could have made this any better.

-No, I agree.

It was good.

I think the hardest thing for me

were the pressures of timing and delivering.

There is no second chance. It's not, "Oh, wait a minute, it'll be OK."

That's what I struggled with.

Whenever I go anywhere, any kind of restaurant,

I just want to have something really tasty to eat.

I'm not too fussed about beans, sort of, resting in towers,

and, you know, the architecture.

I want something to taste really nice.

What have we got?

HE CHUCKLES

Laila's main - that's a winner for me. I love liver and bacon.

Yes.

Can I make a confession? I've never eaten liver before.

Did you never get it at school?

Never got it at school, no.

Turkey burger, chips and beans.

What is the best way of that being cooked, would you say?

-Very lightly.

-OK.

-Otherwise it turns into a bit of shoe leather.

-Right.

-JOHN:

-I fancy a bit of that liver, I really do.

Nice.

-You're going to pipe the mash on?

-Yes, I am.

You are getting posh!

That's more WestEnders than EastEnders, isn't it, that?

Piped mash.

Right, off we go.

-OK.

-Go on.

-Done.

-Go and get them.

Sorry if it's cold.

You know what it's like.

Thank you.

I've got liver and bacon, with glazed carrots and mustard mash.

Enjoy.

Thank you.

It looks like an empty plate.

If I had ordered mash in a restaurant,

-I'd want a bit more than that.

-LAUGHTER

Oh, dear, and it's very, very overcooked, isn't it?

Is that what liver is meant to taste like?

Sadly, this is why a lot of people don't like liver.

The best bit of food on the plate is the bacon.

-Mmm. Very delicious.

-It is beautiful.

The mash is under-seasoned and doesn't really taste of anything.

But the bacon is tremendous.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It needs more sauce, more mash,

and the liver needs to be cooked just a little bit less.

Well, I made them laugh, if nothing else.

Good. I don't know what you're running for,

you've got 15 minutes on your dessert.

-I know.

-Your crumble's in the oven,

and you've got to pour some cream into some jugs.

Yes, I can do that.

Apple crumble and cream, that's got me every day of the week.

It does seem quite simple, so it is going to have to blow my mind,

I think, for it to be worthy.

And how does a crumble blow anyone's mind?

I've got to say, this is the cleanest bench I have ever seen,

after anyone has cooked, ever. Seriously.

Yeah, well, I'm always like that.

I am a clean and tidy person indoors.

I'm always doing my surfaces.

They go, "Mum, why do you keep doing that?"

I said, "Because you keep dropping things on it!"

-Can I dish this up now?

-By all means.

-OK.

I love a crumble, me.

Well, I've never done one before,

-so I'm hoping this is all right.

-Oh, you're kidding!

-No, I'm not.

Was it because, during the war, they ran out of apples and sugar?

Why are you asking me? I was just born!

See what you have to put up with on this Mastermind?

LAUGHTER

Cut! Cut!

Off you go with your crumble.

-Thanks, Laila.

-Don't mess me about.

-OK. All right.

That end one's yours cos it's a bit burnt on the edges.

All right.

Here we go, seconds up.

Apple crumble and cream.

Plain and simple. I hope you like it.

Thank you.

Well, I'm not sure things have gone well for her.

-That looks a bit burnt, doesn't it?

-Hmm.

It reminds me of my grandmother's cooking -

sugar and fruit and fat

and it's kind of very welcoming in a kind of homely way.

But, I mean, the apples have just disappeared, as well.

There's no texture in the apples at all.

-JOHN:

-I really like it.

It's a sort of cross between an apple strudel

and a toasted hot cross bun.

It's a big thing off your shoulders.

I definitely feel better now.

Yeah, it's done.

-Getting nervous?

-Yeah, I've got a bit of a rush of nerves.

-Oh, my God!

-Why?

I don't know. It's, like, I hope you like it.

Amelle, so, she's doing a halal Thai green curry with rice.

I have to hold my hand up and say I don't really like curry.

I've been on the road too much and I've eaten too many curries,

so it's going to have to be really good.

Getting all those layers of flavouring right,

and also I want the curry to pack a punch.

Well done. Well done.

That looks good.

Right. Ooh.

-Off you go.

-Oh.

Oh, gosh!

-Hello.

-Hello.

There we go.

OK, I've made an halal chicken Thai green curry,

with some jasmine coconut sticky rice.

I've put a little bit of cashew nuts on the side,

so I thought you can choose, yourself.

-Brilliant, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I think it looks very classy, doesn't it?

Very appetising in the way it's presented.

Oh! That's right at the back of the throat!

That is hot!

That's... Ooh, that's a spicy mouthful.

Do you know what? I think that's pretty good.

As a Thai green curry, I'd happily eat that -

I'd happily pay for it.

It's very moreish.

Oo-er, I say, that's spicy.

The chicken, a bit dry, a bit overcooked.

The rice flavoured with coconut is a little bit stodgy.

The sauce is good.

-The sauce is very good.

-Yeah.

-15 minutes and your desserts go, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, perfect.

-Well done.

Oh! That kind of got me a little bit flustered, there.

And Amelle's dessert is mango and cardamom syllabub.

It sounds delicious, actually.

After you've had a curry,

for a dessert, you want something that refreshes your mouth,

and straightaway, mango, hopefully that'll do it.

I've made a massive mistake.

Huge. Basically, I've mixed it all together.

It was supposed to be mango, and then that mixture.

AMELLE LAUGHS

This is going to be the sweetest thing known to man.

-Are you all ready to go, Amelle?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

-Hiya.

-Hi.

Thank you.

So, it was supposed to be a mango syllabub,

but I've kind of mixed them together, so now you've got...

a milkshake.

So, I hope you like it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

It's a little bit bitty.

It's a shame it's not a bit smoother.

I love the flavours of it, but, for me, it's too sweet.

It tastes like a mango and lime custard.

It's very drinkable.

HE SLURPS

It's mango-flavoured cream.

I mean, that's what it is.

Yeah, I'm proud of what I've done today, apart from the dessert.

It was a sinking ship, but she sank looking good, you know?

Right, what's left to do, Neil?

Just cook the fish, and then dress the plates, ready to serve up.

Go for it.

Pan-fried sea bass, with olives and pine nuts, with a veggie sauce.

Veggie sauce is very noncommittal,

so I hope there's a little bit of a punch there.

I worry that there's not going to be much on the plate.

-Are you hungry?

-Massively.

Nice-looking piece of fish. Oh, careful, don't break it up.

-You're two minutes over.

-Extra time.

No, two minutes over.

Looking good, Neil. Nice and shiny.

-There you go.

-All right, great.

Let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go.

- Good day, gentlemen. - Hey-ho.

You've got a pan-fried sea bass,

with a pine nut and green olive vegetable sauce

on sauteed rosemary potatoes.

Enjoy it, guys.

-Cheers, mate.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

It's better than I thought it might look, to be honest.

-And there's some potatoes, which is nice.

-Hooray!

Wahey!

I like this. It smells good, as well.

I quite like it. I like that whole Mediterranean thing with fish,

I think it's really, really nice.

I think the ratatouille...

nice acidity coming from the cherry tomatoes,

and the real winner for me is just the celery,

that lovely bit of crunch and texture against the fish,

which is cooked well.

He seasoned the potatoes really well.

I love the fish. Crispy skin and soft fish - that's great.

15 minutes until your shortbread and strawberries.

-What, now?

-15.

15.

Strawberry, vanilla, shortbread, it all goes together.

Very simple,

but, knowing Neil, he's a very simple fellow, so...

You seem to have a love affair with strawberries, Neil.

I love them.

-Done?

-Done.

Good job.

-I hope you enjoyed that, fellas.

-We did.

Strawberry, vanilla, shortbread.

LAUGHTER

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

-Cheers. Enjoy.

My only worry with it is

there's not much cream there to counterbalance the shortbread,

so if that's not a melt-in-the-mouth shortbread,

it might get clag-mouth city.

I think it's not sweet enough.

I actually quite like the dessert.

I do think it's lacking a little bit of sweetness. I agree with Ade.

I'm not that fussed about the dessert,

but I'll let that go, cos I think he's got heart, and I like that.

It's got a nice toasty, oaty crunch to that biscuit.

The cream isn't over-sweetened.

That's quite refreshing with strawberry.

I want more coulis, I want more strawberries,

and I want more cream if I'm going to have that much biscuit.

I'm happy that it's done and I got the plates out.

That was the quickest hour and 15 minutes of my life.

Richard's pan-fried sea bass,

with celeriac puree, green beans and pancetta,

which sounds rather nice.

When you get that salty pancetta with a nice bit of well-cooked fish,

I think that's nice.

-Very pretty.

-For me, it's good.

-What's that, a butter sauce?

-Butter and lemon.

I'll tell you what, mate, that is a step in the right direction.

It's the prettiest dish I have ever made.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Well done. Off you go.

-Hello.

-Hi. Hello.

-Good afternoon.

-Thank you very much.

There you go.

Pan-fried sea bass with a celeriac puree,

and then a bundle of green beans in a girdle of pancetta.

- A girdle? - I just made that up.

-I like it.

-What do we have here?

You have a little puddle of lemony, buttery niceness.

-Lemony, buttery niceness.

-Yeah. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

That celeriac is really smooth and the fish is cooked well.

The beans look a bit sorry for themselves,

but it's all nicely cooked,

but it's not blowing me away.

It's nice, but just could have been that bit better, for me.

The lemony sauce is the best thing there.

What I really like is when that lemon in the butter

and the celeriac come together to make

a really lovely, sharp, creamy puree.

It's very, very good cooking.

It's very well done.

All right, 15 minutes until the brownie.

It's going to happen.

Good lad. Well done.

Richard's dessert is definitely my favourite thing on the menu.

Hazelnut and chocolate, you know, it's an awesome combination,

but if you overcook a brownie, it's just a crumbly mess

and not very nice to eat.

Are you happy?

Erm...not entirely.

-Well, let's go.

-Yeah.

-Gentlemen.

-Thank you very much.

You have a deconstructed brownie with a creme Chantilly.

How's it deconstructed? It looks like a...

A very careful use of the temperature in the oven to

ensure that you get a lovely, molten middle.

Do you mean undercooked?

No.

No, not undercooked at all, that would be quite wrong.

-All right. OK.

-It's given an opportunity to deconstruct.

Bon appetit.

Thank you.

I'm looking forward to that because I love soggy.

It's good. It's delicious.

It looks lovely.

It's a triumph.

I love a brownie to be soft and slightly undercooked like that.

I'd sooner have it that way than overcooked.

It's a bit salty, and that whole salty, sweet thing,

which is amazing.

I think that, by far, is the best dessert I've eaten today.

I like the orange across the vanilla-rich cream,

with that rich dark chocolate,

and the bits around the outside of that brownie are great

cos they're cooked.

The inside is not cooked properly.

I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was great to be in the kitchen

and, kind of, know what I was doing.

I, kind of, cooked through the chaos,

and that was OK, and I think it went all right.

I think this is really, really close and really hard to call.

There were bits of the cooking from all four of them that I admired.

Laila's stuck to her guns, and she's an old-fashioned cook.

I really admire her courage and convictions.

Unfortunately, the liver was overcooked.

The crumble, I thought was very, very good indeed.

As concepts go, Amelle's menus was great.

The sauce of the curry was really, really lovely.

That dessert wasn't difficult, to start off with, and that went wrong.

We ended up with a drink.

Neil's main course, his fish, was cooked really well.

Neil's dessert, I liked the flavour of.

I liked the shortbread with the strawberries and the cream.

However, I think it could have been a little more refined.

I think Richard's fish was cooked really, really well,

and with the mixture of lemon juice and butter, it was really lovely.

Beans and bacon - great combination.

Richard's brownie - good idea.

It was a little soggy in the middle, but the guests enjoyed it.

I've given it my best shot, actually.

I think I did as good a job as I can,

and they'll have to judge me on that.

The competition is very strong, so if they've excelled,

then they could nudge me out.

It would be nice to get to the semis.

I'd like that. I'd feel very proud of myself.

You can either do your best or nothing at all,

so I've done my best.

Who knows? It's just... You know?

I've got a fairly good idea who is equipped for the later stages of

MasterChef and who isn't.

And I think we agree upon who they are.

Thanks, all four of you.

It has been really fun.

You have worked really hard,

but we only have two semifinal places.

Not an easy one, this, to judge - not at all.

Our first semifinalist...

..is Richard. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

-Well done.

-Well done.

Our second semifinalist...

..is Neil.

Thank you.

Congratulations. Oh, very happy people, you.

-LAILA:

-Good, good. I told you, didn't I? Good, good.

Laila, Amelle, thank you so very much for all your hard work.

-It's been great. Thanks a lot.

-Thanks.

-AMELLE:

-It's been a great experience.

I've learnt a lot and been put through some serious paces.

Yeah, a great experience, above all.

What is it they say, you can't make an old dog do new tricks,

or something like that? You know, I'm too old to do all that stuff,

but I've enjoyed it.

I can't be doing fancy - I'll stick with what I know.

-Semifinalists.

-Very, very well done, gentlemen.

I am stoked, I really am genuinely stoked that I'm through to

the semifinal, but semifinals mean nothing.

It's about getting to the final and winning.

Thankfully, I'm through to live another day.

My mum, when I told her I was doing the show - I know I'm not meant to

but I wouldn't dare keep a secret from her - she said,

with her customary good cheer, "You'll be out in the first round,"

so I'm delighted to be in the semifinal.

Next week, five new celebrities take on the challenge.

I've gone totally blank.

I say adventurous - Gregg and John will probably say mad.

Ah!

It's, kind of, really intense.

I need a holiday.

I've got to say, I think that's outstanding.