Episode 11 Celebrity MasterChef

It's the Celebrity MasterChef finals,

and only the best four cooks remain.

Never in my wildest dreams

did I think I would be down to the last four.

Brilliant.

I've started a kitchen on fire,

I've done everything wrong

and somehow, it turns out good!

I would be really disappointed to not get to the last three.

But any mistake now means that you're out of the race.

I would love to stay to the very end.

I do think I've got what it takes.

So, bring it on.

Now they face their most demanding challenges so far.

There's no place, really, in civilised society, for cold soup.

Yeah!

I think we've found four incredible cooks,

four great people with real talent.

Now it's finals week, we turn up the heat,

we want to find our final three.

It's time for business.

Covered tops, that's what I like.

Oh, no. No, no, no.

HE WHISTLES

This is one of John's creations, isn't it?

Welcome to the start of finals week.

You four have done extremely well to get here.

We are now going to hit you with two very, very challenging tests.

We need to find our final three.

This is a palate and skills test.

Throughout the competition, you've cooked for us.

Well, today, I've cooked for you.

You now have ten minutes to taste that dish.

We want you to write down what you think went in to make that dish.

Thank you.

Mmm. Mmm, that's so good.

John has cooked the celebrities Korean fried chicken

with a pickled vegetable Asian salad.

They must now identify the ingredients

before they have to cook it themselves.

There's a lot of ingredients here. I mean, as a palate test,

to identify this many is very challenging.

Show us what's in the dish.

The key to getting the dish right is the crispy chicken coating,

which is made from two separate mixtures.

A dry mix - flour, paprika, white pepper and celery salt,

with a little bit of sugar -

and a wet mix made up of milk, egg,

buttermilk and my secret ingredient, cream of chicken soup.

You're adding chicken to chicken to make it taste more like chicken.

That's frightfully tricky, old chap.

See, the chicken, now, is all coated in our flour mixture.

-I see.

-In.

So now I've got my wet mixture and my dry mixture

on the outside of my chicken.

-Back into the dry.

-We would get a crispy chicken of sorts

if we made a flavoured batter and dipped the chicken in,

we would still get a crispy chicken.

Yes.

Now, you see, it's all crinkly,

because it's bits of flour and it's bits of batter all mixed together.

So, no breadcrumbs.

Frying tonight!

The chicken needs to cook for about eight to ten minutes.

The crispy fried chicken is served with a special spicy sauce.

Good blob of this stuff, gochujang, which is a classic Korean condiment.

Taste that.

Oh, word. It looks like tomato puree - it's anything but.

-Yeah.

-That's salty. And hot.

Rice wine vinegar, sesame oil,

brown sugar, ginger,

garlic and water also go into the sauce.

The consistency I would like

is so it coats the back of the spoon properly.

The metal doesn't show through.

Served alongside the chicken

is pickled radishes, carrots and cucumber,

combined with a chilli, bean sprout and herb salad.

What interests me is how many of these ingredients

they'll actually be able to see, and how many of them

they're going to have to just rely on their taste buds.

And finished with a rice wine vinegar dressing.

Mmm.

What comes out of here more than anything, of course,

-is the mint and the Thai basil.

-Yes.

Because of the two different coatings under that chicken,

that chicken will stay crispy.

Sprinkle it with sesame seeds.

Wow.

Some deep-fried garlic and chilli across the top.

So, there you have it, my Korean fried chicken with an Asian salad.

They've got to identify the pickling liquor for the veg,

the dressing for the salad,

the sauce for the chicken AND what've you coated the chicken in.

-Yeah.

-Crying out loud!

All of them have shown good amounts of skill,

so I think they're going to be able to do this.

There's so many ingredients, even in the salad,

so you've got to sort of pick through it.

Work out which vegetables he's pickled,

which I think are only three, as far as I can work out.

The chicken is absolutely delicious, it's hugely spicy,

which is good, because I'm known for kind of, like,

slipping with the cayenne pepper.

I'm trying to work out this sauce.

Quite a bit of chilli.

Very spicy.

This is like Asian fried chicken.

It's really good, and it has a kick.

I don't know what that is,

but it kind of tastes like a curry powder, you know?

I can identify pretty much... most of it.

If I'm asked to recreate that,

I think I can pretty much handle the salad,

but when it comes to deep frying that chicken

and making the coating sauce, I think I'll be in real trouble.

It's totally not my area of expertise.

Right, you've tasted it,

you've written down what you think has gone into that dish

Now, what we want you to do, and I'm sure you've guessed it,

we want you to make John's dish.

Under that cloth are some ingredients

that went into making John's dish.

Be careful - there are also ingredients that didn't.

Oh, man!

Have a look at the ingredients.

Ta-da!

Hmm.

-Interesting.

-One hour and 15 minutes.

Off you go.

I wouldn't even know where to start.

To help the celebrities,

the ingredients have been split into trays for each element...

..including a tray each for the dry and wet coatings

and one for the sauce.

Looking at the sparseness of Alexis' list of ingredients,

this isn't good.

I think I've got a good palate with the tastes that I know.

I can use the tastes that I'm very familiar with

and create a good dish,

but what I think I should be doing more of

is bringing in tastes that I'm less familiar with, let's say.

It's not a million miles away.

Alexis, what do you think of this task?

-You don't look particularly happy, to be honest.

-Absolute nightmare.

Worst case scenario for me.

I do not cook Asian foods at home, at all.

Plus, I've never, ever deep-fried anything in my life.

-Oh, dear.

-Yes, "Oh, dear" was the first thing that went into my head.

You're in a bit of a pickle, old son.

-Huge, yeah.

-So, where do you start?

Well, I started with the salad, because that was the easy part.

Because you can identify that. The biggest prob...

I think I may have got the wet sauce for the chicken OK, close to.

It's just the process of deep-frying a chicken,

I just don't know what to do.

So, I'm going to go for

putting the chicken in a bit of buttermilk and egg

and then putting it in the flour.

OK, fine.

I couldn't say! I can't give you any tips on that.

Alexis' chicken looks pretty decent to me.

It's got a nice, thick batter on it and it actually looks OK.

I think what I've learned over this competition

is that I like really spicy food.

I love chillies, I was born in Hong Kong,

so maybe it goes back all those years

to when I probably tasted things when I was tiny.

Louise has done pretty well in the stuff she can see.

Hasn't done that well in the things that require your taste buds.

Interesting, sweet and sour sauce.

Actually, it could be like a sweet and sour.

Shake and bake.

Who knows?

Did you enjoy the ingredients you tasted?

I absolutely love them,

and I particularly love the salad, as well,

so I've got to work out what's in the dressing.

It's like a sweet, it's sweet and sour, isn't it?

-Two things going on here.

-And you identified the breadcrumbs

on John's dish, did you?

I'm not 100% convinced there were breadcrumbs on that dish,

cos it was sort of... They seemed to be very smooth,

but panko breadcrumbs, I think, can go like that.

How have you stuck the breadcrumbs to the chicken?

First of all, I rolled them in the flour with the spices,

coated it in the egg and then into the breadcrumbs.

And then you rolled it in the panko.

And I shook it in a bag, because Jimmy said to do that.

Jimmy told you to shake it in a bag, so you shook it in a bag.

-And it seemed...

-Don't blame me!

Do you know, if Jimmy told me to shake it in a bag,

I'd probably shake it in a bag.

Louise's chicken, it's not fried chicken as we know it,

it's crumbed chicken -

and the problem is, that won't take up the sauce.

That crumble will just go really soggy when you put the sauce on.

45 minutes left.

45 minutes.

HE LAUGHS

Jimmy seems very comfortable with this.

The man's from the United States, the home of fried chicken.

What it's going to be about is really the flavour

that goes in the salad for the dressing

and whether we actually get the chicken crispy.

If I were to describe my cookery skills

when I came into this competition, it was mayhem,

but now I'm more focused.

-Jimmy, what are you doing?!

-I have no idea.

What are you going to do with that chicken now?

-I'm going to bake it.

-Ah!

I think it is a combination of deep-fried crisp

and then put it in... bake on this sauce, that's my guess.

What do you think of this challenge?

Love it. It's like playing a cool game, you know what I mean?

And you're racing against your friends, and it's fun, it's awesome.

I don't suppose you ever expected to be in the finals?

-I SO didn't expect it!

-THEY LAUGH

-Can you win it, Jimmy?

-I can get close.

I'm getting more dangerous every day!

HE LAUGHS

Jimmy has fried the chicken and then he's put the coating on

and now he's sticking it in the oven, that's the way he does it.

That's fine, let's see how that turns out.

I hope that's right.

30 minutes left.

I've got a great sense of smell and I've got a good sense of taste,

I think.

What I need to work on now

is...to keep my cool - and presentation.

Look at all the things he's written down.

That's the busiest bit of paper by far.

We've seen Sid do Asian flavours before,

he understands the balance of sweet, sour, salty and hot.

It will be the cooking of the chicken,

that will be the thing for Sid.

You look more comfortable than I've seen you in a few rounds, actually.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

-Are you happy?

-I'm very happy, yes.

-You are, aren't you?

Yeah. I love these flavours.

I mean, that sauce is, you know, that's unbelievable,

I love the sauce that goes on top.

You've never seen this dish before, where do you start?

I've sort of... Getting the general gist,

and I'm sort of just making it up.

Right, right, OK.

But hopefully it will be exactly the same.

So, what have you used to fry your chicken?

Just egg, and I used the soup.

-Right.

-Because I get that the coating on that chicken

was almost like a...

you know, thicker than an egg, so it had to be something else.

-Let's hope you're right and John doesn't end up laughing at you.

-OK.

He's working it out, and he's working it out very cleverly.

The thing is, he hasn't cut his chicken in any pieces at all.

I just hope that chicken has been cooked

all the way through to the bone.

Last five minutes, guys.

Last five minutes.

Final 60 seconds.

That's it. Time's up.

-LOUISE:

-What did you make yours with, then?

-So, buttermilk,

which I now have a sneaky suspicion was chicken soup,

I think he put it into the chicken soup.

Yes, I thought, yes...

-SID:

-I used chicken soup.

-Did you?

-Not egg.

-I didn't know that...

How did you all know the chicken soup thing?

Is this a trick I don't know about?

Did you put chicken soup in?

-I didn't, I was thinking about it, but I thought...

-I put a bit in.

The celebrities' first test of the finals

has been to recreate John's Korean fried chicken.

First up is Louise.

You've breadcrumbed your chicken.

Because that's the only way I know to make it vaguely like that.

I knew that there was something wrong with that,

but I just couldn't think my way out of the box.

Have I out-hotted John Torode?

SHE LAUGHS

-It's the vinegar in the dressing.

-Oh, OK.

Your chicken is lovely and moist,

and I like the heat of that sauce across the top.

The thing is, because it's breadcrumbed,

the skin has stayed a bit fatty.

Your salad. Pickled vegetables, I really like,

all the herbs, I really like,

but, for me, there's too much vinegar.

The balance of vinegar and oil is just not there, it's not right.

Cooking-wise, and assembly-wise, very good.

Your flavours aren't quite the same as John's.

The biggest issue there, for me, is the skin isn't crispy.

I should not have put it in the oven.

If I did it again, I would - obviously, now know -

but thank goodness it was not raw chicken,

and they seemed sort of mediocre-ly pleased,

if that's even a word.

You've got a really good palate, Alexis.

You really do, I don't know how you've done it.

Somehow you've got something which resembles what it should do.

I like the fact you fried your chicken and coated the sauce

afterwards, which was really good.

I think your salad's great,

there's loads of mint and coriander in there.

The thing is, your chicken

could probably do with just a little bit more cooking.

Yeah. I was worried about burning the outside,

-and just found it hard.

-You've got a crispy coating on there,

you've almost got the flavour that John's got,

but you're missing chilli heat on your chicken.

However, that's not bad, Alexis.

You know, I feared for you, mate, because you didn't look comfortable.

Yeah. Yeah, I was panicking, yeah.

That was possibly the toughest challenge we've had so far.

Dealing with the Asian flavours, plus the deep frying of the chicken,

for that to have been my first attempt and John and Gregg saying,

you know, I was all right, "You did a good job",

I'm really thrilled with that,

because that could've been a complete and utter disaster.

I think I might have got away with that.

-Not so bad.

-Huh?

-Not so bad.

How did you go, Jimmy?

I made some mistakes and I'd like to do it over again, please!

HE LAUGHS

The outside of the chicken, rather than being spicy Korean,

is more like toffee popcorn fried chicken.

It's quite sweet.

-Really?

-It's too sweet for me.

-OK.

Because the sweetness, it gives you a sort of false sense of security

and then the chilli hits the back of your throat.

-It's a double punch!

-HE LAUGHS

Yeah, it's a double punch, all right.

You think you're safe and then you get "Jimmied".

-Yeah.

-Your salad is very, very sharp with vinegar.

I really like the crunchy vegetables going all the way through

and there's lots of herbs, you've got mint,

you've got Thai basil and you've got the coriander, which is great.

You've even got a little bit of chilli running through it.

But sweet chicken.

-Wow.

-Did you put a little bit of honey on the...?

What's made your chicken so sweet?

You know, I can't remember,

but I don't think I put any, any sugar in it.

What's that big jar of brown sugar half empty for, Jimmy?

I must've had a brain burp and threw some in there.

I don't know.

I didn't make the chicken as crispy as it should've been

because I knew better than that, I've made fried chicken.

Tasted all right, but it didn't taste like John's.

I got through it, anyway.

-It was sweet and then it...pow!

-Did it really?

Oh, my gosh.

-Wow.

-Oh.

You used chicken soup in your batter.

-Yeah.

-How did you work that one out?

I kept sort of looking at your chicken

and I saw a little sort of coating of what seemed like egg

or, I don't know, it just seemed different, thicker, so...

I think you got closer in your method to John than anybody else.

Well done.

You've got a really good palate, Sid. Like, a really good palate.

Little bits and pieces on here are absolutely spot-on.

You've got the heat of the chilli, a little sweetness from the sugar,

you've got the saltiness of soy all running through it

with the sesame seeds.

But, for me, the chicken's just a bit over.

Cos they've been cut into small pieces,

and it's been deep-fried first

and then it's been baked in the oven with the sauce,

it's started to dry out a little bit.

I like the dressing on your salad.

I'm picking up a little bit of peanut oil,

I'm picking up a little bit of sesame in there, as well.

You've got the pickling of the vegetables absolutely right.

I think you got pretty close, pretty close to John.

Well done.

Obviously, it's difficult to get it completely bang-on, you know,

without a recipe.

But I think, overall,

they said that my flavours and the dish was pretty close to John's,

so I'm happy with that.

Let me tell you, that was a really complicated, lengthy dish

using many, many ingredients and you have amazed me.

However, we need to warn you,

what comes up next is really, really tough.

Thank you very much indeed. See you soon.

-You're impressed.

-I am impressed, yeah.

I never thought they'd be able to recreate your dish,

but actually, they came pretty close, all four of them.

Demonstrates today how much talent these four have got.

Yeah. These four have got really good palates.

-Sure.

-And the thing is, they did take the time to analyse the dish,

to pull it apart and then recreate and try and build it.

Great round. Our four continue to move on,

but this next round is frightening.

Our celebs are going to have to cook

for four respected restaurant critics.

This is a very big deal,

because they are cooking for a place in the final three.

It's day two, and the last chance for Sid, Alexis, Louise and Jimmy

to prove they have what it takes to make the final three.

-ALEXIS:

-My heart is just going at a million miles an hour.

Adrenaline's kicking in.

-SID:

-I've got to impress, I've got to pull out all the stops.

-LOUISE:

-I'm really pushing myself today

because I think that's the only way

I could possibly make it into the finals.

-JIMMY:

-If I were in the final three,

I'm going to quit show business

and go into restauranteuring and being a chef.

Welcome back to the second challenge of finals week.

Today's critics day.

You have a really tough gig today - two courses in an hour and a half.

Your first course in one hour and ten minutes.

20 minutes later, your second course.

At the end of this,

there will be three finalists.

Let's cook.

I have to say, we have four incredible cooks.

Louise is back to form.

When her food is good, it's shiny, it's smart,

it tastes really good and that's what she's got to do today.

I think I'm going to approach this in the way that I do my job -

6.5 million people watch Breakfast every day.

I never think about that.

I just think about the one person that's watching

and that's what I focus on. One person.

Not four really scary, critical critics.

Cos if I think about that, that will throw me.

Smells good.

-Two courses...

-Yes.

-..to try and fight your way through.

-Yep.

-What are your two courses?

My two courses, my first course is a lobster tail laksa,

which I've made specially for you.

And then a passion fruit and white chocolate cheesecake.

Is a cheesecake sexy enough?

Oh, it's going to be so sexy!

The chocolate and the cheese mixed together

are actually really delicious,

and then the zingy top to it,

which is going to be, like, a jellied top, as well.

And what would a place in the final three mean to you?

I might faint. I would be over the moon,

delighted and all the rest of it, and really excited, actually.

Louise's cheesecake is a set cheesecake,

it's not a baked cheesecake.

I think doing a good cheesecake in the amount of time -

she's got to make sure every single part of that

is set properly - is a tough job.

Alexis does flavour.

You could have that as a banner over Alexis's bench

because he really does conjure up

some of the most amazingly beautiful-tasting plates.

I am sleeping, eating, drinking, thinking only about food.

My wife talks to me about things

that need to be done around the house.

She can see that I'm going, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Do you think tomatoes will go with beetroot?"

What are your two courses?

So, the first course is pan-fried cod

served on a bed of girolle mushrooms and spring onions,

with a butter and sherry sauce.

-Wow!

-First of all, I wanted to show that I can do something different

and that I'm not constantly cooking you aubergines and Greek stuff.

-You're not going to do something Greek?

-Well...

The dessert is Greek, the dessert is Greek.

You're getting bougatsa for dessert,

which is a custard filo pastry

served with a lemon and cinnamon syrup.

It was one of my favourite desserts in Greece.

Just takes me back to childhood.

How do you feel about cooking for four restaurant critics, Alexis?

Uh... I'm trying not to think about it.

I mean, in my mind, I'm just cooking for you two.

I think Alexis is playing with fire, I really do.

I think he's going out there with some really quite big flavours,

and he's got to tame them. He's got to tame them like a lion tamer!

He's got to get them under control.

Sid, we know, is an instinctive cook and has a really good palate

and, when he puts his mind to it, can produce some great food.

Today, my first course is a gazpacho soup,

accompanied with sliced bread with some crab on.

My main course is halibut with a roasted cauliflower puree,

with samphire, courgette, broccoli, capers.

They're not too overcomplicated.

Crisp, clean flavours that show off the ingredients.

Gazpacho, and then what sounds like a very sophisticated halibut dish.

-Yeah.

-Are you using recipes today, Sid?

No, I'm not, John.

So, you're not... Staying on form...

-Yep.

-..cooking by instinct.

-Yep.

Can you make these look really pretty?

I hope so. That's key,

that's my number one priority.

-Are you confident, Sid?

-Yeah, I'm quite confident, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Good. Good luck.

Thank you.

The gazpacho with crab on ciabatta, I think, sounds fantastic.

But the halibut is concerning me

with the number of ingredients he's got on there.

For some reason, he's got two cauliflower purees,

and I don't see how Sid can make it work in your mouth

and make it work visually.

There's no room for any mistakes.

They will pick up on anything that is not cooked right.

You never know what you're going to get with Jimmy,

but you know it's not going to be dull.

He has given us some of the more unusual dishes

that we've seen in the competition.

So far though, John, they've worked.

If I do this right,

I think I have a shot to continue, but it's going to be full-on.

The timing is everything, I'm going to be dancing all over that kitchen!

I'm going to put my tap shoes on, just to make sure, so I'm at home.

HE LAUGHS

-So, starter is?

-The starter is a duck egg over asparagus

with some St George mushrooms.

-Main course?

-A rack of lamb, and I'm putting it with a ratatouille...

and then I'm going to come up with this cool little mint sauce

that goes around it. Jimmy mint sauce.

And then with a side of chips with truffle.

Oh!

-You don't know when to stop, do you?

-I know.

How do you feel about cooking for people

who spend their life critiquing restaurants?

My whole life, I've dealt with critics.

Rude ones, whatever.

At the bottom line, you've got to be happy with yourself

that you've done the best you can do

and, at that point, you're going to be spot-on,

not matter what they say.

Asparagus and duck egg, what a wonderful idea.

But the mushrooms are a little bit strange up on the side.

I don't know why they're there.

I shouldn't like Jimmy's main course,

because he's chucking the kitchen sink at it.

There's something about truffle, chips, mint and lamb

that is really getting me going.

25 minutes on your main course, Louise.

They are cooking for a place in the final three.

Today, the food has to be special, and they know it.

They know it!

Dining today are some of the country's most feared food critics.

Toby Young has critiqued restaurants

for publications on both sides of the Atlantic.

It'll be interesting to see

whether the contestants get the basics right.

If they try and do something new,

something that they've never tried before,

that's when they're going to come a cropper.

Richard Vines is a veteran of the British dining scene

and is currently the chief food critic of Bloomberg.

I just want people who can cook and understand flavours

and who can give pleasure on the plate.

Grace Dent is renowned for her frank opinions in her restaurant column

for the Evening Standard magazine.

I don't think that they're going to benefit from the experience

if I just come in and I smile and I say that everything's nice.

So I'm going to give them as honest a criticism as I would

if they'd just opened a restaurant in the centre of London.

Joe Warwick was co-founder of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Increasingly, I'm looking for simple stuff done really well.

I've skipped breakfast for this, so, mostly,

I'm hoping to have something decent to eat.

HE CHUCKLES

You've got to hurry up.

You've got about three minutes before your laksa needs to go.

Get those in the fridge.

-If they sit, you can always put some more on top.

-Yep.

I'm liking the sound of Louise's main course.

That lobster tail laksa.

Do you think that she'll risk giving us heat?

Cos that's quite a precarious thing to give to a load of strangers.

Smells good.

These dishes are due in 60 seconds.

Yep.

Get in, noodles, get in, get in!

Right, laksa.

Go. Go, go, go, go, go.

-Well done, Louise.

-See you later. Thank you both.

Louise has served a spicy lobster-tail coconut laksa

with rice noodles.

I really want to get started, because it smells good.

I think the flavours are quite good.

It's not too sweet.

I'd like a little bit more heat, but the basic flavour is good.

The lobster's overcooked.

I think there's some great technique here,

that she's made a beautiful consistency of sauce.

I wish that she'd been more confident

with just banging the flavours in there.

I think this is a brave effort,

cos the thing about cooking something like this,

it's a dish that everyone knows,

so it's quite a brave thing to do, cos everyone's had a good one.

I don't think it's a bad effort.

There's not enough broth to cover the noodles,

which is a shame, cos I really like that sauce.

It's got the flavour of lime leaves and fish sauce and coconut milk,

and I find it very, very moreish.

Have you worked out what you're going to do with your dessert

-if it doesn't set?

-Nope.

I think it's only the jelly that hasn't set.

I think everything else is fine.

Passion-fruit and white chocolate cheesecake.

Sounds a bit rich and sickly.

It's quite a simple and, dare I say, girlie choice.

It is a girlie thing,

but this girl doesn't actually want it...already!

You've got four minutes and five cheesecakes to get out of moulds.

TITTERING

No, that was a practice! That was a practice one.

Watch out, everybody.

Come on, Louise, get it done.

Get it out.

-It's coming.

-Splendid!

Come on!

Wonderful stuff. Are you happy with that?

It is sort of like I imagined.

Very good.

-Very good.

-OK.

-Let's go.

-See you later.

-Bye, Louise.

Bye.

I really hope you enjoyed your main course.

I thought you might need something to freshen your mouth a little bit

after that, so you have got

a passion fruit and white chocolate cheesecake.

Not for the first time in my life do I feel slightly humbled...

..by what I said before this arrived.

This is great.

This is really good.

It's got this big citrus smack in the face, and I love it.

The textures are good, the flavours are good.

I really love this, this is one of the best cheesecakes I've had -

and that base, I love that.

Yeah, base is good, and the passion fruit is lovely.

I can't stop eating it.

I'm meant to be pacing myself.

Mmm. Mmm!

I love that, I absolutely love that.

It's a tasty cheesecake, a really tasty cheesecake.

In your head, it's so silly, you sort of think,

"I'm just going to give up,"

but you can't give up, can you? You can't give up.

Oh, Lordy, Lordy.

I'm pleased with what I did,

it looked nearly like I wanted it to look,

and that's all I can ask for.

That is all I can ask for today.

Seven minutes, Alexis.

-Seven minutes.

-Thank you.

Cod with girolles and grilled onions and sherry butter sauce.

I'm a bit worried by the sherry butter sauce,

I think that might just unbalance the dish,

be a bit too much for the fish.

I'm sceptical about that, as well.

Your fish needs to go out in five minutes.

Yep, it's fine.

Beautiful, beautiful colours, mate.

Beautiful.

Lovely-looking plate.

-Come on.

-Done.

-Let's go.

-OK, fine.

-Hello.

-Hello.

So you've got pan-fried cod with crispy duck skin,

served on a bed of new potatoes,

girolle mushrooms and spring onions with a sherry and butter sauce.

-Hope you enjoy.

-Thank you very much.

The cod's perfectly cooked, it's flaking really nicely.

Nice bit of caramelisation on the onions,

the girolles are perfectly cooked.

And he's hidden some spuds underneath, as well,

which really pleases me.

The sauce is really good.

I was worried it would be too strong, but that works well.

Just needs a little bit more seasoning, that's the only thing,

to give it a bit more punch.

If I didn't know he was a TV presenter, you know,

I wouldn't be surprised if he was a chef.

This guy isn't messing about.

I was worried about that sauce.

I mean, it was buttery, buttery rich

and that sherry is adding just a little hint of sweetness

and it's giving it depth.

That's a very tasty, very ambitious dish.

Alexis's dessert is bougatsa with lemon and cinnamon syrup.

I'm excited by this dessert.

I mean, he's from a Greek family, he ought to know how to make it.

He's putting himself under a lot of pressure here, you know,

these are fiddly, fiddly little things to do.

So, they should've stayed crispy, which they have.

As long as it's not too sweet, that's really my concern.

-You get a whole one?

-Too big, isn't it?

I don't know.

This looks 100 times better than I thought it would.

Oh, ye of little faith.

-What else goes on the plate?

-That's it.

-No cream or anything?

Nope.

-OK, here we go.

-Go, that's lovely.

That's absolutely lovely.

Hmm. Intriguing.

What you have in front of you is bougatsa, which is a Greek dessert,

and you've got a lemon cinnamon syrup

with some candied lemons in the middle.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

The combination of flavours is good.

The combination of textures is nice, as well.

I found it just a tad stodgy.

If you get a mouthful of it with the syrup, with the rind through it,

it's lovely, but just on its own it's quite hard work.

Needed a much, much smaller portion, though,

because this is a kind of mammoth thing to eat.

It's satisfying, but it's not delicious.

That's a weird thing, but in a very pleasant way.

That's an odd thing.

It's like unsweetened baklava

with marmalade put across the top.

That whole thing should be smothered in that lemon sauce,

and I mean smothered.

As a dessert, it's not sweet enough.

HE EXHALES DEEPLY

I felt very rushed.

Somehow I thought I had loads of time, and then I didn't have time.

So I feel a bit deflated, I feel as if that wasn't...

I wasn't on my A game, that was my C game.

Right. Come on, Sid.

Watch your toast, Sid.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah.

-Are you going to splash a bit of oil over at the end?

-Yeah.

There's no place, really, in civilised society for cold soup.

Maybe if you're somewhere in the Continent, outside in the sunshine,

it was hot, gazpacho would be nice.

We're in east London, though, aren't we?

-LAUGHTER

-We're not in the Continent!

It may be wonderful, and then I will eat those words.

Maybe the crab claw will lift it.

Go on, mate. Well done.

First course, you have a gazpacho

served with a crab claw, white meat, on the side,

dressed with side bits of cucumber, onion and tomato.

-Bon appetit.

-Thank you.

This is everything that I absolutely feared and then so much worse.

It's way too spicy,

it's like he's poured chilli oil into it or something.

I think it tastes a lot better than it looks.

I think the main thing he's got wrong here

is the texture of it and the thickness of it.

It's way too much like salsa.

However, I do love that crab toast.

If there was a tray of those sitting on a Spanish bar,

as they were serving booze, I would be most enamoured with this.

This is great.

It's a puree of vegetables in a bowl.

As delicious as it might be, the question has to be,

what about the cooking? There's a lack of cooking here.

-Halibut dish to go?

-Yeah, I'm going now, yeah.

Pan-fried halibut with roasted and cream cauliflower purees, fennel,

samphire and summer vegetables.

-We're supposed to be out the door in three.

-Oh, yeah!

I know individually I find those things delicious,

I just hope he can pull that off.

Look at that! What's happened to you?

I've gone all cheffy on you, mate.

Who are you and what have you done with Sid?

-What's got to go on it, one more puree?

-Yeah.

-Done.

-Take it in with a big smile on your face, go on.

-Good job, Sid.

-Go on.

Ah! Look at that!

Thank you.

Hi, there. We've got, er, halibut,

with two different types of cauliflower puree,

a nutty roasted cauliflower puree and a cream cauliflower puree,

with broccoli, samphire and some pickled courgette and fennel.

-OK.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

I think he's overcooked the halibut a little bit, which is a shame,

because it's such a lovely piece of fish.

It's just gone a little bit too far.

It's needlessly complicated and ambitious.

And if he took a few things away, it would be much improved.

We don't need two pureed cauliflowers,

I think just the roasted cauliflower puree.

He's thrown everything at this plate,

but sometimes that's too much.

He's got a little bit of acidity in those capers

and over those vegetables.

Little bit of sharpness, and the fish is flaky and beautiful.

I think the fish is cooked really well,

but the whole thing needs seasoning.

I feel I've done the best I can, and hopefully that's enough.

Jimmy, you've got five minutes on this starter.

-Wow.

-How we doing on time, young man?

-Not great, sir.

-What are you behind on?

These eggs. I need to put one more on,

one of the yolks just broke, like an idiot.

Don't smash any more yolks, there, be gentle with them, Jimmy.

Duck egg with St George's mushrooms on a bed of roasted asparagus.

Everything's got to be precise, hasn't it,

because it's so simple, there's no...

He can't afford to overcook his egg, or anything.

OK.

-Oh, did I break it? No. Please, please.

-No, you didn't.

No, you didn't. One more.

I know this is not the way to do this, guys, sorry.

Come on, baby!

-What else is going on there?

-Some mushrooms.

-Right, are you done, Jimmy?

-No, sir.

-Come on, what have you got to go?

-Trouble!

From a distance...

-# From a distance... #

-I knew it!

I knew it.

-What do you guys think?

-I think that's great.

I think you should go right now.

-OK.

-Good job, Jimmy.

-Well done, Jimmy.

-Thanks, guys.

Jimmy, one minute.

Thank you.

-Hello, friends.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-Good, thank you.

Nice to meet you.

My starter today I've prepared for you is in season.

It's duck egg on asparagus with St George mushrooms.

Hope you like it.

This is really, really beautiful asparagus,

but it's just on the point of mushiness, isn't it?

Yeah, I think the asparagus has been overcooked

but the important thing is the yolk, which I think he has got right.

I think this is...you know, it's an enjoyable combination.

The good thing about the dish is the simplicity,

but then everything has to be perfect -

he hasn't, kind of, smashed it.

The asparagus is cooked nicely,

I like that it's lovely and soft and not too crunchy.

Mushrooms with the herbs, lovely.

And the egg yolk, just enough that it makes a sauce for the asparagus.

Everything's seasoned really well. I'd eat the whole lot.

It's not the most complex dish in the world, but it tastes good.

Jimmy, you've got nine minutes,

-are you all right with that?

-I think so.

I'm going to pop these fries in one more time.

Jimmy's main course is lamb chops

with truffle and Parmesan fries and ratatouille.

The danger, obviously, is overcooking the lamb.

Are you happy with the way they're cooked, Jimmy?

I'm really happy with it.

You want them nice and pink in the middle

and a little bit of char on the outside.

-You have five minutes, Jimmy.

-OK.

Now...

We take three of these guys,

one, two... Come on, boys.

Where's my squeezy-bottle guy? Oh, yeah.

-Yeah!

-Right, what else have you got to do, chips in bowls?

-Yep.

-Quick, quick, quick.

Wheeey! Go on, Jimmy, smother that stuff.

-Come on!

-Come on, baby.

Come on, come on.

-Jimmy, come on.

-You're not eating the chips, Jim?

-I am.

-Surely!

-I want to make sure. You told me to taste everything.

-OK.

-Right.

-Come on, let's go.

-All right.

What do you know?

The main is a rack of lamb on a bed of ratatouille

with a little mint pesto.

The chips are three times fried with a bit of cheese and truffles.

So, I hope you like it.

It looks quite appetising, and I can't wait to start in on the lamb.

The chips are excellent.

The lamb is well cooked, not too rare, not too well done,

just about right.

The ratatouille is good, the flavours are good.

And I like the fact, you know, to... Jimmy, the American,

has come and given us good British food, you know.

Well, apart from the Parmesan.

I think Jimmy should be proud of himself for that plate of food.

I think it's one of the best things that's been brought out today.

There's a lot to feel happy about on that plate.

The lamb is cooked perfectly, all the fat has been seared away.

The mint pesto is full of flavour.

His chips are cooked well, they're seasoned really well.

And that's good quality.

That was a bit intense.

You know, there's a lot of things that I would have done differently

but I kind of just freaked out a little bit.

I never usually freak out.

Anyway, it's done and dusted.

What are you going to do, right?

I think today we've had some really good food.

We've heard what the critics have now said.

We need three, not four - one of these has got to go home.

Alexis's fish dish was the critics' favourite dish of the whole day.

That cod was great, sherry butter sauce, very tasty.

Wild mushrooms, potatoes, radishes, it was a great, great thing.

Alexis gave us a Greek dessert that I'd never seen before.

Nothing really wrong with it,

it was almost like custard meets bread pudding.

For me, Louise has had a good round today.

Her laksa with a spiced sauce was great -

with lobster on top, it made it posh.

That's the whole idea of it.

All she needed was a bit more broth on those noodles.

A cheesecake is a simple thing, so it's got to be good -

and hers was good, John, I mean, it was delicious.

What we wanted from Sid was a real go at presentation.

Gazpacho, I thought,

with the crab on the toast looked really pretty but you pointed out,

and we both agreed, there wasn't any cooking.

The critics questioned why it was

that Sid was throwing ingredient after ingredient

at that halibut, and he's done it before.

Sid keeps on putting stuff on the plate that is not necessary.

For me, that halibut dish, it looked great, but it lacked seasoning.

Jimmy gave us the simplest of dishes.

Asparagus with a beautiful rich duck egg across the top

and mushrooms cooked in butter.

It was a nice thing.

The critics, however, felt the asparagus was overcooked.

Jimmy did cook a really good piece of lamb,

and then he followed up with those glorious chips

with cheese and truffle.

John, that was the sort of thing,

you have one, you're going to have a bagful, aren't you?

I don't know if I've done enough. I've done my best, you know?

It would be so cool to say that I was in the finals,

I mean, I'd go home with a big head.

I did as best as I could possibly could do today,

and if that's good enough, that's fantastic.

If it's not, I've had a fabulous time. But I don't want to go home.

Well, yeah, I'd love to go through, I mean,

it's been like four weeks of constant cooking and learning

so, you know, I don't want to go home yet.

I'd be gutted if I went home today.

Absolutely gutted.

Because missing out on having that opportunity to win it,

that...is gutting.

I don't want to say goodbye to one of them,

but somebody has to go home.

Really hard decision, they've worked so hard, all four of them,

to get here and they delivered good food today, John.

We need to find our final three.

And with the help of the critics, we've made that decision.

The contestant leaving us...

..is Sid.

It's been lovely to meet you.

-Don't look so shocked.

-Take care, mate.

-Thank you.

I don't feel like I've been hard done by,

I feel proud that I've got this far.

I've got to take my hat off to the other three,

they're really good cooks, so, you know, I feel proud.

Congratulations!

Yes!

-LOUISE:

-Oh, you're kidding me!

-ALEXIS:

-Oh, my God!

-LOUISE:

-Come on! Run around!

-JIMMY:

-Oh, my... No, I can't even run.

I cannot believe I'm in the final three.

It's ridiculous.

And I just genuinely feel sick with, "Oh, my goodness,

"I've got to do something now more amazing

"in a very short space of time."

I cannot tell you how happy I am right now.

Can I win it? I'm in the final, I've got a shot.

I've got a one-in-three.

I've had great success in my life and a lot of failures

but this was something that wasn't on the radar.

And those kind of...those kind of things that happen to you

in your life are cool. Yeah.

Tomorrow night it's the final of Celebrity MasterChef.

The three finalists face two tough challenges.

Cooking at Michelin-star level

with one of the country's best chefs...

Right, here we go.

..before cooking their final three courses.

At the end, one of them will be crowned

Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2016.