Episode 1 Celebrity MasterChef

Celebrity MasterChef and we are back.

Sharpen your knives, because we've got 20 great celebrities

who want to show how good they are in the kitchen.

I want to do well, and I don't think there's anything wrong

with saying that.

They've filled stadiums.

They've smashed records.

They've performed in front of thousands of screaming fans.

But can they cook?

I like acting, I like painting, and I like cooking.

And that's about it.

I want to win. I'd be gutted going out in the first round.

Who's going to be the cherry on the cake?

Who's going to be the rotten egg?

Get them in and we'll find out.

These five celebrities

are taking on the challenge to become the next MasterChef champion.

But at the end of today, only the best will make it through.

Put me in the dressing room, waiting to go out at

the world final, I'm nervous, but I can cope with it, cos I know

what I'm doing - here, I don't know what to expect, which is not nice.

I feel quite...

Confident? Did you see the look on the face then?

Confident...?

I think I'm a reasonably good cook, and I want to be better.

I have no ambitions whatsoever to win,

but I just think it's going to be fun to do,

and I might learn something.

I'm more nervous now than playing at Wimbledon.

A very warm welcome to the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen,

a fantastic opportunity for you celebs to show

that you have another talent, a talent for cookery.

This first round is what we call the mystery box.

Inside that box, there is a set of ingredients.

You've all got the same ingredients

and all we want you to do is cook for us one great plate of food.

Cook something that you might cook for your family and friends.

Not necessarily for your enemies.

Ladies and gentlemen, reveal your ingredients.

Today's ingredients include lamb loin,

goat's cheese, beetroot,

butternut squash, rhubarb,

fennel, apple,

lentils and peas.

The celebrities will also have the use of a basic larder.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour, one great plate of food.

Let's cook.

I'm not sure what meat it is.

I think this is veal.

Is it lamb?

-Is it lamb?

-I think so.

French tennis pro Henri Leconte

was once ranked in the world's top five players

and is well-known for his comical antics on court.

I want to show on the plate just my personality.

I'm not going to go crazy, like...

Could be very dangerous. I don't want them to be sick, you know...

-HE LAUGHS

-No way.

Right, what are you thinking, Henri?

I'm thinking to do steak with some vegetable and onions and shallots.

Do you know what meat that is?

Is that onglet? Onglet?

-What is this?

-That's not beef.

OK, I knew I made something, that's lamb.

-It's lamb.

-Idiot.

Henri is the sort of man

who I think will never, ever go into a game and not be prepared.

He might be mucking around...

..but, actually, the way he's cooking that lamb

is very, very nice indeed.

Mmm! Mmm, I love it.

Comedy legend Jim Moir is best known by his stage name Vic Reeves

and is one half of the renowned double act Reeves and Mortimer.

I'm quite an abstract impressionist cook -

means I don't have any particular presentation skills.

My food is generally a mess, but it tastes all right.

-Jim, how are you doing?

-I'm doing all right, I think.

-What are you going to cook?

-I've got some puy lentils, I think they are.

We don't know, do we? I'm just going to simply fry the lamb

with the ginger, garlic and rhubarb,

and lob it on the top.

Have you cooked with lamb and rhubarb before?

No, but I know they go together, because I've read it.

I've got a lot of cookbooks, and I look in them,

and if something tickles my fancy,

I think, "I'll have a crack at that," and not follow the recipe.

He's got lamb, he's got lentils, which belong together.

But now what he's going to do

is put the ginger and rhubarb with the lamb and the lentils.

The question is, does THAT belong together?

Much-loved newsreader and TV presenter Julia Somerville

has been working in broadcasting for over 30 years.

When it comes to assessing myself as a cook,

I don't feel I'm particularly gifted in any direction.

It's a joke.

But I do sometimes produce food that people like to eat.

-How are you feeling?

-A little bit baffled, I think, is the word.

-Do you do much cooking?

-I can cook, I hope.

I've brought up two children and they haven't died yet, so...

What are you going to make for us?

Well, I've changed my mind several times, but at the moment

I'm going down the route of making what I'd call

a sort of winter-flavoured, slightly spicy lamb stew.

-It'll be fine.

-Do you think?

-It'll be fine.

-I hope so.

Julia doesn't know what she's cooking.

Nor do I, and nor does Gregg.

Stewing away.

Boiled lamb...mmm...

Scottish snooker player Stephen Hendry

has won a record seven world titles

and is considered one of the greatest players

ever to grace the table.

My focus is pretty good. When I'm in my own kitchen, cooking away,

I'm sort of in my own world and blank everything else out.

So I'm hoping I'll be able to do that.

Might be easier said than done.

Stephen has got some potatoes on the go.

He's got the lamb on the go.

He seems to know what he's up to.

It could be really tasty.

All it needs is a good sauce.

-How much cooking do you do?

-Pretty much every night, really.

I'm the one that's in the kitchen.

I'm quite happy there, pottering away with a glass of wine.

-How old were you when you won your first world title?

-21.

-Not snookered by the ingredients?

-A wee bit. I was kind of behind

the green ball to start with, when I opened the box.

But I'm all right now, I'm into it now, so...

-Very impressed. Well done.

-Cheers, thank you.

20 minutes to go.

I'm done, pretty much. I think that's it.

-And breathe!

-Are you done?

You know you've got 15 minutes to go?

Yeah, I know. What shall we do?

Boil some eggs, have some hard-boiled eggs with it.

-Yeah, I can make a fried egg.

-I'm getting out of here.

Everything tastes better with a fried egg on top, doesn't it?

Can't beat a hard-boiled egg, can you?

TV presenter Angellica Bell loves to cook at home for her two children,

and her husband, Michael Underwood,

who was a Celebrity MasterChef finalist in 2012.

I think my weakness is patience.

Always rushing around with the children and work and everything,

so I need things done quickly.

And sometimes with cooking, you've just got to relax.

-I'm making a crumble.

-Yes!

And I'm going to try and make a custard as well. Argh!

I love food... Argh!

And...

-Gregg!

-LAUGHING:

-What?

Get out of my kitchen!

I didn't do that.

Right, we'll start again.

I like cooking. And, um...

And usually I don't boil over milk.

-Deal with that.

-OK. No, it's fine. I'm going to do this...

-What do you mean, it's fine?

-Here we go.

-Your other half is Michael Underwood.

-Yes.

So how important is it to you that you at least equal his success?

It's really important.

But then, to be better than him, I've got to win.

-HE LAUGHS

-Right!

Mr Wallace loves a crumble.

But he gets very upset when it's not done properly.

Ooh! That's quite nice, actually.

Last few moments.

Plate up, if you haven't already.

I don't know what to do. Look at my eggs boiling.

Oh...!

That's it. Time's up.

Stephen, up you come, please.

First up is former snooker world champion Stephen Hendry.

He's served cumin-spiced lamb loin on a bed of peas

with onion, mint and garlic, sauteed potatoes

and a fried egg.

The thick part of the lamb in the middle needs more cooking.

-OK.

-Apart from that, and the unnecessary fried egg,

you've got a decent dish there.

It's not bad for round one, mystery box of MasterChef.

Thank you.

I think it's really tasty, I think it's well cooked.

I'd like to see that lamb cooked a little bit more.

-But, yeah, I think a great start, Stephen.

-Thank you very much.

Generally really happy with the way the day went.

Obviously, you know, flopped a fried egg on that was unnecessary.

But I had just time at the end.

I was twiddling my fingers, I didn't know what to do.

TV broadcaster Julia Somerville has boiled the lamb in a lamb broth,

flavoured with carrots, onion, mint and ginger,

topped with fresh parsley.

It sort of defies culinary definition, doesn't it?

I think it may be from another planet.

The flavour, undeniably, is strong of ginger.

I think this would be the basis of a very, very good noodle dish.

As it is, it kind of defies description.

-You're struggling to describe it.

-Yes, true!

The lamb itself, because it's been boiled, has just gone dry

and that lamb is a beautiful piece of lamb.

That piece of lamb is about ten quid.

-SHE GROANS

-Yeah. And you chopped it up

-and boiled it.

-SHE PRETENDS TO CRY

I'll never do it again!

I probably could've done other things,

but I'm not an incredibly inventive cook.

I think this is what that's shown me.

LAUGHTER

Comedy legend Jim Moir has pan-fried the lamb loin,

and served it with puy lentils, cooked in lamb stock,

and a garlic, ginger and rhubarb chutney.

-Here goes.

-Culinary first.

Lamb's still got a little bit of pink in the middle. That's fine.

Love your lentils. Love them.

They are soft and herby and seasoned

and they're absolutely delicious.

The rhubarb and ginger, I think, might work with a duck.

It doesn't, in my opinion, work with the lentils and the lamb.

Your ginger-rhubarb combination is really, really tasty.

It's a bit of an experiment.

But I think it's an experiment that's worked.

-Oh.

-It's a dish, Jim. But not as we know it.

-LAUGHING:

-Yeah!

And I had 15 minutes spare to boil a couple of boiled eggs up

to take with me on the bus home.

-Very good.

-Thank you.

It went very well. They were very complementary.

And my chutney, which I invented today,

I think I may have come up with something brand-new

in the culinary world.

Tennis star Henri Leconte has also pan-fried the lamb,

and served it with fennel, shallots, potatoes and carrots.

You can see it, and you can taste it,

the lamb is cooked absolutely beautifully.

-Thank you.

-The vegetables themselves, they're good.

They're all really cooked.

-They're cooked nicely. I'm very happy.

-Thank you. Merci.

-I don't like all this grease.

-OK.

I absolutely love everything else. Mate, that tastes good.

-I can't ask for anything more than it tastes good.

-Thank you.

Don't leave me hanging.

-It's good.

-Are you crying?

-No. Yes!

-Why are you crying on me?

-No...

-Stop crying.

-I'm just... It's nice.

-It's emotional.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It's good.

Hello, boys.

Finally, it's TV presenter Angellica Bell.

She has made an apple and rhubarb crumble flavoured with ginger,

with a coconut and walnut top, and a vanilla custard.

I like the flavour of the coconut with the walnuts,

I think that's really good.

The apples in there are fantastically cooked,

that's nice and sweet. I would like a little bit more rhubarb.

I like that. You have soft fruit inside,

you have a lovely, sweet, creamy custard,

and you have a crunchy top.

Not a bad start at all to the competition.

I don't know, I'm just so happy.

I'm so pleased they like my dish.

I'm so pleased. Ah...!

I have to say, what a start to the competition.

You need to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Tomorrow, you are cooking

in a proper, professional kitchen for the paying public.

Good luck.

It's early morning,

and the celebrities have been split into two groups.

They are about to enter the world of the professional chef.

Jim, Stephen and Henri are arriving at Aster, in Victoria.

Hello, good morning, welcome to Aster.

-Thank you.

-Good morning, how are you?

-The chef is waiting for you in the kitchen.

-Thanks.

-OK.

The restaurant is heavily influenced by Nordic and French cuisine

and running the pass is executive chef Helena Puolakka.

It's going to be a big challenge, having three people

stepping into your kitchen and cooking three different dishes.

-Good morning.

-Hi, nice to meet you.

-I'm Helena. Nice to meet you.

They need to listen, they need to be switched on.

Stephen, you're on cod today, you're on scallops today,

and, Henri, you're on the gnocci today.

-Oui, Chef.

-Oui, Chef, that's the right answer!

Oui, Chef.

OK, I think we'll jump straightaway into mise en place.

-Jim.

-Yes?

-Scallops.

-Scallops.

Jim's Nordic-inspired scallop starter...

Beautiful.

..is served with celeriac puree, liquorice syrup and celeriac cubes,

with a sea buckthorn vinaigrette and berries.

Show me how I present this piece of artwork.

We want liquorice syrup on a plate - not too much.

And you have to put the nozzle of the bottle on the plate.

-Celeriac.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, I love it.

This is the sort of dish I'd say, "Can I have some more, please?"

Yes!

The dish is finished with some crispy kale and liquorice salt.

We don't want to overcook the scallops, OK?

I can do that.

Oui, Chef.

You know when you see, like, the Hairy Bikers,

if they really like it, they go... "Mmm!"

A lot of chefs do that - Mmm! - so I'm going to do it.

Just pretend this is the first time I've had it.

Mmm! That's beautiful.

-Ah!

-Fantastic, well done.

Henri is in charge of gnocchi, with sauteed ceps,

celeriac creme fraiche,

toasted seeds and pea shoots.

You really need to concentrate on this,

that we get an even colouration.

We move them, we start to toss them a little bit.

HE LAUGHS

-Imagine it's the tennis ball that you're turning in your hands.

-OK.

-And then we have some chiffonade of parsley.

-Chiffonade.

-Oui.

-At the end?

-At the end, yeah.

-OK.

We're going to do this.

OK?

And then we finish it off with a little bit of pea shoots.

Every portion today needs to look like this.

-Oui, Chef.

-Any questions?

-No, Chef.

-Very good.

It looks simple, but it's not.

Yeah... We'll see.

Henri's first job is to get to grips with making potato gnocchi.

Ah! Ooh!

Argh!

It's hot. It's meant to be hot.

Yes, I know it's hot. OK...

-Then...?

-Then you're going to mouli them through.

I'm getting ready.

Next, he must shape the gnocchi...

The secret of a good gnocchi

is that you don't need to work too much of it.

..before blanching it, ready for service.

# I love you, baby... #

Henri is a nice guy, but taking it a bit easy at the moment.

# Oh, que viva, Italia! #

STEPHEN SNIGGERS

Cracking a joke, but every kitchen needs a character like that.

Stephen will be in charge of a main course.

So, how much does this bit of fish cost you?

-I'm scared.

-Don't be scared.

Norwegian cod, with brown shrimp, shallots and seaweed butter.

Imagine you're having 20 checks on the board today,

and everybody is going to have cod.

Everyone is going to have cod. I've accepted it.

-It's one of my biggest sellers, the cod.

-Oh, my... I've accepted it.

Look at that - beautiful. Amazing.

-So, that's the colour I'm looking for?

-Absolutely.

We want the brown shrimps to be nice and soft and tender.

-OK.

-OK?

-We finish it off with dill. All clear?

-Yeah.

The cod dish is very simple.

It's all about the cod, the cooking of the cod.

-That's it.

-OK, beautiful.

-I think I've got it.

-Got it?

-Yeah, I think so.

Obviously, it's a fantastic piece of fish,

so I've just got to do it justice, cook it properly, not overcook it,

that would be a massive crime, and, yeah, just...

I'm looking forward to getting going.

I love Soho. Do you like Soho?

-Ish.

-It's just cool.

I'm more of a North London girl myself.

Across town, Angellica and Julia are about to have

a completely different restaurant experience.

Today, they will be taking on the fierce heat

of the kitchens at Temper,

a South American-inspired barbecue restaurant.

Their mentor for the day is chef and owner Neil Rankin.

This is a live fire cooking restaurant

where we buy in whole animals, butcher them in-house.

We buy meat only from select farms across the UK,

so these guys take really good care of their animals.

We're very precise about the way we cook meat here -

that's what we're about.

We've got a 4.5 metre grill which is an open fire pit,

and they'll be cooking directly on that, so it's going to be hot.

It's going to be toasty.

-Oh...my...goodness.

-Hello!

-You don't look like I was expecting.

-Amazing!

Lunchtime in Soho, it's quick.

People want to get out fast, so we can't delay people either.

This is all about cooking meat. I don't expect flair or fanciness.

-OK.

-Shall we get into the kitchen?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

-Let's go, guys.

How exciting. That is incredible.

Angellica is in charge of the restaurant's most popular dish,

a cheeseburger taco.

It's got to be cooked perfectly,

and I'm really demanding about how I get my burgers cooked.

It sounds easy, it's not.

Is that going to be well done?

This is not going to be well done, this is going to be medium-rare.

-Medium rare.

-We don't want it well done.

The provolone cheese is also cooked until golden and crispy.

Here's your burger.

It's just got that nice, crispy layer on one side.

To complement the burger,

it's served with a chipotle sour cream...

It's a little bit spicy. So not too much of it on there.

..and a fresh coriander and garlic sauce.

-Just want a little bit of this on each.

-OK.

And this just goes on top.

And that's your service for all of it.

-Really?

-That's it.

-OK.

It's not about the fancy plating, it's just about the timing.

-You happy with that?

-Yeah, I am. I am.

Basically, I'm using a really hot surface

and cooking everything on it.

So I don't want to produce any burnt food.

That's the aim, no burnt food.

It is hot.

Julia will be cooking steak with Moroccan-spiced aubergine,

all served on a flatbread.

-So these are flank steaks.

-Yes.

-They're from the belly of the animal. Salt on both sides.

-Yeah.

So, we're going to cook it to rare inside.

Going to take about eight minutes in total to cook.

So we've got aubergine here.

Nice and smoky, like baba ganoush.

-We've got harissa here.

-Yes.

Nice and spicy, we don't want too much of that on that.

We've got some fresh mint. Goes in whole.

A little bit of coriander.

It's nice and fresh.

And then we're going to go back to our steak.

-See the nice brown in colour on that?

-Yeah.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

The more of that you get on the steak,

the more flavoursome it is going to be.

Leave it on there for too long, it's going to overcook the steak.

The flatbread is topped with the spiced aubergine.

And that's what you want, that even pinkness all the way through.

And this is going to be laid really roughly on top.

And we're just going to top it with a few dill leaves...for garnish.

And that's your dish.

You'll be fine, you'll be OK.

-I'll look after you and make sure you're OK.

-You're very kind.

But probably quite fierce if I do something wrong.

-Is that right?

-Good luck!

The key challenge is how to cook the meat,

and keeping an eye on it, making sure it doesn't overcook.

So, basically, extremely worried.

It's midday...

..and the restaurants are ready for service.

The calm before the storm.

So let's concentrate.

Let's do a good service,

everybody does what you need to be doing.

No sinking ships, please.

OK, guys, are you ready?

Check on - two scallops followed by two gnocchi.

Oui, Chef!

Right, where are my scallops?

Jim and Henri both have orders.

But with Jim on starters, he'll need to be first to the pass.

You didn't season your scallops.

-I did, I...

-And the pan is not hot enough.

-No, it's not.

-It's not a good start, Jim, huh?

-No.

-No.

Not too much of the liquorice.

That's too much. Nobody can eat that quantity of liquorice.

-Quick and easy, yeah?

-Shall I get rid of that?

-OK.

All right, let's have a go again.

Just a little bit more vinaigrette. Just a little bit more.

That's it.

That's beautiful.

Two scallops.

I've got tinnitus in this ear,

and I'm really finding it difficult hearing what she is saying.

Check on, two no starter,

-one gnocchi, one flatiron medium rare, chips.

-Oui, Chef!

So much pressure, you cannot believe what it is.

It's...unbelievable.

Gnocchi.

OK, plate me two portions, then, huh?

Henri, you need to go a bit faster with your gnocchi, OK?

Sorry, I'm lost.

OK, you put one dollop there,

and then you need to go like this.

-OK, OK.

-You understand?

-Movement.

-Oui, Chef!

Move, out!

One steak coming.

Unbelievable.

Check on, one prawn, one cod.

OK, Stephen, one cod on.

After a slow start,

orders for Stephen's cod are starting to come in.

-One cod, one gnocchi, please. Stephen.

-Yes?

-Two more cod.

-Oui, Chef. Oui, Chef.

Small panic, but I'm doing OK.

His challenge is to master cooking the fish

and the seaweed butter sauce in the same pan.

What's wrong with the picture?

-I burned the butter.

-You burnt the butter.

Yes, and you bring it to me.

Get another pan quickly.

Do me a fresh butter, but I can't use this one.

I'll give you 30 seconds.

Do I see your hands shaking?

The man with the no-shaking hands should not shake here!

Do you know what? I know what I should be doing

but I can't do it cos I'm not a multitasker.

Next one, the cod, you know, take the confidence, you can do it.

The cod was beautifully cooked.

You come to the pass, you plate it, you send it, OK?

Come on.

Over in Soho, the lunchtime rush has arrived.

OK, we've got check on, we've got two cheeseburgers on order.

Yes, Chef. We've got another burger on order, so that's three on order.

Julia, three steaks are on order.

-Julia, three minutes on those steaks.

-Fine.

Another cheeseburger.

-Another one?

-That's five, guys.

Yes, Chef. You happy about that?

Yes, Chef. Awesome.

All five burgers...

Argh!

..have to be cooked to a perfect medium rare.

I haven't got a thermometer, so I've got to go with how it looks.

-OK?

-Can I start slicing, without burning my hands.

-Nice slices.

-You've got one minute to plate these.

-Not going to happen.

Slicing is good, it's just a little bit slow at the moment.

Just get faster when it comes to cooking...

No, cutting, mainly cutting, that's my problem.

Push, push, push.

How are your other burgers doing while these are here?

-Argh!

-Burgers might be overcooking.

-George, will you take them off the grill?

-Yes, Chef.

Set that proud - lovely.

OK, ready, Chef.

-Cook that burger for about a minute longer.

-OK.

-Still a little bit

-too rare, a little bit bloody round the outside.

-OK.

-Great, thank you.

I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Now I know where everything is, I think I can get my head around it.

-We've got to go quick now.

-OK.

Guys are waiting, everything's getting cold.

-Aubergine on the flatbread?

-Yeah.

Just get it on there. It's all about speed.

And we're done.

Two aubergine steaks.

Next time, slicing, a little bit faster.

-And remember to...

-Just speed up, speed up, speed up.

-OK.

-How was your burger?

-Perfect.

-Nice.

You can come again, it's on me. It's on me.

Julia, you shouldn't have bothered tonging your hair this morning.

Absolutely not, yes. There was no point tonging my hair this morning.

That is very true.

Back in Victoria, all the tables are in.

-You are working on two gnocchi, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Very good.

And Henri has yet to master the ordering system.

Listen, take the order, get ready, it's really complicated.

Meanwhile, Jim is beginning to find his feet.

Check on, three scallops, one broccoli salad,

followed by four cod.

Three scallops, come on, Jim. Make it perfect.

Jim is kind of left to his own devices there

and he is doing a pretty good job.

If I did this more than one day,

I would probably die.

Argh...!

No, I couldn't do this for a job.

Come on, Jim, let's gear up for the last check.

With Jim's last plates on the pass...

Very good, Jim. Jim, very good.

..all eyes are now on Henri.

Terrified, terrified.

However, he has forgotten to coordinate his timings

with the other chefs.

-Is the steak ready?

-Sorry?

-How long for the steak?

-Well, it's a bit too late to ask now how long.

-Six minutes.

-OK.

-Go back, go back, go back.

-Yeah, I'll go back.

Think I'm going under, I think I'm going under.

Stephen is also struggling to keep on track.

Just too much information going on, it's just pressure.

Beautiful gnocchi coming onto the pass.

Come on, one last, huh? Let's go.

OK, finish it off.

Come on, let's go.

Movement, movement, OK.

Beautiful, well done, Henri.

OK? Yes, no, something.

Yes, Chef.

Last four cod and then the job is done, you survived.

-Are you happy?

-This is the last one, so I am very happy.

-Well done. You did well.

-Thank you very much.

You really concentrated when you cooked the fish, it's very good.

-Thank you.

-But at the same time, you've got to be able to listen.

-Yeah.

-Clean and clear your sections. Well done, guys.

It's something I always wanted to do

so I'm absolutely over the moon that I've done it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely delighted it's all over.

If you said, "You've got to come in tonight again,"

I would have said, "No chance, I'm off."

I have to tell you one thing,

it's so hard, compared to what I'm doing,

tennis player or whatever.

I was expecting something very difficult

and it is difficult.

I think it's the nearest thing I'll ever come to warfare.

It was just like madness and I don't know how people do it.

Back in Soho...

Literally, my brain cells are about to explode.

..the heat is still on.

-Angellica.

-Yes, Chef?

They were overcooked, we need to get another two burgers on there now.

Yeah.

I was leaving burgers cooking while I was plating

cos I'm just trying to plate and I'm forgetting about here.

-I'm just trying to deal with the heat.

-Burger, Angellica.

One more burger. Right, listen, I've got five on, I can't talk.

Four steaks on order now.

-Och aye, Chef.

-Och aye!

-Let's get going.

-SHE LAUGHS

We've got to be quick, Julia, quick, quick, quick.

Move, move, move.

Temperature check it.

Better - OK, let's slice and go. Quick, quick, quick.

I'm slightly worried about my fingers.

I'm quite attached to them.

Curl your fingers round that way so you're not going to slice them off.

That's better, better. OK, season it now.

OK, so aubergine on first.

Yeah, I've forgotten my feathers.

-Uh?

-I've forgotten the feathers.

-The dill?

-Yes.

Can somebody get the dill, please?

This is much better, much quicker.

Too many feathers?

I'm going to call them feathers from now on, that's it.

Perfect, just spread them out a little bit and then send it.

Much, much, much better.

The meat was cooked perfectly, it was a lot faster.

We can get faster the next time, but it's getting much better.

Thank you, Chef.

I'm feeling very pumped up.

Quite dangerous, as a matter of fact.

After a relentless service,

Angellica and Julia have one last chance to impress.

-Ready.

-Are you ready?

Right, let's come up.

Mohammed, are you ready?

Oh, she's quicker than Mohammed now!

A few seconds.

Here we go.

Cheese looks great.

Angellica has smashed it. It's like a proper chef, that's great.

Perfect.

-You're getting into this now, aren't you?

-Love it.

And you're quicker than Mohammad.

-OOHING AND LAUGHTER

-I'm joking, man, I'm joking.

Julia is starting to get it.

For someone who didn't have any confidence coming in here

and looked scared, she's doing really well.

Yes, final push - it can be done.

Guys, this is your last orders.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-How did that go?

-Comrades in arms.

-I know. I loved it.

-Stopped sweating now.

-I know.

-You're getting used to it.

-Yes.

One or two people actually said they liked what I cooked for them.

I think everybody said they liked what you cooked.

-You didn't pay them either, did you?

-Huh?

Nobody got paid to say anything, don't worry.

Really, really excellent.

-Come back again.

-Aw!

-Thank you.

-Definitely.

-I want one now.

ANGELLICA LAUGHS

I feel more confident.

I learned a lot, I felt quite pleased that I managed to cope.

I had an absolute blast, I completely loved it.

It was just amazing, but intense

and hectic and stressful, all mixed up into one.

I'm exhausted, absolutely exhausted.

-Oh!

-Fresh air.

-Oh, my goodness. I feel like I've been in a boxing ring.

-I know.

I need a drink. And I mean a drink.

This is the first time in this competition

you get to cook your own dishes.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have one hour.

One hour, two great dishes.

At the end of this, one of you is going home.

Let's cook.

I practised within the time limit and it happened, it worked.

But that was in the privacy of my own kitchen

with my own - slow - clock.

HE LAUGHS

-Jim?

-Yes.

-Are you cooking with corned beef?

-Yeah, I am, yeah. Bully beef.

-What are you making?

-Corned beef hash.

I'm putting some beetroot on the side.

It makes it a little bit poncier.

-That's one dish.

-And I'm doing parsnip soup.

-Really?

-Yeah - it's a favourite at Christmas,

so I know I'm on a winner with that.

With my family.

But you're not my family yet.

His corned beef hash, crispy on the outside, fabulous.

Beetroot and orange on the side? I don't understand.

The approach is going to be to try to stay calm.

I'm just doing what I feel comfortable doing.

That is my theory and I'm sticking to it.

It's far too late to change now.

Julia, you look very different from the first round.

Well, I had such a lovely time working in the restaurant

that that really gave me a boost, I think.

What are these dishes today that are going to wow us?

Well, I'm cooking a fish pie, which is my family favourite.

And I'm now doing strawberries in red wine

with lemon juice, sugar and a bit of mint.

No cooking with this dessert?

No. Marinating.

Strawberries and red wine and mint,

not a huge amount of cooking going on.

However, a fish pie, in my book, is a fantastic thing to be cooking.

She is poaching the fish in the milk,

she is using the milk to be able to flavour the mashed potato.

So it's really intense in flavour. Brilliant.

30 minutes left.

Henri has got himself in a bit of tizz.

I don't know what to do.

He's giving himself a huge amount of work to do.

Pan...

Grilled prawns served with coconut and cucumber.

His main course is a lovely piece of cod.

He's serving it with clams and mussels,

a vermouth sauce and loads and loads of herbs.

The fact is his fish isn't on and he's a little bit lost.

Bye-bye, Henri. Bye-bye.

I'm so stressed because it's something completely new for me.

In my bed, I was playing tennis,

but here, I feel the competition is very hard

and I'm pushing myself really hard and I'm nervous.

You are a serious competitor

and I think you're very serious about this.

I'm serious because I want to do something nice, you know.

I hate doing half of it, or just approximately,

just...just do it.

I fight all the way through.

Come on. Come on, Henri.

I mean, I'm taking a risk because I want to get to the next stage.

And to do that I've got to pull the stops out.

Ooh, that's nice.

What are your dishes?

So, I'm doing a cottage pie with blue cheese mash

and then a cherry soup, mascarpone topping,

then serving it with some black peppercorn shortbread.

-Are you pushing yourself with these two dishes?

-Yes.

I'm pushing myself, and I want to push myself.

In a kitchen you've got to be on lots of different things,

so that's what I'm trying today.

What are you trying today?

This, oven, potatoes, da-da-da-da...

LAUGHTER

This blue cheese is the best.

My starter, I'm doing a seared beef carpaccio.

My second course is a pan-fried halibut

with some roasted potatoes and horseradish

and cream white wine sauce.

Obviously, one person is leaving, so I've got to cook it well.

Have you served this carpaccio before?

-No.

-Great.

-Good planning.

So you're serving raw beef to me and John you've never done before.

I've eaten it before and I like it.

It's a very big piece of beef.

Yeah, hopefully everyone's hungry.

Can I take some home?

Carpaccio of beef -

great way to start off.

But the fact is the halibut is the danger zone.

The halibut can be overcooked and it goes like cotton wool.

If it's undercooked, it's all flobby and not very nice at all.

You are like Speedy Gonzales, aren't you? First round, you're finished

with loads of time left over. You're finished again.

A word to the wise - you have ten minutes left.

Henri, you've got about four minutes.

-Yeah, I know.

-Are you going to finish?

I don't know.

Three minutes left.

Doesn't bother you, Stephen, does it?

Stop!

Time's up.

I feel the need for a very big coffee.

Julia has cooked a haddock and prawn fish pie

with buttered samphire.

Love the boat - I think that's wonderful.

That's a very lovely fish pie. Your mashed potato is lovely,

you've got a little bit of a crust on the top.

Love the amount of butter you've put on that samphire.

I mean, this is rich food, luxury food.

Right now, yummy is enough for me.

Good, thank you.

I'm a big fan of fish pie

-and I think you've got this absolutely right.

-Oh, good.

Really well seasoned, really well made,

love that creamy mash across the top,

I love the intensity of the fish throughout the whole thing.

For dessert, Julia has made strawberries in red wine

with lemon juice, sugar and mint, served with cream.

What you've got here is lovely strawberries,

a taste of wine and a taste of sugar and it works.

The flavours work, the textures work,

but you can afford to do a bit more.

It's very simple to look at, it's very simple to do.

After the luxury and the beauty of the fish pie,

I just want you to put a little bit more effort in.

I knew that that dessert was a bit weak.

I'm glad you liked my fish pie, I'm very glad you liked my fish pie.

Henri has made prawns marinated in spiced coconut milk

with a cucumber, shallot and mint salad and toasted sesame seeds.

I think your prawn dish is great.

-Thank you.

-I love the crunch of the prawns,

they're cooked really, really nicely.

I love the fact that coconut sauce is spicy with red curry.

That's then all cooled down by that cucumber.

It's a really lovely thing.

The prawns are marvellously hot

and it builds up and it's really quite fiery. I like that a lot.

Henri's main is cod with clams and mussels

but he ran out of time to cook his samphire and garlic butter.

I get a lovely flavour of sweet wine and the sea

from the mussels and the clams.

Your cod's cooked beautifully but the problem is, Henri,

it's an incomplete dish.

-As well as it's cooked, it's incomplete.

-Thank you, Chef.

You can most certainly cook.

If you're going to give that much love to that piece of fish,

-which you have done, make sure you finish off your dish.

-Yeah.

I was so panicking

that I really want to be a little mouse

to go under the thing and go away.

Just panic, it's amazing.

For his starter,

Jim has made a parsnip soup spiced with garam masala.

Whoa! That's a bowl of porridge, mate!

Also a very flavoursome grout.

LAUGHTER

I like the thick texture

but what really impresses me is the lovely flavour.

It's almost like a mild curry.

Well seasoned, it's creamy and thick.

I think it could probably just be a little bit thinner.

It's looking more like a rice pudding or porridge texture

than a bowl of soup.

Jim's main course is corned beef hash

topped with a poached egg

and beetroot flavoured with cumin and orange oil.

I don't mind the concept but that's big and scruffy.

Come on, it's MasterChef! You need to smarten this up a bit.

I like the hash. It's a very nicely seasoned, well cooked,

little bit of crispy on the outside, soft inside mush.

Poached egg yolk running across it? I like it as well.

Orange and egg is the one that's...

-Yeah.

-A little weird.

OK.

I love that corned beef hash and the poached egg.

As for beetroot with orange and a poached egg...

No, thanks, Jim. Otherwise, that's good.

OK, good.

Well, the tasting... They liked it.

I think everyone else's looks better than mine.

But, yeah, mine tastes the best!

Mate! It's like you could feed four people

with the amount of food you're serving up here! It's massive!

Stephen's starter is a seared beef carpaccio

topped with Parmesan, rocket and balsamic vinegar.

I like that. I like that.

The beef is nicely done. It's soft, it's just melting away.

Personally, I'd forget about the balsamic. There's not a great deal

of cooking going on here

but it does show a decent understanding of flavour.

OK.

You can see it's all just a bit jaggedy and, like, this one here,

sort of a big thick bit there, thin bit down the other end.

It's a bit...what people may say "rustic",

-or what I would call rough round the edges.

-OK.

Stephen's main is halibut with crispy pancetta,

peas and lettuce in a white wine, horseradish and cream sauce

and a side of rosemary roast potatoes.

I'm not a great fan, I'm afraid.

The fish is drying slightly.

And your sauce is not creamy, it's really acidic.

It needs cooking off a little bit more,

it's still sharp, like a glass of wine.

The cream sauce is too thick and gluggy.

The fish needs to be cooked just a little bit more sympathetically.

-And don't throw so much at the plate.

-OK.

I think I panicked a little bit. I know how to cook it to get it right,

I just didn't do it today. So it's just disappointing.

Finally, it's Angellica.

She's served a cottage pie topped with blue cheese

with broccoli and carrots.

It is comfort food. The blue cheese does add a little bit of saltiness

to your mashed potato -

your mashed potato topping is absolutely brilliant.

I was really scared of your blue cheese but, actually, I like it.

You just sprinkled the blue cheese across the top

-rather than put it through the mash.

-Yeah.

-I'm pleased about that

because it's not too ferocious.

Your mashed potato is light and fluffy, I like that a lot.

Those carrots can be cooked a bit more, cos they're a bit hard,

and I think the whole thing could do with a little more seasoning.

Angellica's dessert is cherry soup -

cherries marinated in red wine, prosecco and cherry liqueur,

topped with mascarpone cream and pistachios

with black peppercorn shortbreads.

The cherry juice with the cherries is really, really tasty.

I love all that liqueur in there.

I like the mascarpone across the top with the pistachio nuts.

And, actually, the taste is so good, I'd probably eat the whole lot.

Beautifully made biscuit.

The addition of booze and the addition of a bit of red wine

to those cherries, I think, is a stroke of genius.

I'm really pleased with what I served up today.

I think it looked presentable.

It's good. They loved the dessert.

I feel quite confident, but you just never know.

We tasted some good food, we've got some good cooks there.

We've got some ambitious cooks there, that's for sure.

You could see the ones that cooked the food

that they really love to eat.

And they were the dishes that I think tasted the best.

Best cook in the room, for me,

even though he didn't complete his dish, was Henri,

and I say that because I thought his prawns were delicious

and, yeah, all right, he didn't finish that cod

but that cod was done like a chef would do.

I think Henri might have a bit of a future on MasterChef.

I agree with you. That cod was cooked absolutely perfectly.

Angellica, taking a lovely cottage pie

and sprinkling blue cheese across the top is a risk, a real risk.

The blue cheese worked.

As for the cherries in three types of alcohol...

They were very delicious indeed.

I think Angellica has shown enough to go further.

For me, Jim had a really well-seasoned, well-flavoured,

smooth parsnip soup

and a corned beef hash and the poached egg across the top,

I think, was absolutely fantastic.

That's really weird because, for me,

Jim is one of the ones who's staring at the exit sign.

-Wow!

-Corned beef hash, it was scruffy,

and the addition of beetroot with orange

I found highly unusual.

I don't know if I've done enough to stay in the competition

but I've done enough to please myself.

I've done what I can do and what I hope they like.

Julia's fish pie,

you and I would have dived into and swam around

and had a very nice time.

It was properly delicious.

Julia's been let down by her dessert.

Kind of some sliced strawberries floating about in a bit of booze!

I wonder, with Julia, if you took her further,

would she be able to just continue to forge forward?

Because her confidence has grown.

Well, however it works out,

I don't think I could have done better than I did

at the stage I'm at right now, than I did today.

Stephen finished off with 15 minutes to go

and I think he could have used those 15 minutes

just to smarten his dishes up a little bit.

Loved Stephen's carpaccio.

The cookery was in the fish, and that, I didn't like.

Sauce was acidic, the execution left a little bit to be desired.

Nobody wants to be first to leave.

I'd be disappointed, but I'm glad I've done it.

Our decision has been tough.

One of you is leaving us.

The celebrity leaving us...

..is Stephen.

-Stephen, thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

-I'm so sorry.

Thank you, Stephen. Good to meet you, mate.

Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Stephen, take care. Bye-bye.

I'm disappointed to be first out.

I've never felt pressure like this since I retired.

But I just enjoyed myself, I just had a thrill.

Haven't been so anxious in my life, really!

But I'm really happy. Yes! Ha-ha!

It's a wonderful boost to get through.

I'm trying to scratch my head and thinking,

"What on Earth can I do to impress them again?"

It would have been hard to go home

because I would have had to go back home and get that in the ear!

I just was shaking, and that never happens to me.

I don't know if my heart can take much more of it!

On Friday night, the four celebrities are back

to fight for a place in the semifinals.

-I want these quite well-cooked, don't I?

-Cooked would be nice.

It's inside the lid!

LAUGHTER

Come on!

Argh!

-I'm never happy with my clingfilm skills.

-Ready, ready, ready.

That's restaurant-quality food, I think.

I could just put my face in that and rub myself in it!