Episode 25 Celebrity MasterChef

We've had 16 celebrities battling it out to win the MasterChef crown.

Only the best are left.

I believe now I'm good enough to get to the final.

Time will tell.

We're pretty much all on a level. It's all up for grabs.

Now the competition really begins.

Really high stakes today.

The four of us have been given parachutes and one of them isn't going to open.

I don't want to go home today.

I want to be in the final.

Four celebs and we know how good they can cook when they're on form.

Today they have to be the best they possibly can.

We are now going to give them their sternest test so far.

We're looking for our three finalists.

Who's got the skill, the palate, the ambition,

to become our champion?

Welcome. Big day today.

Big test of your character, your nerve and your skill.

You are not presenting your food to Greg and I

but to three very, very harsh restaurant critics.

Three people that you have to impress if you want to stay in this competition.

Two courses, one hour and 15 minutes.

At the end of this, one of you will be going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

These guys are celebs. There are professional chefs who wouldn't want this challenge today.

What I'm expecting is that someone will thrill me

and someone will make me drop my head into my hands

and whimper like a baby.

We've seen before with the Celebrity competition

that people really drive themselves to the limit,

so I'm expecting to see some really good cooking.

We long for good technique,

things that aren't mercilessly overdone or mercilessly underdone,

signs that someone is really passionate about cooking.

Restaurant critics are tough people,

people who are going to make a very harsh judgement.

20 minutes has gone.

The whole MasterChef process has been tough,

tougher than I thought it was going to be when I started.

For it to end today would be... would be really devastating.

I would be really gutted.

-Michael.

-Yes.

-Big day today.

-Really important.

-Michael, what are your dishes?

-I'm doing pan-fried duck breast

with a cherry puree, wilted spinach, potato rosti and a pork jus.

Pork jus and cherry sauce?

I just wanted to give a bit more liquid

to go with the rosti and the spinach.

For dessert, I'm doing a baby pear pavlova with chocolate sauce.

Can you today produce a plate of food without a single mistake on it?

Yes. I really, really hope so.

I worry that a pork sauce and a cherry sauce

are going to clash over that duck.

When I arrived here on MasterChef, I really was a complete amateur

and now I feel like I know my way around a kitchen.

The bar's been raised, you know.

It's not enough to be able to cook a decent dish.

If I make a mistake, I won't make it to the final.

-What are you cooking for us?

-I'm going to do Asian salmon

with a coriander dressing.

There's a lot of skill involved. I need to get my salmon right.

I'm going to be doing it en croute in a filo pastry.

Ah! And for your other course?

I'm going to be doing a mascarpone mousse in white chocolate,

which will sit in a tropical fruit soup.

The two issues for me are to make sure my mousse sets

and the other thing is to get that fine balance of flavours

-and spices just right.

-Wow.

It sounds like a big hunk of salmon wrapped in pastry

with some Asian flavours thrown at it.

It's a bit strange.

The standard gets higher and higher round by round.

It's really hard.

My biggest concern today is time.

I've given myself loads to do, which is real pressure -

probably too much but, you know, that's what I enjoy.

Danny, furiously working away. What are you going to cook for us?

Pork rolled in tea with swede puree, some romanesco and apple sauce,

followed by panna cotta and rhubarb.

Bit of a walk on the wild side, this pork dish.

Well, trying to learn, trying to do different things,

trying to put into practice what I've learnt

and bring things together.

Will you actually get flavour and soul in your food today as well?

Yeah, that's the plan.

If it goes to plan and I'm happy with it, then that's all I can do.

He has what I will call the scary and the safe,

the safe being the panna cotta.

The pork fillet, a fruit tea, swede, star anise and romanesco -

that main course is either going to be absolutely amazing

or revolting.

When I think about where I began,

not in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to get this far

in any event.

The fact that we're cooking for people who judge food for a living

actually makes me feel a bit ill.

Emma, you presently look so scared, so frightened, so petrified.

-Yeah.

-You really are, aren't you?

-I'm tremendously nervous today, yes.

This is the worst one.

It's like you've come all this way and the prospect of then not making the final three

is just so awful.

-What are you going to cook for us?

-Charred mackerel with apple puree

and a smoked cod roe cream with microleaves and watercress oil.

And then I'm doing pan-fried venison

with parsnip puree, spring greens and a red wine and blueberry sauce.

-What's at stake for you today, Emma?

-Oh, gosh - everything.

Blueberry and parsnip on a piece of meet

is not an easy one to balance and that's my worry.

Ow!

Danny, in five minutes, your main's got to go.

A classic combination, pork with sage and apple sauce

and then he's given it a twist, which is this fruit tea crust.

Not something I've come across before. There may be a reason for that.

The bear trap waiting for him is the fact that there's no fat on the fillet of pork at all

and that could make it relentlessly tough.

Two minutes, Danny. Come on!

-What's left to go on, Danny?

-Just the meat and the sauce.

That is really cool. It's got to go, it's got to go.

Very nice indeed.

-You've got some sauce on there, dribbling away.

-Thanks.

-Thank you.

Good afternoon. We have a pork fillet rolled in tea,

a swede puree, fondant potato and romanesco with an apple sauce.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So the big positive. He hasn't completely overcooked the pork.

In fact, the only positive is that he hasn't overcooked the pork.

This pork, to my mind, is not working.

There's a distinct aroma of the things that you find at the back of your spice cupboard about it,

just sort of unidentified, neglected

and a bit sort of dusty.

I'm not getting any apple and sage from the sauce

but I'm barely getting any sauce, to be honest.

Underseasoned swede, underseasoned potato.

There needs to be less arrangement on the plate

and more a plateful of food that you can eat.

For me the flavour's really confused, really weird.

I feel like I'm eating a dessert but I've got meat in my dessert.

The star anise with the swede makes it almost like caramel

and there is a fruity sharpness around the pork.

I think it's delightful.

Danny, 15 minutes and then that dessert goes, yeah?

Vanilla panna cotta is good,

rhubarb is good,

little crisp biscuits is good.

Getting them all right at the same time is perhaps a little more difficult.

Yes! Well done, Danny. They're perfect.

You've got three minutes.

-Done?

-Yeah.

-Yeah! Come on!

Oooh!

You have a vanilla panna cotta with a snap biscuit

and a rhubarb sauce.

Thank you.

It's got a wobble. It's moving.

It all works. The panna cotta is on the creamier side

but it's not overset.

And this rhubarb has just got enough sweetness to it.

There's still a bit of a bite but very nicely done and lovely texture.

The combinations of flavours are good.

The little orange brandy snap biscuits - nicely done.

It's a really luscious little pudding.

I love those biscuits with a little bit of orange running through them

and I really think that rhubarb jam is sweet and sharp

and sticky at the same time.

Absolutely delicious.

Not a single issue with it.

Beautifully made, firm panna cotta, tasting of vanilla - perfect.

Whoo!

HE GROANS

I'm feeling relieved. That was tough.

Not perfect. I know what was wrong with it

but hopefully, it'll be good enough.

In the first cookery book you ever had, there was cherries and duck.

Floppy duck will not be received well at this end of the table.

You've got four minutes, Michael.

Last 60 seconds, Michael.

That is it.

-Good afternoon.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Shall I come round this side?

Thanks.

You have in front of you pan-fried duck

with a cherry puree, rosti potato, some wilted spinach

and a pork jus.

Enjoy. Thank you.

I'm vaguely intrigued about the anatomy of this duck,

because if these are cuts across the breast

then it's going to have to be about that size.

It's the Pamela Anderson of ducks.

It actually tastes a lot better than it looks.

He's cooked it well. It's tender and there's a crispness to the skin

but for me, this could all do with a bit more seasoning.

The big busty duck met a fair end.

The cooking of the meat - accurate.

I would prefer the cherry sauce with a bit of meaty jus running through it.

Well, I like the sharp cherries. They've got a real zing to them.

He's done a damn good rosti.

This is a pretty good plate of food.

I think it's great. I love all those bits and pieces.

I love a pavlova. I quite like pears. I like chocolate sauce.

Get it right and I'll be very happy.

-Two minutes, Michael.

-OK.

-Right, are you ready to go?

-Yeah.

Thanks.

For dessert, you have a baby pear pavlova with chocolate sauce.

Good work on the pears! Really good work on the pears.

I think it looks gorgeous.

It's good meringue. It really is, isn't it?

It's got a nice gooiness to it that works very well.

It's very soft. Barely cooked.

I'm not normally a huge fan of pear

but this is delicately poached in spices,

the cream is gorgeous

and the chocolate is really good quality.

Generally, it's a good dish, a very good dish indeed.

HE CHUCKLES

That's really good. It's the cream with loads of vanilla

and then you get pear juice

and then it finishes with comforting chocolate.

That's very, very good.

-HE SIGHS

-Thank God that's over.

In the back of your mind you know how important it is.

You know if you mess this up you're going out.

I don't think it's two perfect plates but I was really pleased

with key elements of it, so yeah -

I guess we'll just have to see.

Asian salmon with coriander dressing,

sesame and chilli vegetables and coconut and lime rice.

I'm not sure which I hate more, raw salmon or overcooked salmon.

Jamie, you've got just one minute to go, mate. Come on!

Spoon, spoon, spoon, spoon...

-All right, are you ready?

-Yeah.

-Then let's go!

-Hi, there.

-Hello.

Thank you.

This is Asian salmon in a coriander dressing

with a lime and coconut rice

and stir-fried green vegetables. Thank you.

I'm really enjoying the salmon and the way that these flaky shards of filo pastry

are kind of breaking up and adding texture

and sort of a buttery, salty bite to it.

The green stuff is very, very nice, that little salsa,

and the salmon within the spring roll seems to have been seasoned quite well.

The only thing that's underseasoned are the vegetables.

It's not firing on all cylinders.

The fish wrapped in that crispy filo pastry with those wonderful Asian flavours

is a little bit overcooked and a bit dry.

The rice is also overcooked.

It's not brilliant.

-15 minutes now for your pudding. Well done.

-Thank you.

A mascarpone mousse with white chocolate curls in a tropical soup.

The tropical soup sounds like something you'd get malaria off.

Mate, you'd better move it.

You've only got about 60 seconds left.

Thanks. Thank you.

This is a mascarpone and white chocolate mousse

in a tropical fruit soup.

-Thank you very much.

-Enjoy.

The mousse is rather odd. It's got a granular texture

and it feels like it's split at some point.

The white chocolate and the mascarpone, even if had worked,

I don't think is a successful combination because it's sweet on sweet.

I long for something citrus that really cuts through it.

On this occasion, I think he's had a bit of a disappointment.

Two separate desserts that should not be together.

It promises so much but delivers so little.

HE SIGHS

I can't do any more now. I just hope they like it.

Charred mackerel with apple puree, smoked cod roe cream

and watercress oil - that sounds lovely.

How much more have you got to do?

I'm just putting these microleaves on and then I'm going in.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello, Emma.

-Hello, there.

There you go.

For your starter you've got charred mackerel

with apple puree, smoked cod roe cream

and a watercress oil.

Thank you. Enjoy!

I think it looks lovely. It looks like real restaurant dish.

That looks just about perfect, actually.

Two words - "oh" and "wow".

-This is amazing.

-It's very good.

The cod's roe just adds a lovely kind of Nordic feel to it.

The watercress oil would be really peppery if it was just watercress

but as an accent to the mackerel, it really works

and mackerel and apple puree works well.

I think this is the best dish I've ever tried

cooked by somebody who's meant to be famous for something else.

Mm.

Ooh! The smokiness that comes through that roe!

And then sweet apple, the oily, strong mackerel -

cowabunga, baby!

The fish itself is really earthy and rich and oily.

The apple is both sweet and sour, going beautifully with that.

Absolutely delicious.

Venison is hard to cook and keep tender. It's a very lean meat.

If she pulls it off the way it sounds, it could be fabulous.

-That's it.

-It looks great. Well done.

Sorry if there was a slight delay.

You've got pan-fried venison on a parsnip puree

with some buttered spring greens and a red wine and blueberry sauce.

Thank you.

The venison is fantastic.

She's got that crisp, caramelised outer layer

and then inside, absolutely meltingly tender and gorgeous.

I like the red wine sauce with the blueberries in it.

It's got a nice fruitiness to it.

A meaty, rich savoury sauce would bring the whole thing together

and finish it perfectly.

That venison's beautifully cooked. The cabbage is lovely.

The parsnip puree is a wonderful, wonderful smooth silky puree

and the blueberry sauce is a wonderful thing.

But the whole thing is underseasoned.

It's a very well executed dish

but it doesn't come alive in your mouth like her starter did.

SHE LAUGHS Oh, my word!

Oh, my word!

That was all just a blur.

I don't think I've made any massive mistakes

but it's about micro-mistakes now.

Critics day, there was a huge amount of pressure on our celebs to deliver

and I think they did themselves proud.

-Everybody pushed themselves and nobody, nobody, had a real timing issue.

-No.

Very, very good effort.

The first course from Emma, the mackerel,

with the apple, was the best thing in the room by far.

The whole thing came together and was balanced beautifully.

It looked a picture and it tasted as good.

Emma's main course, it looked amazing, the venison perfectly cooked.

Everything stacked beautifully.

But it didn't quite deliver on flavour.

Michael cooks food that people want to eat and with style

and he's now getting a little bit of finesse into his food.

The pavlova - absolutely brilliant combination.

Just a big, big pleasure with every soothing mouthful. Lovely.

I was the only one in the building that liked Danny's first course.

It was technically very, very good.

It was for me confusing as a dish.

I thought it was a great idea but I didn't want to keep on eating huge amounts of it.

As for the dessert, though, from Danny,

I thought that that's something you want to keep on going with.

You're going to eat the whole plate, aren't you?

Panna cotta, load of vanilla, sharp and sweet rhubarb -

for me, end of story, can do no wrong.

Really, really good.

Jamie today didn't reproduce some of the wonderful dishes he's produced before.

I'm not sure about that salmon inside the filo pastry, the salmon en croute.

The salmon was overcooked.

As far as the dessert's concerned,

I cannot agree with white chocolate and tropical fruit.

It doesn't work, in my mind,

and that mousse of the mascarpone didn't have any flavour.

The only flavour we had was the chocolate on the outside.

I mean, it looked fun, it was really colourful,

but it didn't quite work.

Tough decision. Who stays, who goes?

As far as we're concerned, today was a celebration of wonderful food.

Really good.

Unfortunately, one of you will leave us.

We have made our decision.

The celebrity leaving us is...

Jamie.

-Thank you so very much.

-Thank you.

-Absolutely.

A pleasure. Thank you, mate.

I'd love to have stayed in

but it just got a little bit too good for me, the competition.

I've had such a fantastic time and I've loved every minute of it.

It's been stressful, infuriating, exhilarating.

But, yeah, it was my time.

Come here! This is an amazing moment.

It's tough Jamie but I can't lie - I'm glad it's him and not me.

Can I win it? Well, I guess I've got a one in three chance.

But I'm going to go for it.

It feels amazing.

When my mum and dad find out,

I might have to have an ambulance on standby

because I suspect they might literally just pop their clogs

there and then with shock.

-Guys! Well done.

-To the finalists.

-Cheers, guys.

-Congratulations.

-Cheers.

Emma, Danny and Michael are

the Celebrity MasterChef finalists.

Next, they face a week of gruelling challenges.

-Wow!

-That's impressive.

Who actually is going to push themselves to take that title?

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