Episode 4 Celebrity MasterChef

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

MasterChef is one of the toughest things I've ever done.

These celebrities have already made a name for themselves

in their own professions.

But can they cut it in the kitchen?

I'm feeling more confident now than I did when I first started.

I want to get to the end, why not?

Why come here and half-heartedly do something?

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

This week, these three celebrities are taking on the challenge

to become the next MasterChef Champion.

No, I don't think I've shown John and Gregg my full potential.

I think the nerves got hold of me the last couple of days

and I just need to show them what I can really do.

I've enjoyed it

far more than I thought I would.

So, no, I'm really looking forward to today.

First couple of rounds were really,

really shaky for me, but in the last round, I think I improved,

and I just want to keep on improving and stay in this competition.

It's 8am.

Steve,

Javine,

and Jamie

are heading to cook in their first restaurant kitchen.

It strikes fear into my core.

I'm really excited about going to a professional restaurant.

Being in that environment,

all that nervous tension, energy.

Those three celebs may have thought they've worked hard so far.

They are about to get the shock of their lives.

This is Coq d'Argent in the City of London

which specialises in classic French cuisine.

The clientele that go in there

expect the best and they want it quick

and they want it without fault.

That is going to be tough, really hard for these guys.

They will not know what's hit them. I promise you.

Hi, guys. I'm Mickael Weiss. We are a business restaurant in the City,

we've got 150 people for lunch.

And nothing leaves this kitchen without me seeing it first,

All right? You ready? All right, follow me.

-The contestants now have three hours to prep.

-Ready?

-I've got a bit of a surprise for you.

-OK.

Lovely scallops. Orkney-caught

and dived. Beautiful.

OK.

Steve will be cooking a starter of seared scallops

with mussels in saffron,

broad beans and an aioli made from the coral of the scallop.

His first job will be to shell them.

I want everything, every single gram of meat

I want on the scallop and not on the shell.

-OK, Chef.

-Right, that's half of it.

-OK, you've got another 40 out the back. You've got an hour.

-OK, Chef.

Thanks.

Well, I've never got a scallop out of its shell before.

I've got to get through 80 in an hour.

It's over one a minute, isn't it?

So, I have no idea!

Right, you're going to have a go on this.

-Venison.

-A big bit of meat. Wow.

Javine has been put in charge of the almond-crusted venison,

parsnip puree, glazed baby carrots and amaretto sauce.

-That's yours to prep.

-Wow.

Now, the haunch is made of about five or six different muscles.

-We remove each muscle individually.

-Fantastic.

Never worked with a piece of meat this size in my life.

I've never worked with venison before.

It's all a new process, so I'm going to try to do my best at this.

-Right, Jamie.

-Oui. C'est un grand poisson.

-You know what this is?

-Is it a monkfish?

-It's a monkfish.

Always sold without the head because their head is so ugly

that it actually cannot be seen.

Jamie will cook a roasted monkfish, pomme fondant and braised fennel.

So it's important we cut it the right weight.

If you move too much down,

customers are not going to be happy about paying 26 quid for a dish.

-Is that how much it costs?

-That's how much it's going to cost.

And then if you cut it too big, I'm going to lose a lot of money.

It needs to be right. You know how much 180g looks like, 190g?

I think so, yeah.

-Jamie, you seen it done?

-Yes.

-Confident?

-Yes.

Right, that's yours.

Thank you, Chef.

OK, that's a big fish.

OK!

Let's do it.

Jamie must skin and remove the membrane from the monkfish.

Am I doing it OK?

It's OK. Just tidy up. Call me before cutting it.

Ooh...

-Ooh, you see that? Mine are completely clean.

-Yes.

And this is just coming a little bit like that.

-When you do that...

-Yeah?

-You're damaging the surface of the scallops.

-You see that?

-Uh-oh.

-See the difference.

-Yep, I do.

-But we still have another 40 scallops to do.

-Yep.

All of these need to be prepped and clean. The mussel, the bobbins,

the saffron sauce,

and we open in less than an hour so we need to crack on.

-OK, Chef.

-All right?

-Yes, Chef.

-Good job.

-How are you getting on?

-OK, I just want to get it

as clean as possible for you.

15, 20 minutes, down,

-you've prepped this so far.

-Yeah. Get a move on.

-Crack on.

-OK.

Goodness.

It's like having my mum in the kitchen.

-It's a bit big.

-Did you cut this?

Yeah.

-It's good. A bit small.

-Yeah.

See, those you cut, you've got one at 180 grams, and one at 210 grams.

-Which one would you rather have?

-210.

-Yeah.

191. It's not bad.

There's now only 40 minutes till service

and Steve is still prepping his scallops.

Hi, Steve. Are you running a bit behind? Shona is going to show you

-how to prep these, give you a hand with these.

-OK.

-OK.

OK, good luck.

It's easier to take all of this off, like this

and then you have a whole scallop like that.

We did have to pull in a little help, but as it works out,

I've managed to find the only female Swedish chef in the whole kitchen.

So things could be worse.

It's 12 o'clock and the first customers are starting to arrive.

Lunchtime, it's got to be fast, it's got to be good,

so I'm concerned about having amateurs in the kitchen.

We usually have a well-oiled machine, everybody knows what they're doing.

It's going to be quite a challenge for me and for them.

OK, guys, we've got scallop, vegetable side,

pork cheeks, two venison.

Yes, Chef!

One on order, I'll show you the first one and then I'll leave you to it.

OK.

-Three scallops?

-Three scallops on order.

-Right, OK, so we've got four scallops on now.

-OK.

-So it's almost done.

-Feel it. Those are soft.

-Yeah, yeah.

-If you overcook them, they become completely rubbery.

-OK.

-Every single plate like this.

-OK.

-All our customers,

that's what they want. They don't want anything else.

Service has started,

checks are pouring in, you can't fall behind now.

Yes, Chef. OK.

-Check order, two scallop!

-Yes, Chef!

Javine has three orders on the go.

-Javine, how long for those three venison?

-Three minutes, Chef.

-You've got another five on order, yeah?

-Oh, my God.

-Five more venison on order.

-Yes, Chef.

-Right, let's go.

I'm feeling pretty laid-back, pretty chilled, pretty in control.

You know.

Piece of cake.

Jamie!

-Two monkfish, check on. Two monkfish.

-Yes, Chef.

-It's like a piece of meat. It needs to be seared.

-OK.

-Take them out now.

-Take them out?

-You're boiling them at the moment.

See that? That's boiling. Out.

-New pan, nice and hot. Sear them. Sear.

-OK.

Didn't quite get the pan hot enough

so rather than searing the monkfish,

it was just boiling a bit underneath,

so it's had to go.

Quite an expensive mistake.

-Steve, two more? I need three more. Three more.

-Yes, Chef.

-Yeah?

Scallops are going mad. Mad.

More scallops? Honest to God!

Hey, no, just remember, don't panic, one thing at a time.

You're doing four the same time,

I've got your plates under the salamander.

-Two.

-Four at the same time. You've got two tables at once.

I've not got enough scallops on.

How many scallops on order?

Yes, sorry, I thought it was four scallops not four on order,

-so I need to catch up.

-Can you cook them now, yeah?

-Are they cooking?

-No, not cooking.

-Get them on.

Get them on, otherwise people will be waiting too long.

-OK, Chef.

-Get the other one on.

Now I'm two plates behind. So I've got to play catch-up.

Where are the scallops, again?

Service!

Is that OK, Chef?

You put all the salads at the front here. Nothing left at the back now.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes, Chef. OK, Chef.

I feel like I'm getting hammered here, mate.

It's scallops, scallops, scallops. It's non-stop.

-Check on. Two venison.

-Yes, Chef.

Javine, now.

The parsnip's the wrong way up, we want the nice golden smooth part.

That's it.

-Stop, stop. Can I show you again?

-Yes.

-When you do it, just be a bit more...

-OK, free.

-Yes?

Not from a height.

-OK.

-Otherwise it's just...

We need to clean that up.

-It's a bit too much sauce.

-Yeah, I can see that. Sorry, Chef.

-That's much better. OK, that's good to go. Ready?

-Great.

There's me thinking it was all easy, chilling out a little bit,

acting the cool one and then the pressure's on.

My plates have been a bit messy

so I've been in a bit of trouble with Mickael, the chef,

but I'm going to try the next plate,

I'm going to have to try and do a better job.

-Check on, no starter, one salmon and one more venison.

-Yes, Chef!

Jamie has two orders.

-Monkfish cooked, yeah?

-Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.

-Fish! After that, get ready for three more monkfish.

-Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.

-We need to start on the plating, yeah? Now.

-Plating?

We're falling a bit behind. These people need to...they need to eat.

Start plating, yeah?

Oh-la-la.

And the monkfish, it should be served the other way. That's the belly.

-The belly comes at the bottom.

-OK.

Right, get another plate, please, quickly. I'll show you again, yeah?

Get it there, pull it through.

Belly at the bottom. OK, let's go. Fennell on that.

Right, this monkfish is overcooking here.

-Yeah.

-It's not the same when six or nine of them are on order, is it?

Ow!

Hat problem. Hat problem!

Bon, bon.

-Steve. Steve!

-Yes, Chef?

-Scallop with a main course in three minutes.

-I think that's going to be the last scallops of the day.

-Yes, Chef.

It's been manic. It feels like it's been scallop express.

It's just nuts!

OK, Chef. Service.

Thank you.

-Right, happy?

-I was happy with that, yes, Chef.

-Yeah? Good.

Done very well. Well done. It's looking good.

-I'm made up with that, Chef. Thank you.

-I know.

They were delicious. Absolutely superb. Scallops really well cooked.

Sauce, very light, very fresh. A delicious starter.

Guys, we're going on a venison, a salmon and a rossini. Yeah?

Last venison for today.

Make sure it's perfect. Finish on a high note.

This is my last chance to show Mickael,

the chef, that I can do it.

Here we go.

-Here you go, Chef.

-Thank you.

I mean, that's probably the best plate, yeah? On the last one?

-I think so.

-Very good. Well done.

-Thank you, Chef.

I had the venison.

It was very nicely presented and it was very good.

Very delicious.

-All right, Jamie, last one.

-Yep.

Last one of the day, make sure it's perfect.

Always finish on a high note.

-Yep.

-Only perfect. Let's get on it.

Service.

-Last plate?

-Yeah.

-Happy with it?

-Yeah.

-You sure?

-Yeah.

-Something is missing.

-Oh, yeah!

-Yeah.

The fish is nicely cooked, that's a little bit too brown.

-It's a bit messy, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's not quite... It was a better plate on the one before, yeah?

-Yeah.

OK, so we are going to re-plate that one again,

-for your last one.

-Yeah.

-Stay there.

-Up it goes?

-Yeah.

-OK, that's good.

-That's much better this time.

-Thank you, Chef. Thank you.

I had the monkfish for main course,

which was beautifully made, very well cooked.

I always think monkfish is a bit dry, but this was perfect for me.

OK, guys, done with the service. Thank you very much, yeah?

Thanks, Chef.

Well done, Chef.

Phew! That last one he said that it was a perfect plate.

I feel fantastic. The energy is absolutely amazing.

These guys work really hard and I've learnt so much from them.

I really enjoyed it.

You know, it was like sport. It was like competing, you know?

The adrenaline rush of people shouting stuff.

It was a fantastic experience.

That was tiring, exhausting.

You know, I've eaten in restaurants many times,

but I had no idea what happens on the other side of it.

And I don't know how these guys do it.

A tough service is over,

but the celebrities now face another challenge - to cook

one of Chef Mickael Weiss' most popular dishes...

Steak tartare.

Steak tartare sounds really simple,

but nothing is simple at Coq d'Argent.

It has got 15 different ingredients.

I'm going to be looking at the way the meat is cut.

It's really important that all the pieces are the same size.

The way it is seasoned.

There is nothing more terrible than a badly-seasoned tartare.

Now, the egg we have half prepped for you.

Basically, the egg is already half cooked.

All I want is to recover the egg yolk from it.

It's going to go into flour.

From the egg yolk, into the breadcrumb.

And now I'm going to deep fry it.

It goes in the oil literally 30 seconds.

It's gone in three minutes.

It could be three minutes of hell, or three minutes of heaven.

And now for the final touch, nice, hot egg on top.

The egg is ready when it's crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.

Well, that is the dish, all right? Do me proud.

-I'm looking forward to taste it all.

-Thanks, Chef.

-Thanks, Chef.

Generally, if a meat comes out cold in Liverpool,

we'll send it back to the kitchen.

This is testing both my knife skills and my patience to the limit.

This is too fiddly for a 6'5", 17½ stone swimmer.

I'm not sure how it tastes, but I'm pleased with it.

I think that's it.

It tastes pretty good to me, but I'm not sure how Chef likes it,

so hopefully he'll be suitably impressed.

The presentation is OK. You have some beautiful leaves,

loads of different coloured salads, you didn't use them.

-A bit of a shame.

-Yep.

But, you know, it's all in the taste, so the egg first.

Just... Ooh, oh. Just a little bit overcooked.

Now, with steak tartare, we are looking at pieces,

-you know, about that big. You see that?

-Yeah.

That is a bit more than a dice, isn't it?

There's like half a steak there..

-Yeah, too big.

-Taste wise, though, seasoning is good.

I like it with a bit more spice into it, a bit more Tabasco.

Otherwise, it's a good try.

You've done a great job today with the scallops.

I know you were a bit under pressure.

-Overall, a really good job. Thank you very much.

-Thank you, Chef.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

It is just so pressurised to cook for such a great chef.

You know, his favourite dish.

I come out of all of these challenges

a little bit pleased and a little bit disappointed,

because you now know exactly how it should be done.

So, I'd love to have another stab at it. But, um,

it was a lot of fun today.

As you can see, my knife skills are not the best.

I'm not even sure how this is exactly supposed to taste

because I don't really eat things like this.

It might need a bit more seasoning.

I'm nervous about doing this egg. Here we go.

He told us to leave it in for 30 to 45 seconds. That's all I can do.

OK, it's looking a bit on the brown side.

There's not anything really I can do about it at this stage.

So, I have to crack on.

So, the egg, we know it's overcooked.

It's supposed to be crunchy on the outside.

We've managed that one, haven't we?

Oh.

It's just not there any more - it's just exploded inside.

But I like the look of the rest, the tartare.

Nicely chopped, even small dice, which is nice.

Good element of herbs in there.

I like the seasoning, it's really good.

Really, really nice.

Yeah, it's a shame about the egg, really. The rest is so good.

But, you know, I think you had a really good day today.

-I hope you had a good time.

-Yes, I did.

-Best of luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, bye-bye.

I'm actually really disappointed now,

once I've taken the plate of food out.

I'm sure if I'd done it again, I'd get it right this time.

But I don't have that choice, do I?

Aye, aye, aye, aye!

That is not good enough.

You want to get it nice and fine, without chopping your hand off.

It needs more of a kick, I think. A bit of Tabasco. Hang on.

I normally like my eggs scrambled.

There is every chance that this one might end up that way.

This is going to be spectacular.

There you go, sir.

In presentation, it is OK.

Seasoning wise...

Whoa! You like the spice, don't you?

With the dicing of the beef...

You can see the discrepancy here between a dice,

which is just bit big, and then this one.

This one is not going to be as cooked as this one.

It is going to be a bit tough.

The egg looks good. It should be nice and crunchy on the outside,

which it is, runny in the middle.

Very well cooked.

Nicely cooked, the egg, really good job.

A great job today, best of luck.

OK. Thank you. Thank you, Chef.

That's probably the toughest test we've done so far.

Chef found it a little too peppery, but apart from that,

I think I did OK.

The presentation was good, I thought.

He liked my egg. So, all in all, not too bad.

I was impressed that they were all very willing to do it,

and that is really important.

Steve, slightly nervous before service today

because he had to cook with a lot of scallops coming through.

But he kept his cool and just dug in today and did it.

That's a really good skill to have.

I got a lot of confidence from today, you know?

And there's a little bit inside me that wants to be a cook.

I want to prove what I can do.

Jamie, you know, is the funny guy.

He's a little more cocky than the others, maybe!

When he came to the crunch during service, he panicked a little bit.

But overall, I think Jamie did well.

He just needs to think a bit more and keep your head cool.

Today has been fantastic.

It's the kind of experience you would never

be able to get anywhere else.

A lot I have learned and a lot to work on.

I'm really looking forward to the next challenge.

I really like Javine. Great attitude at work.

Her meat, today, perfectly cooked, every single piece.

I think Javine did very well.

She is conscientious, she just hasn't got all the skills yet,

you know,

but she's willing to learn. And that is quite an attribute to her.

I've learned so much today and just

the environment of being in a professional kitchen,

it was a privilege to be in there.

Tomorrow is a big day, it's our last day.

One of us could be out, so I need to really push,

push a little bit more now.

Tomorrow night, the battle for a place in the final eight

reaches its climax...

Yay!

Ah!

..as the celebrities face their harshest critics yet.

-Oh, my Lord.

-That could have been beautiful.

Could have been, but wasn't.

Only the best will make it.

-You think it's not cooked?

-Another couple of minutes won't harm.

The person leaving us is...

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