Episode 1 Celebrity MasterChef

It's Celebrity MasterChef.

We've got 16 celebs all hoping to show off their cooking talent.

I'm totally competitive, I have to win at everything.

They've proved themselves in their own profession,

now let's see if they can cut it in the kitchen.

I'm definitely serious about it.

I don't want to look like an idiot.

I believe I can win.

I'd be so chuffed.

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

Oi! That's my line.

These four celebrities are competing to be

the next MasterChef champion...

but at the end of this week, only the best cooks will go through.

I'm going to try and stick to things that I know I can cook

and just cook them well.

I'm not good at multitasking.

'I'm not that bothered about meeting John and Gregg.'

I'm just more worried about what I might have written about them

in my newspaper columns.

I think I said something really appalling about Gregg the other week!

'I like to get things right,

'but I'm not going to fall apart if it goes wrong'

and you can rescue almost anything with a big dollop of butter.

I would LOVE to win MasterChef.

I hope they like family food.

Four celebrities who believe they have skill,

who believe they can cook - well, they're about to find out.

I know we're going to find a star.

We've had some brilliant Celebrity MasterChef champions.

Welcome to MasterChef.

This is your opportunity to show the whole nation

what a marvellous cook you are.

THEY LAUGH

Your first task is the mystery box.

Under that box

you've got a set of ingredients and we want you to cook...

one dish.

Contestants...

lift the box.

KATY LAUGHS

There's an alien in my kitchen.

Today's main ingredient is a spider crab.

The box also includes filo pastry,

pineapple,

spinach,

chilli,

spring onions,

pistachio nuts,

brandy and an orange.

We are going to give you 50 minutes.

Ladies...

..let's cook.

KATY LAUGHS

Ugh!

I haven't got a clue what to do with crab.

Spider crab - a big, ugly creature

with beautiful sweet white meat

and spicy brown meat inside the body.

Not easy to battle with and they've got to produce for us

one fantastic dish, a dish that actually shows they can cook.

Sugababe Heidi Range loves good food,

but most of her culinary experience

comes from eating in restaurants rather than cooking herself.

I do eat out quite a lot...

which I guess is bad in a way,

because I should have been at home practising cooking!

-Hello, Heidi.

-Hello.

-Forgive me, but you look a little nervous.

I haven't got a clue what to do

because crab is one of the only fish I've never cooked.

-What brings you to MasterChef?

-I love cooking.

When I was touring with the band all the time, I didn't really get

to cook so if I did have a day off, I used to love getting

my recipe books out and trying something completely new,

but that was with a bottle of wine and a whole day

and my favourite album playing.

-Heidi, your hands are visibly shaking - you are that nervous.

-Yes.

What's the biggest audience you've ever performed in front of?

-90,000.

-And you are nervous chopping an onion?

-Yeah.

-How's that?

-Cos I know I can sing...

but I don't know if I can cook.

Heidi seems to like food,

but she's not quite sure what that dish is going to be.

Considering Heidi's been shaking more than a castanet,

I'll tell you what - she's doing all right.

Journalist and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter

worked as a waitress in her teens,

but her love of cooking came later.

I didn't do cookery at school.

'I didn't learn to cook till I was in my 20s.'

I wasn't very confident about it.

I remember buying my first chicken

and I had no idea which end you put the stuffing in and what you did.

'So that was a bit off-putting.'

-Janet...

-Yes?

-Have you decided on what you're going to cook for us?

I could do something in this.

I could make Gregg a hat out of it or something.

Yeah, you could do, or you could...

Do you have an idea what you're going to cook?

Or no idea at all yet?

-I like the crab, I like the spinach...

-Good.

I could make, um...

So the answer is no, you haven't decided yet.

-No.

-What other things do you like to cook, Janet?

I like what I call homely cooking.

I cook a lot of game. I eat roadkill. If I see pheasant or rabbit

that's been hit by a car. I'll pick it up

and pluck it all, you know, skin it and eat it.

So you're not faint-hearted at all, are you, on food?

-No, no, no, no, no.

-Good.

Well, we're excited by this, Janet.

Cook us something delicious, something you want to eat.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

Janet wasn't quite sure what to do. Now she's focused.

We've got ourselves some crab cakes with potato through them

and flavoured with chilli and tarragon.

I don't know what else Janet's going to put with that

to make it really tasty.

Stopped shaking yet?

-They're still shaking.

-They are still shaking.

Contestants, half an hour has gone. You have 20 minutes left.

Comedian and writer Katy Brand learned to cook from her mum.

'I have no idea if I have a good palate.'

It's one of those things, like a sense of humour, isn't it?

Everyone thinks they've got a great palate. But I guess I'll find out.

Unlike the other three cooks in the room, Katy,

you've got a smile on your face, which fills me with confidence.

What are the links between comedy and food?

Well, there aren't very many because most comedians

when you're on the road, it's all about having a sort of

petrol station pasty at midnight on the way back from a gig.

What are you going to cook for us?

I think I'm going to make some sort of crab ravioli

with some sort of lemon butter sauce

maybe with a bit of chilli in it.

-And spinach.

-And spinach in the ravioli.

How many times have you made ravioli?

Never, I've never made ravioli.

I've never taken a crab apart. I'm slightly fudging it!

-Righto, Katy.

-OK.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

Katy is being so ambitious.

Crab ravioli, wilted spinach - that is really ambitious.

I hope she has the skill to pull it off.

Looks a bit runny. Oh, my God!

Jo Wood, who was married to Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for 26 years,

has always enjoyed cooking for her family.

The only pressure I've ever had is my kids saying,

"When's dinner going to be ready?"

'So I don't know what I'm going to be like under...'

EXTREME pressure!

You seem to know what you're doing.

Oh, you're kidding!

No, look, you look ordered to me. How much cooking do you do?

Um, I love cooking. I cook for my family though, just for my family.

-Who's in the family?

-Kids, grandchildren - the lot.

You're a grandmother?

I'm about to have my seventh!

-What?!

-Yeah!

The eldest one's 13.

Tell us the dish, Jo.

I'm just doing crab cakes, that's the first thing that came to mind.

What do you want from MasterChef?

To be able to produce a beautiful plate of food.

I like to cook, but I've never cooked in a way that...

present it beautifully and just refine it a bit more - well, a lot more.

If you can make flavour, we can teach presentation.

Cool! All right, you've got a deal.

-All right. Cheers, mate!

-Good luck, Jo.

Ladies, last ten minutes.

Oh!

I've no idea if this is right or wrong.

Last 60 seconds.

That's it - stop.

First up is Janet, who has made

tarragon, chilli and spring onion crab cakes,

with a spinach salad and an orange dressing.

You knew you wanted to use the shell.

Once you've decided to make crab cakes, there really is no use for

the shell, but you wanted to use it, so you've put a spinach salad in it.

Yeah, are you complaining or stating?

I think the only reason to use the shell is to serve crab meat in it,

not to serve a salad in it.

Well, we'll have to agree to differ on that, Gregg.

Well, then I'm really pleased that I make the decision

whether you advance or not, and not you.

-Do you know, I like the lot, I like the whole lot.

-Thank you.

I really like those crab cakes which are soft, sweet from the crab,

and then the confetti of chilli and tarragon

and raw spring onion, which you just crunch into,

explodes in your mouth and makes it really something quite delicious.

If I've got one tiny comment...

get a bit of crispness on the outside of that crab cake,

give it a bit of texture, cos the inside is lovely and soft.

If you'd got texture on the outside, it would have been

an absolute joy, but I am really, really pleased.

-Thank you.

-That all tastes really nice.

There's a sweetness that prevails through all of it.

The orange juice on the spinach is inspired, it's got pepper

on there as well, because it just gives it a little sweet freshness.

Really nice. Right, so you're happy?

Yeah, I'm happy, Gregg. We haven't fallen out yet.

Here's the other bit of sound advice -

make friends with the judges.

I'm trying to be humble, but it doesn't come naturally!

I've never seen you so pleasant in all my life!

-It's brilliant!

-Yeah, I won't last much longer.

-Well done.

-Thank you, Janet.

-Thank you.

I thought they were very nice about my dish.

They were nicer than I thought they were going to be.

I wouldn't have moaned about it being not cooked enough

on the outside.

I thought the outside looked fine.

Heidi is serving the crab on a bed of spinach, with a tomato,

chilli and lemon dressing.

You've certainly got an eye for decoration.

This is the best looking dish in the room.

You've got a lot of quality white crab meat from that crab

and there is no one bit of cartilage or shell in there.

Well done.

I also really like the tomato, onion,

chilli sauce that you've got going through the crab.

I think that's great.

Your spinach underneath has either got to be cooked or not cooked.

We've got bits which are all sloppy and soggy

and we've got bits which are crunchy and stuck in my teeth.

Look, it's not the most ambitious,

it's not the most skilled dish in the room, but it looks good.

-It's got promise.

-Thank you.

I was glad that they liked my presentation...

but I'm just disappointed I couldn't come up with

something that showed more.

Katy has made crab and spinach ravioli

with a tomato concasse, in a lemon, chilli and butter sauce.

-I'm really impressed. It looks great.

-Thank you.

Wonderful ravioli, really light, full of flavour, but...

-that sauce is a little wishy-washy, a little watery.

-OK.

-Cos you made it from boiling up shells.

-Mm-hm.

I agree with Gregg.

-If you want to make a sauce from crab, fry the bones first.

-Oh, OK.

Fry the bones and then put something in there to thicken it,

then your water and you'll get a lot more flavour.

But I'm still going to say I'm really impressed.

I think it's really tasty, really well-seasoned

and the real richness of your crab inside that ravioli which is

beautifully made. And at this stage of the competition, good on you.

Thank you.

'It didn't go too badly. I just feel slightly'

in disbelief that I actually

did get it resembling ravioli, cos I just...

Literally

all that was going like ticker tape was, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

Finally, Jo has made crab cakes, served with wilted spinach,

sliced tomato and a tarragon vinaigrette.

Nice idea. However,

if you look down at them they're both different colours.

Yeah, I know, I thought I'd give you a little variety and colour.

Did you really?

-No!

-You didn't, did you?

-No.

Jo, you really struggled with the texture of your crab cakes cos

-the mix was quite wet and quite loose.

-Yes.

But actually that's to your benefit, because those crab cakes are lovely

and moist, they're really flavoursome and you've got a decent palate

because everything on that plate is really well seasoned.

I've got to say I'm impressed. I'm really impressed.

I think you've got a bit of work to do, but this is a good start, Jo.

OK, thank you.

I like your tomatoes - really fresh, with the tarragon vinaigrette

gives it a nice aniseed tang.

I really like the spinach.

Love the flavour of the crab cakes.

I'd like them a little smaller, but I'm not sure I want to eat them

with A - a cold salad,

-and B - hot spinach.

-Yeah. OK.

That went OK. That wasn't as bad as what I thought it was going to be.

That was a pretty good start.

Right, you're going to go and get a break

and we've got a cracking test for you coming up.

-Go on, off you go.

-Oh, God!

I'm really surprised. All four got stuck into that crab.

Yes, there's mistakes around the room,

that's fair enough, but some really good flavour balances.

Heidi - a little bit more confidence, please.

Katy - continue doing what you're doing.

Jo, just a little bit of refinement.

And Janet - I'll tell you what,

Janet's going to be a force to be reckoned with.

-Are you scared of Janet?

-No!

-Not Janet!

-She's ferocious.

In the next round, you and I will find out

if they really know what they're doing.

This is a palate test. I'm going to cook a dish.

Once they have tasted it, we're going to ask them to recreate it -

without a recipe.

The dish is Chinese spiced duck breast, with duck dumplings

and a spicy noodle soup.

So the first thing really is to get the bones

so that we can make the stock.

We're going to ask them to take the breast off the duck.

Put that to one side.

And now let it cook.

Carrot...

Are you going to give THEM a cleaver?

Yeah.

Great. You watch them prepare the duck, I'll catch the fingers.

Peppercorns. So that's two star anise,

ad then the veg.

Some colour on our bones.

And just pour the chicken stock over the top.

We've made the stock, but now we actually want to make the soup.

The root of the coriander,

a chilli, split...

-and then some ginger.

-Ah!

And then some star anise.

They're not going to get it, John. They're not going to get it.

-You've been too ambitious.

-Pour your stock over your aromats...

And then the infusion starts to happen.

That's it.

With the soup cooking, the next stage is the duck breast.

So score the skin, cos as the skin cooks, the skin shrinks,

and as it shrinks it shrinks the meat. So it makes the meat tough.

Season the duck itself with lots and lots of five spice.

Rub it into the skin of the duck.

Skin side down into the cold pan.

DUCK CRACKLES

So, the duck... There's crispiness around the outside of the skin.

And that now goes in the oven for five minutes.

And now to make the dumplings - little wontons.

There's our boned-out leg of duck.

So there's our mince.

Spring onions and duck into a bowl.

Soy sauce.

Sesame oil.

Take the dumpling wrapper itself, a little

bit of water round the outside, and then a small amount of filling.

Take our dumplings, and drop them into...

our stock.

Now, they're only going to take a minute or so, not very long at all.

So the duck now has to come out.

-Mmm!

-And now let it sit and rest.

So noodles in the bottom, they don't need to be cooked,

they're just going to be reheated.

A little bit of our garnish around the outside...

and you get the dumplings out.

And it's still a little bit pink.

Mmm!

Perfect!

Strain the stock.

And then just pour that over the top of the duck and the noodles.

So that's our five spice duck and noodle and dumpling soup.

That is multi-flavoured and complex, and this is a tough task.

Well, there's only one way to see if they can cook it.

Let's get them in.

This is the palate test.

Because you cooked so well for us...

I've cooked you a dish.

Taste the dish...

write down as many flavours and ingredients as you possibly can.

Off you go.

You don't know how many ingredients you're supposed to be looking for,

so, in a way, it's kind of, "How long is a piece of string?"

It's nice though.

Give me another 15 minutes, I'll eat it all.

Not too sure about the meat.

I'm not sure if that's pork or lamb. Oh, God!

(I feel like I've gone back to school.)

I don't cook Chinese food at all,

but I know that's a sliced duck breast.

I think they're pork dumplings with spring onion, and that's beef.

I've eaten many dishes like this. I've not cooked one though.

Now you've tasted John's dish, we are

going to give you the opportunity of making that dish.

Underneath the sackcloth on your bench are all the ingredients

that went into making John's dish...

and there are some ingredients there that didn't.

You have one hour.

Ladies, let's cook.

The ingredients have been separated into three groups...

those to make the dumplings...

those to make the soup, including the bones for the stock...

and a selection of proteins including chicken and pork,

but there is only duck used in John's dish.

The palate test is great because it tells us a lot about the cooks

and the way they taste food - and a great cook, as we know,

has to have a decent palate.

They've got to understand how flavours work or don't work together.

I'm not confident.

I haven't got the first idea to be honest and, if in doubt,

I'll just put a load of gravy browning in the soup

and it'll at least look the right colour.

As yet, it's only Janet

and Katy that have identified the meat as duck!

Janet knows how to bone a duck, that's for sure.

I don't know how good her palate is, but she's good with a knife.

Whilst Janet and Katy have correctly identified the duck breast...

Heidi has mistakenly chosen the pork.

What have you got there?

This is the pork. I'm just browning it off and then

I'm going to put it in the oven.

Good. What's on the outside of it?

It's the Chinese five spice.

So you worked out there was something on top, didn't you, before?

I tasted the two and that tasted most like the spice that

was on it, because I couldn't work out what spice it was.

Heidi might have got the meat wrong, but she's recognised the five spice.

-That's right.

-I'll tell you what, she may not know her meat,

but she's got a decent palate. She can taste it.

Time flies when you're having fun. You've had 20 minutes.

20 minutes gone, 40 minutes left.

I'll cook this up, add the stock, and then I'll strain that.

Cook the noodles... I don't know!

Jo has also decided to use the duck breast,

but she's chosen the chicken to use in the dumplings.

Oh, no, it's quite strong.

Jo's not particularly confident, I've got to say,

but she is now pushing ahead, she's looked at the ingredients.

Now, she may not have been able to taste it correctly,

I just hope she can make the dish and make it something quite special.

I'm making stock, but I realised you'd given me some.

It's not a bad thing, is it? To make a richer stock?

I make it all the time.

So what have you got in there then?

I roasted off the duck carcass, the bones that were on the inside...

And have you got the duck done?

-I've seared the duck off, yes.

-What's on top of the duck?

-I rubbed it with the spices.

-Good.

Janet seems to be getting on with it very, very well indeed,

and I'm pretty confident we're going to get a decent dish from her

unless something goes badly wrong right now.

I'm most worried about getting the stock right and the dumplings.

I've never made dumplings.

Do you know what?

As long as it's something nice to taste, I'll be happy.

I haven't got a clue if this is how you make dumplings.

I don't know if you cook the meat before you steam them, or you...

SHE SIGHS

She actually thinks she's mincing up pork,

but she's mincing up duck to go in the dumplings -

she's going to get the dumplings right by default.

You are halfway. You've got 30 minutes left.

-What you got in there?

-I've got chicken in here, John.

And what else have you got in there?

I've got spring onion, some garlic, some sesame oil

and a little splash of soy sauce.

Not bad, actually.

Last ten minutes.

It tastes exactly the same. It doesn't matter what Gregg says.

You should be thinking about plating up your dishes now.

If you aren't already, you have six minutes left.

Right, that's it. Time's up. Stop! Stop, stop, stop!

Bring your plates up.

Let me tell you what I did for you.

I made you a five spice duck and noodle soup, with duck

dumplings flavoured with sesame oil and spring onions.

Heidi, shall we start with you?

We seem to have a little problem here, Mr Wallace.

-That's not a duck.

-I know.

It's, uh, pork.

What sort of meat have we got in the dumplings?

-Pork, I think.

-No, duck.

Which is interesting!

I'll go to the butcher's later.

I'll spend the evening in the butcher's.

Whoa!

Wow! That's spicy.

HE GASPS

How many of these little boys did you put in there?

-Three.

-Three!

-Three on top.

That broth is really fiery,

and I'm absolutely fine with that.

I love the chilli, the ginger and the strength in there, I really do.

I also love the softness and the flavour of your dumplings.

There's a sweetness to them as well. I like it.

The dumplings are a little bit overcooked, but you did grind the

meat up and then cook it before they were filled,

and there needs to be raw meat inside the dumplings.

Um, pork, it's nice enough. It's got the five spice round the outside.

Your cooking's not bad at all,

your ability to identify animals maybe needs some work.

Yeah.

The second round went much better for me.

I still put the wrong meat in!

But...do you know what? I've learned so much today.

Katy...

-Inside the dumpling there's chicken, not duck.

-Yes.

The flavours in your dumplings are really, really good

with the spring onions and the sesame oil and the soy sauce.

I love the flecks of chilli and coriander across the top.

Really generous. That gives it a bursting flavour of Asia, but,

for me, that broth could be so much more special.

Your duck is cooked nicely, it's got the sweetness of the five spice

across the top, noodles are cooked. I love the chilli and the coriander.

The broth has all the flavour there, just not in enough power.

It's pretty close and it's pretty good.

I don't know if I PROVED to them that I've got a good palate,

but I definitely feel more confident in my palate now.

Janet.

It was really impressive to watch you work, and then for some reason at the

end, you put the whole lot together and brought it up to the boil.

That's what you've done wrong, because it was beautifully cooked,

it had a lovely pink running through it.

Now that it's been boiled it's gone grey

and it's starting to curl up like the sole of your shoe.

Actually, you know, there's some interesting flavours

and your technique is fantastic.

If you look at John's dish, it had form, it had shape.

You've served it all like a great big stew.

I can't see what's wrong with the way I've served it.

You're trying to make me serve it like I'm in a restaurant,

and I categorically can't do that.

I'm serving it like you'd have it at home, right?

So, yeah, they've done it more like you

because they've crawled up to you and they done it with all that down

the side, and I completely accept

that I brought it to the boil.

So I'm eating humble pie, Gregg.

Jo, look at the colour and the sheen on your broth. That is fantastic.

-I think your dish looks stunning.

-Oh, thank you.

Your dumplings have fallen apart

and so they've just got completely wet inside.

-Yeah.

-And they're made out of minced chicken instead of duck.

That's the bad point. The rest of it is really, really good.

That broth is lovely -

chilli, ginger, sweetness and depth. I love it.

-You should be really pleased with yourself, Jo.

-Thank you.

Your duck is a little bit chewy

-because you need to score the skin before you cook it.

-Yeah.

Jo, I think you've done a great job. I'm really pleased for you.

Thank you.

-You all right?

-Yeah, I'm good. I'm pleased about that. Oh, my God!

-You're blushing, Jo.

-I know!

I haven't blushed for years.

Um... Oh, good!

Well done, Jo.

-What about her presentation?

-Fabulous.

And the fact that it's beside your scruffy offering

-makes it look even better.

-Mine looks a mess now

-because you've been fiddling around with it.

-Janet,

can I just say, you're the only person in the room

who did the duck on top and the duck in the dumplings.

The only person who did the meat right on both bits.

-There you go.

-I feel a bit better now.

Today, I've got to say, it's a bit of a success.

Now, I would suggest you get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow...

we've got something really exciting for you to do.

Thank you. Off you go.

Oh, my gosh! What have we got to do tomorrow?

What a great start. Today we have had eight edible dishes.

Heidi's got a great eye for presentation,

some good flavour ideas as well - she just needs a shot of confidence.

Today was terrifying, so whatever comes tomorrow...

I'm sure I'll be shaking again,

but I could come out with a little corker,

couldn't I? I don't know, so, you know, I'll just keep trying.

Katy continues to impress, John.

We've got a cook on our hands - no doubt about it.

If you had told me this morning

what I would have made by the end of the day,

I just wouldn't have believed that

because everything I've done today I've never done before.

Jo made a few mistakes and she didn't quite know what she was doing,

but her food tastes good.

After our comments today, I'll tell you what, it's given Jo a real lift.

She really now is enjoying this competition

and wants more of it, I can tell.

I think all their comments were really, really fair,

especially when they were such lovely ones.

So I was thrilled with that. Yeah, I'm really excited.

I can't wait to see what we've got going on tomorrow.

What I don't understand about Janet - she loves the preparation,

she doesn't like the presentation.

Well, I'd better learn to be grateful for a slight praise by tomorrow.

I'd better learn a bit of humility.

But, you know, I'm 66 years old.

It's not going to happen overnight, is it?

I'll tell you what, tomorrow is going to be reality.

From two dishes in the MasterChef kitchen...

to the general public. We're going to send them out into the real world.

They've survived the MasterChef kitchen.

Now the four celebrities are being sent into

the high-pressure world of mass catering.

Our cooks are in for a shock.

There's no way in the world these four have encountered

anything like today's challenge.

Cooking in volume and cooking as a team

for an extraordinary array of customers.

Here at the formidable Royal Albert Hall

Cirque du Soleil, the globally renowned human circus,

are halfway through their London tour.

Famed for their gravity-defying acrobatics,

these performers have entertained over 100 million people worldwide.

Welcome to the iconic Royal Albert Hall.

This afternoon, there is a matinee performance

of the extraordinary Cirque du Soleil.

You are catering their lunch.

We're going to split you into two teams.

Team one - Janet and Katy.

-Team two - Jo and Heidi.

-Cool.

Guys, today you are going to cater, between you all,

for over 100 people.

This afternoon's performance is at 3:30.

That means that all the performers must be able to have time to

digest their food.

Lunch is at one o'clock, you cannot be late.

Are you looking at me?

THEY LAUGH

Good luck.

Off you go.

Thank you.

Today's matinee performance will be watched over 4,000 people.

Making sure things stay on track in the kitchen

is Head Chef Agustina Ballina.

Hello.

Welcome, come in.

These are all the ingredients you will have today to create

a menu for 100 of our cast and crew members,

and I'm going to give you ten minutes to shop around

and create your menu and then you're going to cook.

-ALL:

-OK.

-OK? Have fun, girls.

Oh, yeah, grab some of those.

And then, what about shepherd's pie? Potatoes?

Right, so that's our meat. So we're doing chicken.

Got any tomatoes there?

The two teams have a variety of ingredients to work with

including chicken, lamb, cheese and pasta,

as well as a large selection of vegetables and fruit.

Shall we do lentils?

I don't know. I don't think they look very appetising.

Yeah, grab a good load of them.

Each team will have to cook 50 portions of a meat dish,

30 of a vegetarian dish and 30 desserts.

They will have two and a half hours to get it ready.

Seeing this amount of ingredients fazes you

because you're not sure how much you're going to need,

so that's why I've got so many carrots in my hand!

I've only ever cooked for about three people.

So cooking for 100 is going to be a big challenge.

I'm just wondering about how many potatoes we're going

to need to do shepherd's pie?

The mash... So we'll improvise.

'I love Cirque du Soleil,'

I've seen it a few times, and so it's a real privilege for me

to be cooking for them, so I need to make it really tasty and really good.

I need more potatoes.

-Shall we do a chicken casserole with rice?

-Yeah, all right.

'I imagine the main aim is,'

given the fact that they spend quite a lot of their time

upside down or folded in half,

I don't want to feed them

something that they then bring up all over the audience later.

-What are we doing for the vegetarians?

-I don't know,

-but I think we should definitely use these.

-I thought

-this couscous is good for the vegetarians.

-OK.

Katy and I are both quite bossy, but I think we'll get on reasonably well.

Mind you, we might not after half an hour, but...!

Do you mind telling me your three courses for today, please?

Well, it's still a bit of a work-in-progress, but I think

what we're going for is a sort of spicy vegetarian bean stew.

-Mm-hm.

-And a chicken casserole with spinach.

-The menu sounds very good.

-Thank you.

For their dessert, they have chosen to do a mixed fruit crumble.

How many of these, do you think? Four?

-Well, four.

-Let's do four.

What do you think you're going to make?

-We're going to make macaroni cheese.

-Mm-hm.

-And then we're going to do shepherd's pie.

-Mm-hm.

And then something nice and light,

we're going to do a nice fresh fruit salad.

-OK, that sounds great.

-Is that good?

-It sounds very good.

-Yeah, yeah, for sure.

-OK.

It's always interesting to see people that are not

professional chefs cooking, because it's very hard to go from making

dinner for your friends to make a big amount of food

and make it taste the same way.

So I'm excited to try what they make.

They seem pretty calm now.

Normally 30 minutes before the service it gets pretty hectic.

Katy starts cubing the ten kilos of chicken for their casserole,

while Janet starts on the plums for the crumble.

Mine will need an hour and a half. How long does the crumble need?

-20 minutes from when you assembled it.

-Even something that size?

-Oh, OK, half an hour.

-Maybe half an hour?

-Yeah.

Well, when you're cooking you've got to be decisive.

And when I edited a newspaper,

that's what you have to be - decisive.

It's faffing that gets you nowhere.

We're both alpha males.

KATY LAUGHS

How are you doing, Janet?

Oh, God, you're here!

So, have you decided on your menu?

Yeah, I'm doing the prep for the dessert which is going to be

-a fruit crumble.

-Obviously, fruit crumble's a great idea, baked fruit.

-Yeah.

-But, then of course, it can't be too stodgy, can it?

-No, I'll just do a thin layer on the top just to give it a...

-OK.

I know from when I do it at home all the women only eat

-the bottom bit.

-These are big quantities, so

somehow or other it's got to be

-delicious and elegant at the same time.

-I hope so.

-Elegant?

-Yeah.

-Elegant!

-Yeah, like you, Janet.

-Do we look like two elegant women?

Yeah, you do.

On the other side of the kitchen, Jo is mincing lamb

for their shepherd's pie...

while Heidi is chopping the mountain of veg to go in it.

I've performed here a few times.

I'm used to going to the dressing rooms, not the kitchen.

Um, this is actually scarier.

Loads of vegetables to peel.

I'm going to be crying, aren't I, with the onions?

And fingers crossed I don't lose a finger.

Katy and Janet...

they're really timing it, their every move.

I never work like that so I'm hoping the way we do it

will be...just as good.

One, two, three.

I don't need to go to the gym today, that's for sure!

With the mince on for the shepherd's pie,

Jo can turn her attention to the macaroni cheese.

What are you making there? A Bechamel?

I'm making cheese sauce for my...

Have you, uh...? Are you copping out here, really?

Shepherd's pie, macaroni cheese, fruit salad.

You know, when I was on tour, that's what people used to love to eat.

-Ah.

-Yes.

-Oh, OK.

There was always a shepherd's pie every night at the gig.

-I went on tour for 30 years.

-On tour for 30 years?

-Yeah.

Heidi and Jo have a macaroni cheese - classic dish.

Pasta with a Bechamel sauce and cheese.

It could be a little bit too thick and stodgy for the performers.

The acrobats burn off hundreds of calories

rehearsing for their physically demanding show.

It's energy they'll need to replenish during their lunch break.

A good diet is important because it truly is the fuel of our company.

If we're not fed well or if we don't rest well, the show will suffer.

If the food is not served on time today, I'm afraid many of us

will have to run around and find a solution.

Cos people cannot eat later than normal.

Everybody needs a certain amount of time to do their make-up,

to get the stage ready,

and to open the doors to the public on time

and 4,000 people cannot wait today.

You have one hour and 20 minutes, OK?

Despite her careful planning,

Katy is struggling to get the ten kilos of chicken cooked to schedule.

'The cooking of the chicken is a bit more complicated

'than ideally it would be.'

I'm just slightly concerned that I haven't got enough time now

to get it on, uh...

with enough time left for it to reduce down

to a nice thick casserole.

I like a challenge.

Right, we've basically got ten minutes to get

-both our stews on and cooking.

-Yeah.

Janet puts the crumble on hold

and makes a start on the vegetarian stew with couscous.

What's your dish?

Uh, right now I'm going to do a vegetable kind of stew, uh,

with beans, with a spicy tomatoey base.

It sounds lovely, but will you get it done?

I don't know, Gregg, do I?!

You're in charge, you can't trust Katy. You have to know.

I'm not dissing my partner even though you are. It's a democracy.

-All right. Good luck.

-Thank you.

There's still a frown on your face, which is encouraging.

Yeah, I'm concentrating! That's not a frown.

Oh, my God, Gregg's being nice to me. I don't know how to handle that.

On the other side of the kitchen, Jo and Heidi

are putting together their 50 portions of shepherd's pie...

..but there's a problem.

-What are you going to do now, Jo?

-Put them in the oven.

-But you...

-I know, I don't have enough potato for that.

So you've not got enough topping for the top for all of them?

No, there wasn't enough potatoes.

-You don't think you can...?

-No, I can't. It's already thin enough.

OK. The other thing is make sure you've got enough oven space.

You've got mac and cheese, pies, there's chicken in the oven.

Are you all right?

-You're looking a bit worn out, love.

-No, no! I'm boiling hot!

-Are you?

Cooks, you have 40 minutes until lunchtime.

With their mains finally cooking,

Katy and Janet don't have long to finish their 30 portions of crumble.

-There's two of those, right?

-No, that's one.

-That's enough for... That'll be fine.

-For 30?!

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-No, that's not enough for 30.

-It will.

No, it's not. Janet!

One, two, three, four, five, six...

One, two, three, four...

There's 24 in there at the most.

Come on, we've got to do another one.

Cheese sauce in.

Go on - put your spoon in.

You have 30 minutes. Maybe you should...?

-Shall I put these in the...?

-Yeah,

one shepherd's pie and one mac and cheese in the oven,

-so you'll have it ready for 1:00.

-Yeah.

Oh! Ouch! Oh! Ouch!

With the mains in the oven,

Jo and Heidi can finally start their dessert.

Is there no way of poshing up this fruit salad?

Yeah, we are.

Does it not look a little bit like you've just opened a tin?

No, cos we've prepared it all freshly.

We will arrange it better.

Oh, right. But you are confident, are you,

it's going to be out on time?

Yes. Yeah, definitely.

This is brown sugar, amaretto and water just to make a little...

sweetness for the fruit salad.

Oh, this is the perfect amount.

Oh, women working in harmony.

Just like World War II.

How's our couscous? Are we going to have that out in time?

The couscous is done. I want to make it look better now.

Brilliant. Did you...?

What, you're going to have a go at presentation, are you?

Don't hold your breath.

It's just over 20 minutes to lunch.

If you don't feed those acrobats, they could flip.

SARCASTIC LAUGHTER

You have ten minutes, girls.

-TANNOY:

-Please make your way downstairs

for a very special guest chef lunch.

See you there. Thank you.

-OK, Janet, that's one chicken going.

-OK.

Where am I going?

Where am I going?

-Do the chopped parsley.

-Yeah.

-Let's get some parsley over here.

I saw it here.

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

-Oh, here we go.

-KATY: Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi!

-Hi!

-Chicken.

-Would you like a bit of chicken?

-Yes, please.

-Chicken?

-Yes.

Perfect. I'll have the chicken stew.

Katy's chicken with peppers, tomato, spinach and oregano

is proving to be an early hit.

It's really tender and moist, and the flavours are great.

We've just had training, so...

we always eat a lot after we've trained just to

recoup our bodies before we do the show.

Yeah, it's perfect.

I like Janet and Katy's chicken dish, I really do. It's flavoursome.

There's a little bit of sweetness in there as well. The chicken is moist.

It's got sweetness from tomato, loads of oregano so it's wonderful

and herbaceous, and a little bit of paprika just to give it a smoky bite. It's good well-flavoured chicken.

I've never tasted anything like it before.

It's an invention, that's for sure, but it's a tasty dish.

The rice is a little hard,

but, hey, that's not bad at all.

-Vegetables?

-Can I have some vegetables, please?

I've got spicy vegetables, couscous...

-Is that spicy?

-Not that spicy - smoky.

-OK, just a little bit.

Janet's squash, bean and tomato stew with raisin and almond

giant couscous is also popular.

The beans were good, they were the right sort of textures, they were

soft so that's what you want in that type of casserole, so that's good.

I like kind of savoury and sweet flavours mixed together

so it's nice, and I like the almonds in it as well.

The squash could be a little softer, but I like the flavours,

I like the sweetness of the tomatoes and I like the back note of herbs.

The couscous, however, is a little bland.

The only other flavour in there is the sweet depth of the raisin.

The actual squash and tomato stew with the beans is a really

lovely idea, but it needs to be a little bit wetter

and it needs a bit of chilli spice.

It needs to taste like it's something quite fiery

to go with that sweet couscous.

I'm fine, thank you, yeah.

-Your eyes are great!

-I'm scary, I'm not going to look at you!

-No, look at us! That's fantastic, isn't it?

-It's amazing.

Would you like some shepherd's pie?

There's a rush on Heidi and Jo's shepherd's pie

with crushed new potato and sweet potato top.

Well, travelling around we get to experience a lot of different

versions of shepherd's pie, and I like the fact that, for me,

it's very English shepherd's pie.

That's good.

I think I'm going to get good energy from this food, so...

The flavours are good and it's sweet, but the textures are all wrong.

The mince is too dry, and the potato topping, um,

some of it's actually hard and undercooked.

I mean, we've got minced lamb which could probably do with

a lot more sauce and a little bit more seasoning.

The skins are left on the potato, the other thing is

the potatoes are so undercooked that you can't digest them.

-Mac and cheese?

-Absolutely.

-Do you want more than that?

-Yes.

-Good girl!

-Thank you.

I thought it was very good, yeah. I thought it was very, very nice.

I'm a big fan of macaroni and cheese so I thought I'd see

what this was like. I thought it was really good.

The pasta's well cooked.

I love the tang of the cheese.

Unfortunately, I'm still picking up a little bit of flour

from the Bechamel. But...it's all right.

In environments like this when you're doing mass catering,

there are people who want very, very simple and unfussy food

and that actually ticks the box, doesn't it?

It's comforting, it's warming, it's not bad.

With the mains over,

Katy and Janet are keen to sell their spiced fruit crumble.

Everybody, there are puddings over here.

Please help yourselves because we've made those as well.

'This was the fruit crumble.'

Very nice and warm, you can tell that it's fresh from the oven.

I'm a big fruit person, I don't like too sweet,

so it was really nice.

The chefs did a great job.

Love it.

Love it, love it, love it!

It's got a crunchy top,

it's also got a flavour that's not dissimilar to maple syrup in there.

It does taste good. She made a syrup with star anise and some cinnamon

and poured it over the top of the fruit.

So the fruit's not overcooked, which I really like.

-It's got Janet's trademark presentation.

-Yes.

But it tastes good. It tastes really good.

Heidi and Jo are serving their fruit salad

with an amaretto sugar syrup and cream.

You know what I don't like about fruit salad normally, is the bananas go mushy and horrible,

and that's a nice fresh banana that's not mushy and horrible.

-I'll give you a success.

-Yeah.

I mean, it's kind of all...

The fruits are all different sizes though.

If you're just going to chop the fruit up...

-Yeah.

-..let's make it the same size.

The point of a fruit salad is it should be vibrant and light

-and colourful.

-Yeah.

-But they've made it grey and brown.

This is all a bit sweet and sticky and weird.

They've put brown sugar and amaretto - amaretto, alcohol, right?

Alcohol, to a group of performers about to go out

on the stage using tightropes and hanging from the ceiling!

Woo-hoo!

Well done!

That was fun.

That was almost like doing proper work.

I've got to say I think Katy and Janet have had

a really, really good day.

As far as mass catering is concerned, the standard of the chicken dish

and the standard of the dessert - I think these two are right up there.

I honestly now believe Heidi and Jo have got a lot to prove.

At this stage of the competition, nobody's going home

and anything can happen. This is early days.

We've got a couple of big rounds to come, we know things can change.

I thought it was hard work.

And my mother was a school dinner lady,

but I don't think the serving skills have passed on to me.

The highlight for me was finishing the chopping.

It was just hours and hours.

I am feeling confident about the next challenge.

I'm really looking forward to it.

I have NEVER cooked for that many people before,

but it's good to know that I can do it.

The next challenge I reckon is going to be tougher.

I've worked in kitchens before, years ago,

and I'd forgotten what hard work it is.

I don't think I'm keen for a bit more of THIS!

But I'm looking forward to the next challenge, yeah.

Tomorrow the pressure continues,

as the four celebrities battle to stay in the competition.

Oh, it's broken! Chef, the egg's broken!

Now the next table's waiting, they're starting to ask where it is.

Backing them up, cashew nuts.

Oh!

Janet, where are you? You've got two cod in order.

-I'm doing it!

-All right.

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