Episode 12

The semi-finals draw to a close with two cracking challenges that will determine which of the six remaining cooks will be lucky enough to storm into finals week. Leaving now is not on anyone’s agenda.

The first hurdle is an invention test with a difference. Working in teams, the celebrities will need to prepare and cook a main course and a dessert, but this time it needs to be done in relay. One will kick things off, the next will try and pick up the pieces, and the last will, hopefully, be able to put everything together and plate up. But with no conferring allowed, how will the celebrities fare? Whoever goes first will come up with the initial menu idea on their own and will need to leave clues for their teammates to pick up the baton. What could possibly go wrong?

This task will give judges Grace Dent and John Torode food for thought, as the celebrities will need to demonstrate impeccable culinary instincts to succeed.

Next, it’s back to working as individuals, as just one dish stands between them and a place in finals week. The brief is to cook serve up an outstanding plate of food that shows they are worthy of getting there. Along with the judges, three of Grace’s fellow restaurant critics will also be here to taste: William Sitwell, Jimi Famurewa and Leyla Kazim. Only five celebrity cooks will make it through, and impressing this bunch will be a tall order. It’s time to pull out all the stops.

At the end of the toughest judging yet, one celebrity will depart, leaving the rest heading into finals week with a spring in their step. However, the challenges coming up are next level and will push each of them beyond anything they have done before.