Celebrity MasterChef UK Season 20 Episode 01 Description
Five celebrities are waiting in the wings, ready to take on the first of three weeks of heats. None of them will have any idea what to expect, but they will need to settle in pronto if they hope to make it to this week’s quarter-final. Set to unearth who could be style over substance, Celebrity MasterChef 2025 kicks off in dazzling style.
The five stars donning MasterChef aprons in the first week of the competition are pop star and actor Antony Costa, Paralympian and actor Gaz Choudhry MBE, drag artist Ginger Johnson, actor Katie McGlynn and TV personality Uma Jammeh.
Judges Grace Dent and John Torode waste no time in setting the first task of the series, which sees the return of everyone’s favourite shiny cloches! Taking it in turns, the celebs will each reveal a secret ingredient that must form the centrepiece of their dish. The surprise ingredients include sea bream, haggis and peanut butter, which should conjure up some genius ideas, especially once they have raided a stunning new larder for extra goodies. The judges will be praying for tasty food, and even a touch of finesse, but will the celebs manage to keep their nerves in check and perform?
Next, it’s time for their taste buds to be examined with some tantalising treats as the celebrities take on a palate test like no other. They will each need to identify cubes of either meat, fish, veg or fruit by touch and taste alone, as they will all be blindfolded throughout. Get the answer wrong, and they will be eliminated and lose their chance to win a game-changing extra ten minutes of cooking time in the next round. That’s enough time to save someone’s bacon should they need it, so everyone will be hoping to out-taste their opponents, but whether their taste buds are up to it remains to be seen – or not seen in this case.
The fearless five will then all head into today’s final round, where the Celebrity MasterChef street food market re-opens for business. The brief is simple: to cook a dish they would serve from their own food truck or stall. Think of the most comforting food imaginable, with flavours to match. They will have just one hour to create their masterpiece, except for the lucky celeb who won the luxury of the extra ten minutes. Grace and John will give honest feedback, and now have some idea of which celebs have true potential.
All five will live to fight another day, but a knock to their confidence is not what they need, as there’s only space for the best four in this week’s quarter-final.
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Celebrity MasterChef UK Watch All Seasons Online
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Celebrity MasterChef UK Season 20 Watch Free Online
Episode 01 | Episode 02 | Episode 03 | Episode 04 | Episode 05 | Episode 06 | Episode 07 | Episode 08 | Episode 09 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18
Celebrity MasterChef UK Show Summary
MasterChef is a competitive cooking show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as MasterChef Goes Large. The revival featured a new format devised by Franc Roddam and John Silver, with Karen Ross producing. In 2008, the name was changed back to MasterChef but the format remained unchanged.
The series currently appears in four versions: the main MasterChef series; Celebrity MasterChef; MasterChef: The Professionals, with working chefs; and Junior MasterChef, with children between the ages of nine and twelve. The format and style of the show have been reproduced around the world in various international versions.
Format
Each series is broadcast on five nights a week for eight weeks. During the first six weeks, the first four episodes of each week are heats and the fifth episode is a quarter-final. Six contestants enter each heat and the winner becomes a quarter-finalist. At the end of each week, the four quarter-finalists compete and a semi-finalist is chosen. After six weeks, the six semi-finalists compete in the final two weeks.
In 2010, the judges were given more flexibility, allowing them to advance more than one contestant to the quarter-finals or, in one instance, none at all. Series 7 of Master Chef had auditions with a format similar to The X Factor, in which hopeful chefs cooked in front of the judges to secure a spot in the competition. More than 20,000 people applied to audition for the series.
Heats
The heats follow a three-round format:
The Market Test: the contestants must invent a dish using ingredients from the show’s market. They have 15 minutes to select ingredients and 1 hour and 10 minutes to cook the meal. Three contestants are eliminated from the competition and those remaining advance to the Impression Test.
The Calling Card: the contestants must invent a dish from scratch in 75 minutes (originally 40 minutes until 2009). The contestants can choose any ingredients they like.
The Invention Test: the contestants are given two boxes: one with sweet items and the other with savoury items. They must pick a box and make a dish using its ingredients within 75 minutes.
The Impression Test: the contestants must cook a two-course meal in 75 minutes for past winners and finalists of MasterChef. They are given one hour to serve the main course and 15 minutes afterwards to serve dessert. This segment was first featured in 2017.
Quarter-finals
The format of the quarter-finals has changed over the years. Before 2010, the format featured three rounds:
The Ingredients Test: the contestants were asked to identify a selection of ingredients or produce.
The Passion Test: the contestants each had one minute to convince the judges of their overwhelming passion for food.
After eliminating one contestant, the remaining three quarter-finalists each produced a three-course meal in 1 hour and 20 minutes.
In 2010, the quarter-final format was cut to two rounds:
The Choice Test: the contestants were given 15 minutes to cook their choice of either a pre-selected fish recipe or meat recipe with the judges supervising. At least one contestant was eliminated after this round.
The remaining quarter-finalists each produced a two-course meal in one hour.
The current quarter-final format consists of two rounds:
The Palate Test: Judge John Torode cooks a dish for the contestants, and they must identify the ingredients and try to recreate the dish using the ingredients available to them.
The Choice Test: the contestants have 80 minutes to create a showstopping dish for the judges and a special celebrity food critic.
Comeback Week
The sixth week is called “Comeback Week” and features contestants from previous series of MasterChef who did not advance past the heats or quarter-finals. The format changes for this special week. It includes:
The Skill Test: the contestants have 25 minutes to cook one of two pre-selected recipes. Some contestants may be eliminated after this round.
The Palate Test: Torode cooks a complex dish and asks the contestants one by one to taste the dish and identify its ingredients. Some contestants may be eliminated after this round.
The Pressure Test: the contestants work a lunchtime shift at a busy restaurant under the supervision of a professional chef who comments on their performance.
The remaining contestants have one hour to cook a two-course meal. One contestant is selected to advance to the quarter-final.
The comeback quarter-finalists then cook head-to-head in a larger version of the Invention Test, cooking one dish in an hour. One contestant is selected to advance to the semi-finals.
