Celebrity MasterChef: Episode 5 (S17EP5 BBC One Thurs 18 August 2022)

The four remaining celebrities this week will compete in three more culinary challenges in an effort to advance to the quarterfinals.

The celebrities will face judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace one-on-one in the Knowledge and Skills Test, the first challenge of tonight. They make fettuccine with pesto made of basil and parsley in just 15 minutes to show off their prowess.

The celebrities are then stretched to their absolute limits. They have been preparing food as they would at home up until this point in the competition, but John and Gregg have brought in a professional chef, Freddy Forster, to demonstrate what restaurant-quality cooking is all about. Freddy spent his career working in some of the best kitchens in the world, including The Savoy, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, L’Aubergine, and Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, where he won the prestigious Roux Scholarship in 2000. He issues a challenge to each of the four celebrities to prepare a dish using a combination of his traditional cooking methods and flavours drawn from his West African ancestry.

Then it’s game on because the four celebrities only have one more opportunity to qualify for the quarterfinal. Their assignment is to prepare a dish that evokes memories of their youth and tells John and Gregg something about growing up. The celebrities give it their all in a final effort to impress the judges, with only one hour to cook and three spots in the quarterfinals up for grabs. One of them will leave after this test is finished.

Airdate: Thurs 18 August 2022 at 20:00 on BBC One

Season 17 Episode 5

Celebrities compete to win the coveted cookery competition title.