CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF

BBC1, 8.30pm

EVERYTHING is hotting up a bit now. Rev Kate Bottley has admitted to crying over a pudding and Ulrika Jonsson says she is lying awake at 4am.

Sounds about normal for Masterchef.

It’s the last of the semi-finals and the remaining contestants are deep in competition-mode. Their entire existence is devoted to pleasing Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

“This whole experience has taken over my life,” says Angellica Bell. “I can talk about carrots until the cows come home.”

Let’s hope she doesn’t.

Kate, Ulrika and Angellica are joined by DJ Dev, opera singer Lesley Garrett and Olympic champ Rebecca Adlington to make up the final six.

Their first task is the Great British Takeaway Challenge, with the cooks asked to make either fish and chips, burger and chips or chicken curry.

Rebecca inexplicably bursts into tears over a fish (she doesn’t like touching fish apparently), while Ulrika declares she needs Beta-blockers for her pounding heart.

We think everyone’s being a tad dramatic, but we are seasoned enough to just roll our eyes and move on. It’s all part of the Masterchef “journey”.

After the takeaway challenge, one cook is unceremoniously kicked out of the competition, with the remaining five tasked with preparing a high tea to celebrate landscape gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown.

Watch out for an appearance from pastry chef Cherish Finden, who quite frankly scares the bejeezus out of us. Then finally it’s back to HQ to create one exceptional dish inspired by someone close to them.

Tonight’s episode is a long slog, but for the faithful among us, we’re ready to stick with this until the bitter end.