Has Mary found a new recipe for success?
IF MARY BERRY is the key ingredient to a hit cookery show, then this latest concoction is sure to succeed. It’s a bit of a mash-up between MasterChef and The Apprentice, with all the contestants forced to live in a house together before being driven to a studio kitchen for various challenges.
So we get to experience the joy of seeing 10 home cooks wake bleary-eyed and generally endure living together, but wearing aprons not sharp suits, and with far less trash talk.
Plus it’s the charming, fluttery-eyed Claudia Winkleman who greets them, not Lord Alan Sugar, so all in all a far less intimidating experience already.
Then of course Mary enters. “The proper queen is here, don’t try to touch her immediately,” quips Claudia, whose gentle wit and sarcasm is always a joy.
Claudia skips around the kitchen being helpful, opening jars, stirring pots, giving extremely loud countdowns.
Mary is a judge, alongside produce expert Chris Bavin (Claudia wants to make him his own throne out of apples) and top chef Dan Doherty.
Tonight the cooks have 90 minutes to prepare their ultimate burger – there’s everything from an Indian spiced version to a Welsh rarebit offering.
Round two sees the cooks prepare a dish with one central ingredient (this time nuts!) and no knowledge of the other ingredients available.
Then one chef is eliminated, but don’t worry – rather than a walk of shame to a black cab, there’s actually a spontaneous round of applause.
Well, we are British after all...