Masterchef star John Torode has revealed major format changes to this year’s series of the BBC cooking show.
However, fans of the hit BBC show might be most excited to discover world famous chef Gordon Ramsay is appearing in this year’s series, which kicks off tonight (March 23) on BBC One.
Masterchef duo John and his co-star Gregg Wallace dished on the new series on Wednesday’s edition of the The One Show.
Show host Jermaine Jenas asked Gregg: “We saw Gordon Ramsay’s face pop up, there. What’s his role on the show this year?”
Gregg said: “We often roll out the big guns and it doesn’t get much bigger than the Gordon, do they? I mean he’s probably the most famous chef in the world right now I reckon.
“So part of the finals, the final three, they actually got to cook with him tutoring at Chef’s Table.”
Host Emma Willis said: “Terrifying!” as Jermaine agreed: “Pressure!”
Speaking about the Kitchen Nightmares star’s scary reputation, he said: “Yeah he’s got a ferocious reputation, but you’ve also got to remember he’s built some seriously good teams over the years as well, so he’s a great tutor.”
Later on, celebrity chef John Torode revealed another change to the show’s format.
The format tweak involved an “audition round” where candidates bring their own ingredients to the table.
“We believe people can get used to a format very easily and so what we do is just do a couple of changes every so often. So this year we’ll do an audition round.
“The audition round means they’ll come in with their own ingredients, they cook their signature dish for us and they serve it to us. Then Gregg and I get to eat hot food! Which is great, isn’t it, Gregg?”
Gregg said: “I really like that back there. I’m a bit nervous of change, I’m old! So they told us what they were gonna do on the morning because we weren’t part of the planning.”
The 18th series of Masterchef will see hopeful chefs battle it out over the course of 24 episodes.
Explaining the changes in more depth, the BBC said: “Each week for five weeks, nine home cooks cook for the judges. This year their first test is the audition round, in which they must cook their signature dish – one that tells John and Gregg who they are as a cook and how good they could become.
“John and Gregg don’t watch the chefs in the kitchen. Instead, they taste each dish in the new MasterChef Tasting Room. After they have tasted all nine dishes, the best three dishes will be awarded a coveted MasterChef apron, securing their place in the competition.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk