Celebrity MasterChef delivered an episode packed with unexpected twists.
Not quite the kind of shock that would come from Gregg Wallace managing to talk about food without flashing that ever-present grin — a feat that might make him appear less like an oversized, slightly unsettling cartoon character.
The real surprise was Spencer Matthews, Made In Chelsea’s famously smooth-talking charmer, who not only earned a place in the next round but appeared to do so entirely on his own culinary merit — with no discreet private chefs lurking in the background, as one might jokingly expect from SW1 society.
Oh dear Frankie: Celebrity MasterChef served up a string of surprises, though not quite as startling as Gregg Wallace reacting to food without his trademark grin.
Through to the next round: Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews impressed the Celebrity MasterChef judges without any sign of outside catering help.
John Torode was full of praise for Spencer’s pan-fried halibut, finished with pickled carrots, while Gregg Wallace seemed equally delighted by his mussels — though, to be fair, visible excitement is hardly unusual when Gregg is presented with a plate of food.
Perhaps most remarkably, Spencer made it through a full hour of television without causing the sort of scandal that once defined his reality TV persona. There were no romantic entanglements, no angry confrontations, and no drinks hurled in his direction — a far cry from his Made In Chelsea days, when drama could find him within minutes. On Celebrity MasterChef, he looked almost reinvented.
Once upon a time, placing Spencer in the same episode as Frankie Bridge from The Saturdays might have sounded like the setup for reality television chaos. Instead, the pair found themselves focused on a very different challenge: preparing green pea croquettes and chicken wing lollipops at Baluchi, the pan-Indian restaurant in Southwark.
In fact the closest he came to anything sexual was when he announced: ‘I’m just boning my first mackerel’ – a classic Spencer comment: his idea of ‘boyish charm.’
Tasty: Torode praised his pan-fried halibut topped with pickled carrots
Delight: While sucking Spencer’s succulent mussels into his mouth left Gregg Wallace drooling. (Admittedly, the grinning buffoon’s standard reaction to most dishes.)
The biggest surprise of the night came when Frankie – arguably the most glamorous contestant in this year’s entire line-up – left the series, in only the second week, when Torode and Wallace sent her home, opting to save Anita Harris instead.
‘Don’t you know who I am?!’ you could see her thinking/screaming.
Frankie had been savaged by the judges with unusually unfettered force when she served them asparagus coated in honey – a culinary crime so heinous they were still bitterly affronted about it making their decision at the end of the show.
‘Really unpleasant !’ spat John Torode, although he could have been talking about Gregg.
Come on boys, suck it up surely. Could anything with honey really be that bad? It seemed unlikely and was a bit rich considering they COMPLIMENTED Frankie for drizzling honey on the figs that were part of the same starter as ‘really, really, lovely.’
Farewell: The biggest surprise of the night came when Frankie – arguably the most glamorous contestant in this year’s entire line-up – left the series, in only the second week, when Torode and Wallace sent her home, opting to save Anita Harris instead
‘Really unpleasant!’: Frankie had been savaged by the judges with unusually unfettered force when she served them asparagus coated in honey – a culinary crime so heinous they were still bitterly affronted about it making their decision at the end of the show
‘What I can’t get on with is asparagus and honey!’ growled Torode.
‘I actually completely agree with my mate on this one!’ grinned Gregg – as if this was a change from every other verdict he gave. ‘To add sweet stickiness over asparagus is not something that is winning me over.’
Frankie’s argument (that she had made asparagus with honey because she liked the taste) clearly counted for nothing as far as they were concerned.
Neither did the dishes she had produced in the other rounds.
Frankie had ‘lovely soft chicken thighs’, Gregg Wallace salivated (tucking into her casserole) and she had made a decent Sunday roast, despite frowning: ‘I’m trying to remember how lamb is supposed to look.’
Like a little, woolly bundle with four legs and a head, gambolling round a field?
Wallace and Torode still sent Frankie home concluding she was the week’s weakest chef, even worse than Anita Harris.
This ‘controversial’ decision was hard to take given we’d seen the 75 year-old ‘showbiz legend’ happily chopping up a huge pile of apricots, ginger and peppers without having any clue what she was actually making.
Missing you: Wallace and Torode still sent Frankie home concluding she was the week’s weakest chef, even worse than Anita Harris
‘It tastes revolting!’ she smiled giddily, plating up the end result.
Anita’s flattened chicken and tagliatelle meanwhile was such a hideous heap, Torode complained ‘it looked better after I’d eaten some of it !’
Frankie Bridge had also accepted ‘presentation skills are not my strong point!’
But she improved so much after a hectic stint in the kitchen of Baluchi, a ‘pan-Indian’ restaurant in Southwark, she was decorating pan-fried sea bass with coriander & lime chutney and a drizzle of tomato and mustard ‘emulsion.’
‘It looks a bit like a Jackson Pollock painting!’ beamed Spencer Matthews (talking Pollocks – as usual).
As if this new saintly Spencer wasn’t enough to cope with, Celebrity Masterchef also featured something else we had never seen before: rare footage of Spencer Matthews working.
Hmm: This ‘controversial’ decision was hard to take given we’d seen the 75 year-old ‘showbiz legend’ happily chopping up a huge pile of apricots, ginger and peppers without having any clue what she was actually making
Work of art: Frankie improved so much after a hectic stint in the kitchen of Baluchi, a ‘pan-Indian’ restaurant in Southwark, she was decorating pan-fried sea bass with coriander & lime chutney and a drizzle of tomato and mustard ‘emulsion’
Suffering too happily – when one of his jobs at Baluchi was cooking spiced guinea fowl kebabs on huge metal skewers in a 400 degree Tandor.
‘Arrrgh !’ he seemed to cry every time he touched them: ‘honestly. I don’t know why I keep forgetting that when you put it in that hell hole it becomes boiling hot !’
John Partridge’s dishes in the final round went down so well with the judges he could have cried. In fact he did.
‘The flavour of your sausage and fennel ragout is lovely!’ Gregg Wallace told him (although it didn’t sound it). ‘You are absolutely smashing it !’
(An articulate critique as usual.)
Spencer clearly wasn’t as good but responded with endeavour – or with Moules Marinieres and white wine/shallots sauce followed by that pan-fried halibut, served with toasted onion and pistachio Pilau rice, Masala sauce, and cucumber Raita.
Hard at it: As if this new saintly Spencer wasn’t enough to cope with, Celebrity Masterchef also featured something else we had never seen before: rare footage of Spencer Matthews working
Smashed it: John Partridge’s dishes in the final round went down so well with the judges he could have cried. In fact he did. ‘The flavour of your sausage and fennel ragout is lovely!’ Gregg Wallace told him
Serving up a treat: The judges were impressed by the fine fayre on offer
‘I want to be noticed by the judges!’ Spencer had said beforehand, not really shocking anyone. ‘I want the food to explode on their palettes and feel amazing to them.’
It must have been slightly galling that, out of all this, the food that Torode said was his favourite and ‘exploded on his palette’ was…. the soda bread.
(On the plus side Torode really liked it.)
‘I think the amount of work Spencer did today was quite incredible!’ gasped Torode, sounding either excited or just amazed. ‘To be able to make curry sauce, cook perfect rice, and make soda bread in under an hour, and then make great dishes out of them, is phenomenal!’
‘So far so good ! A dream come true!’ reflected Spencer with satisfaction. ‘I guess it’s going to be ruthless from now on!’
Somehow, you felt, despite the ‘new Spencer’, that should be no problem.
Star student: ‘I think the amount of work Spencer did today was quite incredible!’ gasped Torode, sounding either excited or just amazed
