Celebrity MasterChef continued on Tuesday, with the semi-finalists attempting to serve up a feast to a group of “Vikings”.
The team were transported to South Downs National Park in Hampshire, at a Viking reenactment site.
When briefing the celebrities, judge Gregg Wallace, 59, stated: “Welcome to the semi-finals. Congratulations, well done.”
He continued: “And welcome to the incredible Butser Ancient Farm. This place is an open air museum that tells the story of ancient Britain from the Stone age all the way through to the Anglo-Saxons.
“There are 70 volunteers coming from all over the country here today to recreate a proper Anglo-Saxon village with a Viking invasion.
“Now, you have the honour of preparing lunch for those volunteers.” John Torode, 59, added: “This is about big a hearty, it’s got to be good food.”
Rochenda Sandall, Jake Quickenden, Ian “H” Watkins and Dominic Skinner were placed in the blue team, with Craig Doyle, Vito Coppola, Tamer Hassan and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in the red team.
“Outside there are two tents with your ingredients waiting for you,” Torode explained.
“You need to choose a team leader and you need to make a plan – you have two-and-a-half hours.”
On the blue team, Skinner decided to prepare two whole pork loins for the team’s meat main course, which Wallace aired some concerns about.
“They’re roasting the pork which is a nice idea, however that is kilos and kilos of raw meat – fingers crossed there, that could go right up to the wire,” he commented.
He continued: “Going with the pork, they’ve got a mushroom cider sauce; spelt, which is a type of grain and nettle risotto.
“This is big, this is hearty. This will fill you up. You go back to the ninth century, you could be eating this. I think that’s a lovely, lovely dish.”
Later on, Wallace’s fears became a reality, with just 15 minutes left to cook their dishes, the blue team were worried about the pork. Checking the temperature, Rochenda announced: “That’s not cooked…”
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“Between you, me and a gang of Vikings, I’m a little bit concerned about that pork,” Wallace remarked to the cameras.
“That’s an enormous big piece of pork, if that’s cooked on time, I’ll be surprised,” he admitted.
Thankfully, the meat was well-cooked in time for the hungry Vikings, with the dish going down a treat.
