Here’s What To Expect On MasterChef This Week

8 months ago

The heats are well underway

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Here's What To Expect On MasterChef This Week

Now on its twentieth series, MasterChef is a British TV heavyweight with all the ingredients to make for great telly cooked to perfection every time. With series 20 now well underway, here is a recap of everything that has happened so far to get you up to speed.

MasterChef Series 20

MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace

MasterChef has been running for a decade and a half now. Across eight weeks, the BBC competition series garners millions of viewers across the country eager to see judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace carve hefty mouthfuls out of amateur chefs’ prize creations.

‘Another year of exciting cooks from all over the country, from all walks of life, from different age groups, coming into the MasterChef kitchen and cooking us things that we’ve never ever seen before,’ John told the BBC. ‘One of the great things about the modern MasterChef is that people are so proud of their heritage and they’re bringing those influences along with the experiences of the life they live in the UK – together onto a plate. Full of surprise, excitement, wonder, and deliciousness. And the odd dish that sadly might not work.’

Series 20 is well underway – here’s what you’ve missed and what’s still to come.

How Does MasterChef Work?

Spanning eight weeks, the MasterChef competition has undergone some variation in recent years, with different formats keeping it exciting. As John recently told the BBC, ‘I suppose the thing about MasterChef is that it’s full of variables, there are only two constants in MasterChef and those two constants, one’s Gregg and one’s me – they’re the only two constants. The rest is variable, but it stays in the same theme, it’s based around food and celebrating success.’

As with previous years, MasterChef series 20 begins with a series of heats. Each heat is one episode long, bringing six hopefuls to the competition and ending with three people proceeding to the quarter final. This is followed by another heat in the same form, before a quarter final, where six become three.

Once the heats and quarter finals are over, we will head into Comeback Week, a special week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of MasterChef, featuring 10 familiar faces battling for the title for the second time. They will face two challenges specially designed to test how they have progressed since their last stint in the kitchen. Three chefs will progress from two heats to a quarter final of six. Three chefs will then prove their prowess and hopefully head into Knockout Week.

Knockout Week is where the competition really heats up, with a very high calibre of chefs now battling it out. We’re not exactly sure what it will look like this year, but series 19 started with two people knocked out each episode, before contestants were knocked out one by one until three remain for the final.

How Many Contestants Are There?

A whopping 58 contestants will appear in MasterChef series 20, with 24 episodes airing across eight weeks.

Who Appeared In Comeback Week?

Ten familiar faces returned to MasterChef for the series’ first ever Comeback Week, hosted to celebrate the 20th anniversary. The returnees are in Heat 9 are:

Chris, who made it to the Quarter Finals in Series 19 (2023)
Matthew, who also got to the Quarter Finals in Series 19 (2023)
Farokh, who made it to the Semi Finals in Series 18 (2022)
Mary, who made it to Knockout Week in Series 14 (2018)
Lyndsay, who got to the Semi Finals in Series 13 (2017)

The returnees are in Heat 10 are:

Ajay, who reached the Quarter Finals in Series 15 (2019)
Cliodhna, who appeared in the Heats in Series 19 (2023)
Linda, who reached Knockout Week in Series 19 (2023)
Natasha, who made it to the Semi Finals in Series 16 (2020)
Tigi, who reached the Quarter Finals in Series 18 (2022)

Who Has Won The Heats So Far?

Heat 1: Hope, Fateha, Brin
Heat 2: Louise, Olivia, Jerome
Heat 3: Shreya, Pete, Lee
Heat 4: Haddy, Aaron, Steve
Heat 5: Abi, Max, Tatjana
Heat 6: Lulu, Tom, Dinta
Heat 7: Ecrin, George, Louise
Heat 8: Vera, James, Charlotte
Heat 9 (Comeback Week 1): Mary, Matthew, Chris
Heat 10 (Comeback Week 2): Ajay, Cliodhna, Natasha

Who Will Be In Knockout Week?

The following chefs will be in Knockout Week, after winning the Quarter Finals:

Hope
Olivia
Louise
Brin
Lee
Haddy
Aaron
Dinta
Abi
Tom
Vera
George
Ecrin
Mary
Chris
Cliodhna

So far, we have one bonus contestant in Knockout Week, as John and Greg could not decide who to send home in episode three. Knockout Week will begin in the week commencing 6 May 2024, following ‘Comeback Week’, with the 16 chefs remaining split into two batches of eight.

Who Hosts MasterChef?

John Torode and Gregg Wallace both present and judge MasterChef, with voice over narration from India Fisher. John and Gregg are joined by guest judges each episode to assist in deciding who should proceed to the next round.

Jay Rayner is the guest judge in episode six of MasterChef series 20

Guest Judges Of MasterChef Series 20

The guest judges we have seen so far in MasterChef Series 20 include:

Episode 1 (Heat 1): 2023 MasterChef champion Chariya Khattiyot, with finalists Anurag Aggarwal and Omar Foster
Episode 2 (Heat 2): Past MasterChef champions Jane Devonshire, Irini Tzortzoglou and Ping Coombes
Episode 3 (Quarter Final 1): Food critic William Sitwell
Episode 4 (Heat 3): 2022 champion Eddie Scott, finalist Pookie and 2020 finalist Claire Fyfe
Episode 5 (Heat 4): MasterChef champion Simon Wood and finalist Tony Rodd from 2015, and 2012 MasterChef champion Shelina Permalloo
Episode 6 (Quarter Final 2): Restaurant critic Jay Rayner
Episode 7 (Heat 5): 2017 champion Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed, 2020 champion Thomas Frake, and 2018 semi-finalist Nisha Parmar
Episode 8 (Heat 6): 2010 champion Dhruv Baker, and runners-up Tim Kinnaird and Alex Rushmer
Episode 9 (Quarter Final 3): Food writer Leyla Kazim
Episode 10 (Heat 7): 2007 MasterChef champion Steven Wallis, 2021 finalist Alexina Anatole and 2006 finalist Dean Edwards
Episode 11 (Heat 8): 2013 champion Natalie Coleman, 2018 winner Kenny Tutt and 2021 victor Tom Rhodes
Episode 12 (Quarter Final 4): Restauranteur April Jackson
Episode 13 (Comeback Week 1): MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, Matthew Ryle
Episode 14 (Comeback Week 2): MasterChef: The Professionals 2019 champion, Stuart Deeley
Episode 15 (Comeback Quarter Final): Food critic Jimi Famurewa

Where Is It Filmed?

MasterChef is filmed at 3 Mills Studios (Three Mill Lane, London E3 3DU) in East London, and has been since 2015. However, series 20 is the last to be filmed there, and production will move to Birmingham from autumn 2024.

Restaurant kitchens also feature in MasterChef; this year, two of the London restaurants are Nessa and Joia.

When Is MasterChef On TV?

This year, MasterChef airs on three weekday evenings on BBC One. The episode days and timings vary so make sure you check the BBC TV guide for the up-to-date information.

The next batch of episodes will air as follows:

Episode 13: Tuesday 30 April at 9pm, BBC One – comeback week heat one
Episode 14: Thursday 2 May at 9pm, BBC One – comeback week heat two
Episode 15: Friday 3 May at 7.30pm, BBC One – the comeback quarter final
Episode 16: Monday 6 May at 8pm, BBC One – knockout week batch one
Episode 17: Wednesday 8 May at 8pm, BBC One – knockout week batch two
Episode 18: Friday 10 May at 7.30pm, BBC One – the end of knockout week

Each week, the next three episodes drop on BBC iPlayer when the first episode of the week airs – meaning you can watch each week’s episodes whenever you like.