BBC cooking competition MasterChef has come under fire after one contestant put their theatrical skills on show to conjure up a Jack the Ripper-inspired dish.
On Thursday night, the semi-finals continued as Gregg Wallace and John Torode tasked the remaining contestants with serving up an elaborate concoction for them to try.
Chris created intrigue with his dish, beef tartare with roasted bone marrow, as he teased that Wallace and Torode would have to figure out which historic figure his dish was inspired by after solving a series of clues.
When it came to presenting his dish, Chris donned a black cloak before approaching Torode and Wallace.
"You are now detectives and you have to work out who I am by the clues inside the box," he told the pair before putting on a fire-breathing exercise to add to the mystery.
His dish was presented in a locked box with the number 1888 etched across the top, which prompted Torode to use the four-figure combination to unlock the item.
BBC MasterChef: Chris wore a black cloak to add to the mystery of his creation
BBC
Once inside, there were more clues for the presenting duo to decipher, including the word Whitechapel etched on the lid and a tally figure showing the number five.
"I think he's Jack the Ripper," Wallace guessed. "That's Whitechapel in East London and the five would be the murders."
Seeming to find nothing wrong with the theme, Wallace and Torode tucked in, praising Chris for his use of flavours and branding it "in-your-face, really tasty food".
However, several BBC viewers at home felt differently and took to social media to condemn the circus performer's choice of theme.
BBC MasterChef: Gregg and John were impressed with the Jack the Ripper-inspired dish
BBC
"Did that just happen?" one viewer queried on X. "A man on #masterchef just served beef tartare on a bone as part of a celebration of Jack the Ripper dish? Murdered women’s innards, so creative. What?"
A second agreed and replied: "Absolutely. In appalling taste. The body tally - that's dead women, on the box lid. Of course the men thought it was great and imaginative."
"Absolutely - the whole thing was in extremely poor taste. Not good @MasterChefUK," a third echoed.
Elsewhere, a fourth hit out: "Apparently it's 'really tasty food' but there's a guy on #Masterchef who has just done some kind of cabaret/meal event on the theme of Jack the Ripper (steak tartare) which is frankly pretty tasteless."
"Masterchef Jack the Ripper theme for a dish! WTF?" a fifth shocked fan penned before a sixth added: "Er, did no one at Masterchef think that Jack the Ripper might not be a ‘fun’ theme for a meal?"
And another weighed in: "I was so confused at first, because I thought he'd done some theatrics and then presented a plate of food that had no connection to them. It took Twitter to make me realise the (presumably intentional) connection between Jack the Ripper and serving steak tartare. Big yikes."
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BBC MasterChef fans slam Jack the Ripper-inspired dish following semi-finals
BBC
The final episode of semi-finals week airs on BBC One tonight where fans will discover whether or not Chris has done enough to make it to the final.
GB News has contacted MasterChef for comment.
