Celebrity MasterChef fans claim 'BBC taking the p**s' as they fail to recognise 'so-called celebrity'
The BBC series was slammed for the 'celebrities' they had on
BBC
Celebrity MasterChef fans were left fuming with the BBC reality show as they claimed that Christine McGuinness shouldn't be branded as a celebrity - nothing that the show was "scraping the barrel".
Tonight the third group of celebrities braced themselves for a culinary battle as they took on the MasterChef kitchen, having their work cut out if they want a place in this week’s quarter-final.
TV personality Jake Quickenden, model and TV personality Christine McGuinness, actor Tamer Hassan, comedian Jamie MacDonald and model Emma Thynn were raring to go and faced two challenges which included Under the Cloche and cooking their dinner party dishes for the judges.
However, fans were let down by the calibre of celebrities show bosses had recruited for the show, and felt it was "time to call it a day" - with many being unable to recognise most of them.
McGuinness was one of those which many users pointed out shouldn't be branded a celebrity, as one X user penned: "So-called Celebrities? I’ve never heard of any of these contestants. One of them even has sensory issues with raw ingredients. Honestly. FFS."
Another added: "Christine has come to #CelebrityMasterChef to face her food fears... I thought this was a cooking contest and you were supposed to know how to cook whereas she presented herself as unable."
Fans of the show were confused as to why Christine McGuinness was on the show after admitting she had issues with food
BBC
"If you don't like the smells, and textures of food why come on," someone else pointed out before a fourth said: "Have we really come to the point on #celebritymasterchef where a 'personality' serves up eggs, bacon, tomatoes, & fried bread!"
"Now the BBC is just taking the piss," a fifth fumed as someone else agreed: "If this is the calibre of 'celebrities', it might be time to call it day on #CelebrityMasterChef."
Discussing her reasons as to how she felt about going on the show and why, McGuinness told the camera: "I don't know where half of the stuff is in my own kitchen, so I don't know how I am going to get on in the MasterChef Kitchen which I have never been in. I am not going to be able to find anything.
"I was diagnosed as autistic a few years ago. I do have a lot of sensory issues around food, the smells, the textures. Not just cooking, but tasting, it is something that I avoid, I avoid an awful lot.
John Torode and Gregg Wallace were impressed with the dish that Christine McGuinness had served
BBC
"I know that it is going to take a lot more energy for me to try and shut out the sensory issues of the smells, the noises, the textures of the food on my hands and try not to get too overwhelmed by it all."
Gregg Wallace pushed her on her reasons for coming onto the show, to which she explained: "My children are all autistic, they really really struggled with food and the only way to overcome that is by facing your fears, is to touch food, to smell it, to taste it.
"So, even now in my 30s, I am autistic and I still eat a very plain, basic, diet. So for me to be able to come here, try and just be a bit more comfortable with it in the most pressured place ever, I think I have got to do more, I have got to try and I want to."
After receiving a white sausage for the Under the Cloche challenge, McGuinness fried it and served it alongside some bacon, scrambled egg, oven-roasted tomatoes and eggy bread.
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John Torode praised: "I think this is really proof that with a round like this, you have got to cook something you know, because I think it looks great. Looks really really good. Bingo.
"Brilliant, you have got that spiciness coming from the white sausage, you have fried it so it's crispy on the outside, giving a bit of texture and bacon, smokey, and crispy.
"The scrambled eggs, really nice not too dry at all. Lovely big doorstop piece of bread and the tomatoes across the top, almost like you're making your own ketchup."
Wallace added: "That is breakfast, that is what you said you were going to do and that is what you have done. You have cooked everything really well, it tastes great and you have even brought presentation into it."
Touching on how she felt about their comments, she mused: "I think I played it safe then, I stuck to things that I recognised and that I knew, even though I know I haven't cooked it many times before. I am proud of what I have done today."