It's the Celebrity MasterChef final.
Five weeks of a fantastic, intense competition.
Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!
Wish me luck.
15 celebrities pushing themselves to the limit.
Still no idea what I'm doing.
This is not what I planned.
I've never seen anything like it in my life.
From actors...
Eugh!
..to singers.
# Brecon! #
Pressure.
..from Gladiators to drag queens.
Hello, welcome to Ginger's Whisking Corner.
From reality stars...
I'm stressed now.
A lot going on, a lot going on. I'm flustered, boys. I'm flustered.
..to sports heroes.
MACHINE HISSES
I've broken it.
And there's been so much emotion in this kitchen.
Waahh!
And, yes, sometimes it can be a little hit and miss.
Oh, God, look at that. Oh, no!
Whoa.
What have you done to John?
But we've also had the most amazing food.
Extraordinary food.
I love it. I love it. I love it.
Boom.
But now we're down to our final three.
It is the final day
of Dinner Lady Bootcamp.
Today, we are all going to graduate,
and take our hairnets off
and throw them up into the air,
and then somebody is going to be crowned the champion.
I can't wait!
Do you know what? It would be nice if I won.
Yeah, I've been pushed out of the comfort zone,
and I've had to test myself.
But I've loved every minute.
So, yeah, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.
I am so happy to be here today!
Aaah!
There's a one-in-three chance
that I'm actually going to win MasterChef -
and that's an incredible feeling,
also a terrifying feeling.
These three celebrities have been on the most intense cooking course
the world can offer,
but there can only be one winner.
I'm going to tell you right now, Grace,
it's going to go off with a bang.
I am the strange little bald man
that lives inside Ginger Johnson.
I grew up in a tiny little village in County Durham,
surrounded by trees and fields and cows.
Hello. Hey, good morning.
I think even from being a small child,
I was always a little bit of a show-off.
Please can I be the shiniest person in the UK?
I've always liked attention.
I've always liked people clapping at the end of things.
That is so fab. Love that.
In the time that I grew up,
there weren't really a lot of queer people in the media.
I think the closest I got to seeing a drag queen
would be a pantomime dame.
Shoulders out. Daring.
And for a long time, if you'd asked me what I wanted to be
when I grew up, I would've said a pantomime dame.
Thank you, darling. See you soon. Bye.
But I didn't really get into drag properly
until I was at university.
It takes about two and a half hours to get into full drag.
And then it kind of all just snowballed from there.
The UK's next Drag Race superstar is...
..Ginger Johnson.
CHEERS
And now Ginger Johnson is my entire life, basically.
I'm actually quite a shy person,
so Ginger gives me an opportunity to let out a wilder side of myself
that doesn't really exist for me in this get up.
Time to go and win a trophy.
I have always been a big eater.
My mum would do most of the cooking during the week,
and then on a Saturday night, my dad would be in charge of the cooking.
And we'd maybe have something a bit special.
And that definitely inspired me to try lots of different things.
So, I've always had a real passion for eating - and, now, for cooking.
Hi, Viv. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you?
Yeah, I'm good. I'm good.
I live with my partner Viv, and my two gorgeous little cats.
So, the final's coming up.
How are you feeling about that, babes?
I don't know. I am a little bit nervous.
I think Viv is definitely happy that I've been in the competition.
I think our dinners are getting more exciting.
It is quite a boozy menu.
Whether the judges like my food
or they're just a little bit drunk and pliable.
Who knows?
But it's worked so far, so why not more?
Ginger, are you ready?
I'm coming. I'm coming.
From the first time Ginger Johnson walked into this competition,
I thought, "We've got something here."
Oh, my gosh! Your earrings!
I'm also dressed as a Battenberg cake,
but you can't see it behind my apron.
I just feel so dowdy.
I thought I would come along, have a laugh,
crack a couple of jokes, pack my wig up and leave.
It does say satay sauce and the first point on the plan is,
I have literally no idea.
Bingo. This is a great start to the competition, Ginger.
Oh, great.
That prawn could not be more perfect.
That is restaurant quality food.
Absolutely wild.
There was a real turning point
when we cooked to get into the quarterfinal.
Suddenly I thought, "OK, it's on now."
I think it's great.
Inventive, complex, and ambitious.
Thank you.
Ginger's food's not for the faint-hearted.
There's enough garlic in that mayo to stun a donkey.
Taking the everyday, the ordinary,
and putting on a little bit of a surprise.
I doubted you could add dill pickles to batter.
It works.
Ginger Johnson has never played it safe.
It's unusual, technically really challenging,
and I really like it.
Being part of this competition, it's pushed me to be adventurous.
Whoa! Yeah.
This is quite an interesting combination.
Trying to bring the creativity
that I find in the rest of my life into food.
I think that Ginger has proven that rhubarb
most definitely goes with pork.
Overall, she's just a trooper.
But can you actually see what you are doing? I mean...
Oh, yeah. You're grating with, like,
basically, two tarantulas fighting.
You can't half do drag, can you?
Cooking as Ginger Johnson is not fun.
Just calm down. Life is not this hard.
It's a pan of sugar. Get a grip.
I'm wearing two pairs of spanks, three pairs of tights,
and a giant plastic hat on my head.
Never mind the butter, I'm melting.
I would have dinner at Ginger Johnson's house
any night of the week.
Hecky-decky.
I want a party invite.
Because I know that she's a huge personality...
Out of my depth? I'm at the bottom of the ocean.
..a great big laugh...
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
..but a really good cook.
This is the most useful
chocolate teapot I've ever met.
Technically, it's probably
one of the best desserts I've had for a very, very long time.
I have caught the bug...
That's absolutely fantastic.
Ace.
..for the food and also for the competition.
Job's a good 'un.
Winning's not the most important thing in the world,
but everybody loves to win.
I grew up in Swansea in a village
called Mumbles, very close to the sea.
As a child, I was relatively large.
My parents encouraged me to do quite a few sports.
I had a sort of biological disposition towards rugby,
for obvious reasons.
I started probably playing properly at schoolboy level.
I don't know if any of us ever thought I'd go on to, you know,
play for Wales, let alone the Lions, and have a career as long as it was.
To be in Cardiff in front of 75,000 people is a special thing.
I look back on my career, in a lot of ways, and think,
was that actually me?
158 caps, a few wins, too many losses.
But one hell of a journey.
Hello, how are you? Hiya.
Yeah, I'm fine. And you?
Yeah, not too bad.
I think I got my recipe down.
Oh, my wife, Anwen.
We met at a concert in Swansea 15, 16 years ago.
Married for ten years, three kids,
and life's good.
How's the girls? Yeah, they're good. Obviously they're missing you.
But they're looking forward to having you home.
Well, as long as they're OK. With the trophy.
It's funny, you know, food is a big part of family life.
Ans does most of the stuff at home.
I'll do some cooking when I come home, then, is it?
First time for everything.
OK. Only joking. All right.
Yeah, what are we now?
I'm just over...14 months retired.
What do I miss the most about playing?
The routine, the people.
The pain, the feedback.
Doing MasterChef has been cathartic in a way,
because I've had something to focus on, channel my efforts,
and I've loved it, and I never thought I would.
Alun Wyn was probably one of our most nervous celebrities.
There was a bit of apprehension, if I'm honest, about doing this,
cos this is very far removed from probably my personality.
At least you're smiling now. You weren't ten minutes ago.
I'm always smiling on the inside.
But a light went on when Alun Wyn began getting praised.
Your salmon's cooked really nicely.
To me, this is delicious.
It feels like a classy thing that you've cooked for us.
He's a classic cook.
He understands technique.
Oh, look at these.
We asked Alun Wyn for more flavour, more oomph.
It is delicious, but more spicy.
Mm-hm. Pack it on.
He took it on board.
All I've wanted from you was a bit of va-va-voom.
Congratulations, Alun Wyn, you've done it.
The flavour of that jus.
Real depth, real complexity.
6'7", big hands -
but the man can do finesse.
For me, this is extraordinary.
And he realised his true potential when he worked with Alexina
and made that pretty little pavlova.
I think you've done really, really well.
Thank you.
To be able to learn those skills and put it into practice,
and go, well, actually, I can do that,
has been a part of the process that I've really, really enjoyed.
Oh!
Sorry, I didn't realise it was going to take me three days to plate.
Be worth the wait.
I have to say that I'm very proud of him, from the bottom of my heart.
We've also seen his love for his country shine through.
This is a Welsh surf and turf, really.
Wales is a small place, but the sport means a lot to people.
Erm...
HE CLEARS THROAT
I have been chopping onions as well.
You cooked this for your wife, you cooked this for your father,
but you cooked this for Wales - and this is Wales.
I feel like we have an entirely different Alun Wyn now
than we did at the beginning of the competition.
I can be quite fun despite this, erm...
..rough exterior.
I think it's delightful.
That man has great talent.
That is pretty impressive.
And he's proved himself that he has the right to be in the final three.
This is crowd-pleasing, fantastic food
with real elegance and sophistication.
Thank you very much.
It has been a longer journey than I expected,
but it's been great.
That is a glass of happiness.
The final cook is going to be interesting.
I was very competitive when I played.
You got it absolutely bang on.
And people will say it's only food - but it's not only food in Wales.
I was born in Scotland,
but my mum and dad split up
before I was one. So, she moved with me and my sister down to Guernsey,
where her family was, so I grew up in Guernsey.
My mum got breast cancer,
and she died just before I turned seven.
My grandparents did their best until I was ten,
and then they just got too old to have two girls,
so we went to live with our aunt and uncle.
My auntie's an amazing cook,
and I used to be in awe
of my auntie's ability to bring people to the table.
The parties that she created -
the Sunday roasts of, you know, 12, 14 people.
The fact that we would sit together every night and have delicious food.
And when I go home, it's the same as it ever was, she cooks a feast.
I think I'm really emotional about food
because it sort of saved me when I was growing up.
I did a BA Honours degree in acting at Liverpool,
and around the end of my second year
decided that I didn't want to be an actress.
So, I came down to London, and ended up getting into TV.
Push! Ah!
Gut! Suck up your gut! Ah!
I'm a writer, and I've been fascinated by the obsession
with size zero.
So, the documentaries took me to America, and I was living in LA.
I got a call one day from an editor
who said that she'd read some of my journalism,
would I consider writing fiction?
And she gave me my first two-book deal.
And I'm now on my ninth book.
I met Chris in LA.
We've been married 13 years.
We had our babies there.
Every Sunday, Chris and I would just have 20, 30 people over,
and I would cook for everybody -
and it just kind of developed this real feeder mentality.
Mm, that's yummy.
I love the texture of it.
We only moved back to London a year and a half ago.
Thanks very much. Have a good day. Thank you. Take care.
But I still feed people every Sunday.
I love doing it.
We could say early in the competition that Dawn's food
was a little bit rough and ready.
I think that's fantastic.
Massive, but fantastic. Massive...
We know that she's exuberant and loves to feed people.
You're not a fan of a petite portion, are you?
No, absolutely not.
Always generous, always full of ambition.
No! Ah, I'm out of control. I'm out of control.
You have cooked, yet again, enough for a herd of hungry wildebeest.
Along the way, Dawn has listened, she's learned.
We have seen her food change.
I mean, I think this plate looks absolutely gorgeous.
I've definitely pulled back a bit.
Making things look prettier, refining it.
More technique, more elegance.
Ace.
I'd pay money for it.
Outstanding.
That's been a lovely thing to learn.
Wahey!
I think she's amazing.
We've asked these celebrities for passion, emotion,
to tell us who they are.
Fillet of mackerel.
I'm taking you up to Scotland,
which is one of my favourite places in the world.
It's bonny.
And she does that on a plate every time.
My auntie would always cook a traditional Guernsey cake pudding
called a Gache Melee.
This is so far up my street.
It has been fabulous to watch.
I'm dedicating it to my husband Chris,
who first told me he loved me
and asked me to be his girlfriend in a kebab shop.
The meat is fantastic.
I'm really, really happy indeed.
Everything has a story.
Everything she cooks is for a reason.
One more minute.
The way that I perform is through my novels.
I've written you one today.
I love how playful this is.
Getting this far in the competition has made me realise
this is not just a hobby, this is something that I can really do.
Holy camole.
That ice cream is unbelievable.
It ticks so many boxes of texture and flavour and fun.
I would very happily finish the lot.
So I've just gained so much confidence.
Whoo!
Would anybody like the trout?
I think she done a great job.
Service, please!
My quail breast, the cooking is absolutely perfect.
She now knows what she's got to do.
She's got to bring that story and love and emotion...
Ooh, ah, ooh, ooh!
..to those three courses.
I don't think you really actually need to measure red wine, do you?
MasterChef has been one of the best things I've ever done.
This is fabulous.
It just blow my mind.
Did I actually believe that I could potentially win it?
Wow.
I don't know if those were the voices in my head when I started,
but it's certainly the voice in my head now.
Grace, this is it.
The Celebrity MasterChef Grand Final.
Dawn, Ginger, Alun Wyn.
The thought that we can only give out one prize
is keeping me awake at night, John.
I've really grown to love Dawn and Alun Wyn.
The only downside has been that there are no stairs in the kitchen,
so I've had nothing to push them down to sabotage.
They were both walking down the corridor earlier,
and I just stuck my foot out.
Annoyingly, neither of them tripped over.
But I've still got time to bring them down.
I do wish them well.
But I'm wearing red for a reason today - I haven't had a chance
to wear it in a competitive fixture for a long time.
So, can we go and cook now, please?
Welcome, friends, to the Celebrity MasterChef final.
I'm so proud of everything that you've done,
everything that you've achieved.
But there can only be one winner.
I'm getting emotional, so I'm going to now throw to John.
You walked in the door five weeks ago as celebrities.
You are now extraordinary cooks.
Everything you've learned, it's all about today.
Three courses, three hours...
..one champion.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the last time,
let's cook.
I've been quite weepy today.
I feel really emotional.
So...slightly on the edge.
But what will be will be.
I'm just trying to take my time.
Even though I look like I'm moving slow,
the head is going relatively quickly, shall we say?
I've never come into the kitchen shaking,
but I think it's excitement as much as anything else.
I'm like a little Jack Russell ready to tear a rabbit apart.
If there's one thing I am today, it is determined.
You know, this is go for broke.
There's a trophy on the line here.
So, I'm really, really going for it.
Ginger, it's finals day.
How you feeling?
This is showtime for me, the dinner table is the stage today.
I'm going to try and make the most fun, exciting, humorous food
that I can, and hope that I entertain you with it.
I am cooking you the ultimate 1970s contemporary dinner party.
The 1970s!
Surprise, surprise!
I love the art, and the fashion, and the music, and the culture.
So I've decided to make three courses inspired by the 1970s,
but updated and given a little bit of Ginger twist on the side.
I'm really excited about going back to the '70s.
In the 1970s, I was wearing platform shoes
and dancing away to Yellow Brick Road.
So, we're starting with a Bloody Mary prawn cocktail
with celery salted crisps and lemon mayo.
You love a boozy twist, don't you?
Yeah, there's quite a lot of booze in here, Grace, today.
It was sort of by accident, but then I looked over it,
and I was like, what's more '70s than a really boozy lunch?
First course, prawn cocktail.
Classically lovely prawns,
a sauce made from mayonnaise and ketchup with Worcestershire sauce.
But her sauce is going to be a Bloody Mary sauce.
That means vodka.
Make the sauce, cook the prawns, cool the prawns,
fry the crisps, make the mayo, and do the cucumber.
Ginger's prawns have been having a great old time.
At the moment, they're sitting in a tomatoey, vodka Bloody Mary mixture.
Soaking it all up.
Oh, and I've made a jelly.
God, I've been busy, haven't I?
The spiciness of Worcestershire sauce, which she's doing as a jelly,
inside that Bloody Mary sauce.
So, a little surprise in there.
That is pure Ginger Johnson.
Crisps.
And then on the side of that, we're getting crisps with celery salt.
Wish the job was eat a bag of crisps.
Unfortunately, it is MAKE a bag of crisps.
There's sweetness, there's booze, there's prawns.
Everything about this speaks to me.
OK, that's happening.
And what is going to be next?
Ginger's main course, she's making a pie.
But not a beef pie. No, no, no.
Ginger's going 1970s, and an ode to duck a l'orange.
It's a duck leg pie, so the bone of the leg
sticks out the top of the pie.
And inside it is an orangey, winey sauce.
You know that I love pie.
Don't you?
GINGER LAUGHS
I may have clocked that earlier in the competition, yes.
I feel like I'm being manipulated slightly.
She's making a pastry from lard, butter, flour and salt.
That should be a really flaky, crispy crust on the outside.
Inside that pie there needs to be a lovely, rich filling.
Thigh and leg of the duck cooked all the way through
so the meat almost completely falls off the bone.
Hopefully not too much orange in there,
and the gravy around the outside thick enough to hold it together,
but not too thick that it's glue.
I am joyous whenever anyone makes hasselback potatoes.
When you put all the lovely fat and salt in, there's just so many areas
that it can seep into the fluffy potato.
Around the outside of that, a real celebration of the '70s
with lots of colour.
Purple carrots, we've got romanesco cauliflower -
which is all spiky and green.
We've got kale, which is both purple and green.
It's going to be a feast for the eyes as well as, hopefully,
for our palate.
And then, for dessert we're obviously having baked Alaska.
Oh, yes! But I'm going to set it on fire,
just to make it a bit more drag, you know.
So, I've got the layer of sponge,
then I've got caramelised pineapple ring, which is also very '70s,
with a cherry in the middle of it.
Then the ice cream has chilli oil stirred into it.
Then I cover it in the meringue,
and at the table I'm going to flambe it with vanilla rum.
That's the plan.
Things need to be cooled, things need to be frozen,
things need to be thawed.
Things need to be fluffy enough to go over it all.
And then it needs to be set alight.
It's absolute madness.
Can I just ask one question? Yes, you can.
What's that wig weigh?
This wig is full of hopes and dreams,
so it's light as a feather, John.
Ginger, I love you, I do - but can you do me a favour?
When you light this baked Alaska...
..please be careful.
GINGER LAUGHS
Celebrities, one hour gone,
two hours left.
Up against it, but was always going to be the case, wasn't it?
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
Eh!
Alun Wyn. Yes.
You're obviously here to win.
Well, I could say it's in the name, but...
No, we'll see how we go. We got a lot going on.
What's the inspiration for your menu today?
Probably my journey through MasterChef.
OK.
It's funny, I've learnt stuff that I want to show my kids,
and it's been one of the best things I've done, so thanks for having me.
You're never going to be able to duck out of cooking ever again.
I know. That's a contract I can't go back on.
Are you going to miss us?
Definitely. I'll miss John more than you, Grace, I've got to be honest.
Well, he's very honest.
This menu probably isn't quite my greatest hits,
but it's a nod to a lot of the things I've done
and the skills that I've learned.
If I complete it, it'll be THE greatest hit so far.
Alun Wyn's first course, he's taking a piece of trout,
and he's going to butter poach that.
With the butter, that should enhance the texture
and the flavour at the same time.
That's not everyday cooking - that's something that chefs do -
and Alun Wyn today wants to cook like a chef.
With that we're also getting a caviar sauce.
Next level up, here we go.
A really lovely white creamy sauce.
Let's add a bit of caviar to make it really special.
But that caviar is also really salty,
and he's got to make sure he gets that balance absolutely right.
Alun Wyn is taking inspiration from his time with Cherish
in the competition, where he did really lovely potato spirals.
So, it's just spiralised potato that is fried very quickly,
and then it goes crispy and, you know, shows off the plate.
Sauce isn't thick enough - doesn't work.
Trout overcooked - dish is finished.
He's got absolutely nowhere to hide here.
Ah.
More haste, less speed, Alun Wyn.
For my main I'm making steak and chips.
I'm a fan of steak and chips.
You know, this is, like, Celebrity MasterChef,
you can't do steak and chips in the final.
But I can.
You can't get much more classic dining
than a very fancy steak and chips.
We need to make sure that this steak is served kind of medium rare,
but also with a lovely brown burnish.
Seasoned, rested.
Delicious.
We've had some wonderful potatoes along the way from Alun Wyn.
Now in the final, he's making chips.
He's going to fry them multiple times, so they're crispy,
but, inside, lovely and soft.
These better be the best chips that I have ever put in my mouth -
and I've eaten a lot of chips.
The thing that really brings it together
would be the bearnaise sauce,
and that's probably the main technical element.
Bearnaise sauce, wonderful creamy rich sauce.
Taking egg yolks,
reduction of tarragon - which is slightly aniseed -
little shallots, vinegar, white wine.
But there's egg yolks and the really hot reduction going together,
which means we could get scrambled eggs.
It's ribbons...I think.
With it we're getting Wye Valley asparagus,
and then we've got hen-of-the-woods mushrooms.
A lovely, rich, quite stringy, meaty mushroom.
Not cooked enough, it's too chewy -
cooked too much, and it can go really soapy.
I'm finishing off with a bit of cherry vinegar
at the end to lift it.
All these little sort of nuances that I've learned,
it makes a big difference.
Alun Wyn's dessert is a passion fruit tart with toasted meringue
and sherry poached pineapple.
The flavours of the tropics.
Delightful.
With Alexina, I did a pavlova with a grapefruit and orange curd.
So, I thought revisit a lot of the techniques from that.
He's going to make a curd flavoured with lots and lots of passion fruit.
That has to be done in such a way
that when it gets poured into the tart,
then it sets perfectly.
He's not just making any meringue - he's making Italian meringue.
Whipping egg whites, and taking sugar to liquid
and boiling it to 121 degrees, which will cook the meringues,
and then he's going to burnish it with a blowtorch.
He's poaching the pineapple in sherry.
Does sherry go with pineapple?
We're going to find out.
Alun Wyn is taking a really big risk here.
Classic dishes that we've seen many times before,
and it can't be everyday and ordinary.
It's got to be surprising and exciting.
Do I think I can win it?
Well, here's things I never thought I'd say -
but as long as my meringue's stiff and my meat's cooked,
you know, we'll be halfway there.
OK, that's 90 minutes left.
What? What?
90 minutes.
You're halfway.
All right, that's OK.
Don't panic. Don't panic.
This is a menu that I know is delicious if I don't get it wrong.
Stay calm, make it look pretty, and just don't trip over,
don't burn stuff.
And breathe.
Dawn. Hi, there.
It's the final. It's the final...
My heart's beating at 1,000mph
and I'm trying to control my hand shakes,
and just trying to just really enjoy it,
rather than just be stressed. Yeah.
What is the inspiration of your three courses?
I love stories, and I love the stories behind the food.
And I thought I have to end this one, emotionally,
with food that I'm connected to.
This whole menu is just a love letter to Chris and to the kids,
and to so many different elements of my life.
I try to cook from the heart,
and this is me literally laying my heart on a plate.
All right, little guy, it's your time to shine.
My first course is crab tacos.
Tacos were our daily bread in LA for so long, we ate them all the time.
And then, crab, to me, is just Guernsey on a plate.
So, I'm putting the two together with a yuzu dressing
and a delicious kimchi yoghurt.
Dawn is taking a whole crab.
She's going to pick the meat herself,
which I think is really brave.
She's got to make sure that there's absolutely no shell in that crab.
Mixed together with the flavours of Asia,
ginger and chilli going through that crab.
Yuzu, which is the Japanese fruit, which is a little bit lime.
Fantastic.
Yuzu, sesame oil, sugar, minced garlic, soy sauce, mirin.
But the flavours in here have to be really well balanced
so she doesn't lose the flavour of the crab.
We've got kimchi yoghurt, that lovely pickled cabbage from Korea.
Inspired.
It could be delicious.
Dawn's making the taco shells.
It needs to be thick enough to keep all that lovely crab meat in,
but it can't be too thin.
It's getting it bang on.
I'd like to see a little bit of elegance here.
Little sort of mouthfuls of LA street food.
That would be lovely.
And for my main course, I'm doing salt baked trout
with ratatouille tart and a fennel salad and a tonnato sauce.
The salt baked trout was because I wanted to infuse
this lovely fruity tea from California into a fish,
and that seemed like a really good way to do it.
Ratatouille reminds me of my aunt and uncle's table,
and our lovely long Sunday lunches.
Now, I don't know if this fish is going to fit.
I think I'm going to have to do it diagonally.
He's a whopper.
Deep breaths. Everything's going to be fine.
It's just a 2kg trout.
I'm going to put you to bed,
and you're going to do wonderful things for me.
So, essentially, I just stuff some tea into the fish,
sprinkle some tea in the salt,
and that just gives this very gentle flavour of the tea
in the fish itself, and it's delicious.
When it goes right.
What's really vital in this fish dish is the tea.
There you go, little guy.
If the tea's not there, it's just salt baked fish.
I really hope they're hungry.
Oh...!
Trout needs to be cooked all the way through,
and she won't know if that trout's cooked all the way through
until such time as we break that salt crust open.
Go on, in you go.
In you go.
All right, tonnato sauce.
Tonnato, tonnato, tonnato...
She's making a tonnato sauce - mayonnaise flavoured with tuna.
But instead of using tuna,
she's using salty anchovies to get the flavours of the sea.
As if Dawn hasn't got enough to do,
she's decided to do a ratatouille tart as a side dish.
What I'm looking for here is lovely crisp pastry.
Ratatouille is a mess of vegetables
that you've got left at the bottom of the chiller cabinet.
How's she going to make this look pretty?
OK, be good.
Celebrities, two hours gone.
One hour left.
Oh, my goodness.
Dawn's dessert, she's making s'mores -
an old favourite American campfire classic.
Toasted marshmallows in between a biscuit with chocolate sauce.
My kids love s'mores.
So, I've made a posh s'more.
They've had a few versions of it this week,
and they thought it was delicious,
and so this one is for Art and Valentine.
Stiff peaks, please.
It sounds simple enough.
However, there's a huge amount of process here.
There wasn't time to make marshmallows themselves,
so I'm making marshmallow fluff.
Dawn's making what she calls marshmallow fluff.
She's using heated-up sugar to a liquid with cream of tartar,
and that blows up, almost like honeycomb,
to make this wonderful marshmallow whip.
I mean, that's looking good.
I'm just covered in marshmallow whip, not in a fun way.
I'm doing the base as Scottish shortbread,
just to throw a little bit more of my Scottishness
into the final thing that I'm cooking.
Butter, sugar and flour only.
Really crumbly and very, very delicate.
Lovely golden, almost blonde colour to those shortbreads.
They shouldn't be too dark at all.
And she's got to make a really fantastic rich chocolate ganache
that's spreadable and runny, not too thin and not too thick.
But we're getting a bit of whisky as a nod to Scotland.
It should put a smile on our face,
and hopefully it'll put a bit of chocolate down my white shirt.
OK, so, where are we?
Once again, giving yourself just a little bit of work to do, Dawn.
I have not cut any corners today.
No. I'm going for it. But, you know...
..no-one won MasterChef by cutting corners, did they, John?
They did not, Dawn. No. They did not.
Going on.
Celebrities, you have just 30 minutes!
Wow. 30 minutes.
You've got to get those pies in the oven there, Ginger.
It's happening right now, John.
Go, go, go. 30 minutes left.
OK, OK, OK. Things are happening.
It comes in waves. I think I've got something covered,
and then it's like, "Oh, I've got to do that. Oh, I've got to do that."
I'm just trying to keep a calm head.
There is a lot to do, but it's not impossible.
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.
Yeah, perfect.
Little guy, come on.
Oh, please be cooked.
You have just 15 minutes.
Your last cook of this year's competition.
15 minutes left.
Please be cooked, please be cooked...
Yeah...
I've never moved at this speed for this amount of time before
in my life.
So, that's interesting, I'm learning a lot about myself.
I am very, very up against it now.
GRACE: Five minutes left.
Things need to be getting on to plates.
Right, will you just sit where I've told you to sit, please?
Celebrities, two minutes!
OK, pies are nearly done.
If it's going on, it's got to go on now.
15 seconds, please.
Come on, get up there.
That's it, time's up. All done.
Yeah!
Oh, God!
You all right, Alun? I think so. You?
I don't know!
I don't really know what I just did.
We did it. It's over.
It's over! Well, it's not over.
Now we've got to sit and watch them eat it!
Oh, my... I'm scared.
Dawn O'Porter.
GINGER: Good luck, Dawn.
Hi.
First to serve her final menu is Dawn.
It's really breathtaking,
what you've done here.
Taking inspiration from the tacos she ate living in LA
and the crabs of Guernsey where she grew up,
Dawn's starter is a soft shell taco with crab
in yuzu, chilli and soy dressing,
with avocado and apple slices,
served with kimchi yoghurt.
Very dainty, very small.
Great.
It's delicious. Oh...
Absolutely delicious.
You've kept the natural flavour of that wonderful crab,
but you've infused all those flavours of Asia.
Yuzu, sesame oil in there as well, with little bits of chilli,
which I love.
Your taco, nicely made.
It holds together as a piece.
I've got no criticisms at all.
Thank you.
I think this is the most delicate, messy thing that you've made so far.
Your crab is beautifully seasoned.
My favourite part of this entire dish is your kimchi in yoghurt.
I just think that it's so clever.
It's got that pungent funkiness of kimchi.
Love it. Thank you.
Dawn's main course is salt baked trout
infused with her favourite Californian blue butterfly tea
and stuffed with lemon and herbs.
Served with a ratatouille tart, fennel salad,
and anchovy tonnato sauce.
From a little dainty crab
to an enormous FISH.
Wow.
What a thing to pull off.
I think your fish is cooked perfectly.
I'm perhaps not tasting the tea as you would have hoped me to.
But the tonnato sauce is outstanding.
I think making it with anchovy is inspired.
And then the little fennel salad lifting the whole thing.
This is great.
Your tonnato - wonderful and creamy, that's great,
the saltiness of anchovies.
You can actually pack that with more flavour, as far as I'm concerned.
But your ratatouille tarts are just simply delicious.
Crispy, buttery pastry underneath, sharp sweet tomato across the top.
The sweetness coming from the courgettes as well.
Just beautiful.
Thank you.
Inspired by her kids' love of American campfire classic s'mores,
Dawn's dessert is shortbread biscuit,
chocolate and whisky ganache and marshmallow fluff,
topped with gold leaf,
with caramelised banana and a salted caramel sauce.
It is the neatest s'more I've ever seen in my life. Yeah.
I expected something that would dribble down my chin.
I've had many s'mores in various places,
and I have to tell you, I've never really been a fan.
But you've smashed this out the park.
You've taken bitter, dark, rich chocolate,
made a really strong ganache,
with a little warmth at the back of your throat.
Buttery shortbread underneath,
and this marshmallow fluff across the top, light as air.
But that's the sweet note.
You've reimagined the s'more.
For me, you've given it a new lease of life.
I really love it.
As I pudding, this just completely works. It pulls together.
The stickiness of the banana, the sweetness of the caramel,
the boozy chocolate ganache.
It's childlike and playful,
but it's also a serious heavy hitter.
Dawn, this competition, for you,
I know, at times, has been quite emotional.
But you, every single time, come up with food that makes us smile,
because it's all from your heart.
And what you've done with these three courses
is just brought yourself to us.
And I have to say, thank you very much. I've loved it.
Oh, I'm so pleased.
I honestly couldn't have given more of myself to this process.
Well done. Thank you, darling. Well done.
The food that I've served has been from the heart.
It's been something that I've worked so hard on.
So, what will be will be.
I've done my very best.
Right, who's up?
Alun Wyn.
Go for it, Alun Wyn. Cheers, guys.
Alun Wyn, you've always done really technically difficult food.
You've always been very, very precise.
But this is a completely different level.
I mean, I'm looking at this and thinking restaurant.
Good on you. You haven't tried it yet.
I've just paid you a compliment.
OK. Thank you, John. There you go.
To begin his classic menu, Alun Wyn has made butter poached sea trout
on a fennel salad,
with a caviar, chive cream sauce,
and crispy potato spirals.
The caviar sauce is just a feast for the eyes.
Absolutely beautiful.
That fish, it's cooked beautifully.
The highlight for me of this entire thing, though, is the sauce.
You've got this delicate caviar,
little orange capsules of fishiness bursting
in amongst the chive, in amongst the cream.
It's magical.
If I lived close to a restaurant that served this,
it would be very tempting to be a lady who lunched
that just went in every day and had this.
It's ace.
Like, tear-jerking ace.
I mean, this is truly accomplished food.
It goes from this crispy potato across the top
to a really grown-up, bold, quite exciting dish
that looks really dainty,
but delivers on flavour way beyond expectation.
Thanks.
Alun Wyn's main course is ribeye steak and triple cooked chips,
with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms in sherry vinegar,
Wye Valley asparagus, and a bearnaise sauce.
The steak is cooked nicely.
But I am surprised that you just made chips.
I would have liked to have seen something
a little bit more technical.
That aside, lovely chips.
But, for me, the absolute star of the show is this bearnaise.
It is world-class, creamy, vibrant and buttery.
Absolutely incredible.
These chips, that bearnaise, is happiness on a plate.
Your steak cooked very, very nicely indeed.
Lovely crust on the outside.
The hen-of-the-woods, that sherry vinegar is lovely and sharp,
and that's really bought the flavour of that hen-of-the-woods out.
It's beautiful.
I shall be nicking that, if you don't mind.
And that, with all the other things on the plate,
I think it's a great dish.
Thank you.
Alun Wyn's dessert is a passion fruit curd
and toasted meringue tart,
with caramelised sherry pineapple and grated lime.
If I look at Alun Wyn...
..I look down at this plate,
I think, "Really?"
You know what? This is the magic of you.
It's a really pretty, beautiful-looking plate of food,
which looks like it's been done by an expert.
This is sunshine on a plate.
You've taken passion fruit in a beautiful, smooth curd.
It's not too firm.
It just sits beautifully inside this tart,
which is perfectly thin pastry, buttery and soft.
Beautifully-made meringue that's sweet and sticky.
That sharp lime really helps with this dish to become sophisticated,
rather than being too sweet.
Pineapple in sherry.
There's a softness, but also a lovely crunchy caramelisation.
I'm loving every minute of it.
I don't have any notes other than...
..wow.
Throughout the competition, this man with big hands
produced some of the most beautiful and dainty food along the way.
I think you've had a fantastic competition,
and I thank you very much for everything you've done.
Thank you.
What happened to Alun Wyn the rugby player?
Where did he go to?
Is he still in there? He's in there somewhere now.
John just ate him.
GRACE LAUGHS
It was an experience, to say the least.
Oh, my God. Well done.
Well done. Amazing.
Feedback was they seemed happy enough with it.
I've hopefully given the best account of myself on the plate.
Yeah, we'll see what happens.
I'm looking at the meal in front of me, and thinking
it has to be Ginger Johnson.
THEY LAUGH
Go on, Ginge.
Finally, it's Ginger,
whose menu is inspired by the 1970s.
You take the everyday, the ordinary, and you fill it full of surprise.
A little bit of bling.
And I just love it.
Ginger's starter is a Bloody Mary prawn cocktail.
Prawns in a tomato, chilli, and vodka sauce,
with diced cucumber and Worcestershire sauce jelly cubes,
garnished with roasted prawn heads,
lettuce, celery and an olive,
with celery salted crisps and a lemon mayonnaise.
A good Bloody Mary often feels like a meal in itself,
and I love how you've played with that
and made this really strange over-the-top prawn cocktail,
which feels like it's from space.
I think the prawns are absolutely delicious.
It's incredibly boozy.
I adore the fact that you take things that are often classic ideas,
and think, "How can I imprint me on it?"
Really, really delicious.
For me, the thing here that's important is the flavours are right.
The cooking is right.
The prawns have got a beautiful crunch to them.
That wonderful Worcestershire sauce jelly,
it's like slightly powerful, and it's a surprise.
And then, of course, I get stuck into the addictive chips,
which are really lovely and crispy,
with this wonderful creamy lemon mayonnaise.
Oh, yes, please.
I tell you what, this is show-stopping, absolute brilliance.
I adore it.
Ginger's main is her take on duck a l'orange -
a duck leg and vegetable pie,
with an orange and red wine gravy,
served with smoked garlic hasselback potatoes, purple carrot,
charred baby romanesco and kale.
Not a pie for the squeamish, however.
Smells great.
Absolutely, absolutely.
The pastry across the top is good old-fashioned pie pastry,
slightly crisp.
Your gravy, your sauce, is slightly sweet with orange,
but still really, really rich with the flavour of duck.
Your duck's cooked beautifully.
That duck meat on the bone coming away so well.
I really like it. Thank you.
That pie, it's packed with flavour.
Great hasselback potato. Oh, my gosh.
I think there's about a bulb of garlic in there,
but absolutely worth it.
And I love your carrot, and I love your romanesco.
A really good dish.
Thank you.
Ginger's finale is flaming baked Alaska.
Oh, yeah, it's on fire.
Ah... That's it.
Swiss meringue covering a sponge base,
caramelised pineapple ring, glace cherry,
and a vanilla and chilli ice cream,
all soaked in rum.
Oh, look, see, it's toasting. You see what's going on? Yeah.
See, it's all toasting now.
Ah, clever you.
Ginger, honestly, you...
You dare, don't you?
Yeah!
Incredibly well-made Swiss meringue across the top
that when you poured the rum over there, it's actually cooked it
and given you a sort of crispness on the outside.
In there, a lovely, rich flavour of vanilla ice cream.
Then you get the chilli heat,
which works beautifully with that sweet meringue.
The rum gets sucked up by the sponge,
so you get that almost sort of flavour of a rum trifle
through the whole thing.
It's a great bit of theatre, really clever,
and I like it a lot.
But what I'm more pleased about
is that your wig didn't catch fire.
GINGER LAUGHS
This takes me back to when one of the aunties would bring
something like this round.
Inevitably, the curtains would be set fire to.
But this isn't just a common garden baked Alaska.
I love the cherry and I love the caramelised pineapple.
There's an absolute shed load of booze.
Lovely. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Let me be alone with it.
You've always put on a show and you've made us laugh,
but at the root of it there is a serious cook.
And there's never been a point when you haven't tried to take things
and twist them to another level, and impress us and excite us.
So, thank you so much for everything that you've done.
Thank you so much, both of you. It's been an absolute honour.
Oh, my God. You're amazing.
Oh, well done.
I didn't set myself on fire.
I'm really, really pleased with the comments.
I really felt like I brought an essence of who I am
and what I normally do into the food -
and it seemed to come across to the judges, as well.
Is it fair to say we've had a fantastic final?
We've eaten so well.
And what a privilege to eat that food by those celebrities.
They put their heart and soul into it.
It was really, really magical.
I feel, like, stressed, anxious,
so happy.
I just feel like I've lost all concept of time.
Three hours went like that.
I think I'm drunk off the Alaska fumes.
That's how I feel.
Dawn is a storyteller, and we had a story with every single course.
Her food was elegant, it was sophisticated.
It had lots and lots of flavour.
She draws on all of the inspirations of her life.
It was really beautiful.
Alun Wyn's love of the classics shone through in this round.
He understands technique, he understands finesse.
There were no surprises -
but it is beyond doubt that Alun Wyn's food was delicious today.
Right up until the final hurdle, Ginger Johnson is go big or go home.
There's some really inventive, curious,
but overall delicious things appearing at the table.
It was full of surprise, it was full of in intrigue.
It looked a bit quirky, a bit fun, a bit exciting.
It was just great.
Three absolutely fantastic cooks.
All completely different.
We've got to make a decision.
Who is this year's champion?
Whatever happens, whatever the result is today,
at least I can say I gave it everything, you know.
Maybe there is a chance that I might win.
I don't know.
Maybe, maybe.
I think I'd like to win from all the effort and all the burns,
the cuts and fighting with the blowtorch.
But if I don't, I can be pleased with what I've achieved
and what I'll take from, you know, MasterChef.
I feel like being a MasterChef finalist
is just such a confidence boost in so many ways.
To be the winner?
I'd be insufferable.
Celebrities, thank you for an amazing final.
It has been wonderful and impressive.
If I could give all three of you a prize, I really would.
You three have been absolutely incredible the whole way through.
But we only have one trophy.
One trophy to give.
Our Celebrity MasterChef champion 2025 is...
..Ginger.
Oh, Ginge. No way.
GINGER LAUGHS
Are you sure?
Ginger, it's you!
DAWN: Oh, mate. Well done.
Well done.
Oh, my God.
Alun Wyn, Dawn, what can I say?
An incredible competition.
It's been an honour. Well done. Thank you. Very good.
Dawn, Alun Wyn, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Well done, Ginge.
See you in a bit.
Oh, my word. Oh, fair play, Ginge.
I mean, that was incredible.
I'm probably more disappointed than I thought I'd be.
But I'm really proud of my effort.
I have really enjoyed it.
I know it doesn't look it a lot of the time,
but it's just my concentration face, I suppose.
Honestly, it's a life-changing experience.
How much I've just been allowed to be completely in love
with the thing I love more than anything else, which is food.
The trophy would have been the icing on the cake,
but I'm going away from it so happy.
LAUGHING: Despite my tears!
Cheers! Cheers. Chin-chin. Cheers.
Congratulations. Thank you.
JOHN LAUGHS
Ah! Hello, little friend.
GINGER LAUGHS
Oh, wow.
You are this year's Celebrity MasterChef champion.
Yes!
I cannot believe this.
I'm honestly so shocked. I am so shocked.
I really thought I was just going to come here and have a laugh,
and I can't believe that this is the end result of this competition.
It's absolutely crazy.
Throughout this entire competition,
Ginger has delivered these intriguing, inventive, exciting,
imaginative, difficult feats.
What she's done has been really impressive.
With all the presentation, with all the fun, with all the laughs,
her food tastes delicious, and she's an extraordinary cook.
And, for me, that's why she is our champion.
Hmm...
Not delicious.
Oh, I cannot wait to tell my mum and dad.
I cannot wait!
I've actually learned a real life skill, Mum and Dad!