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Completely boss!
Excited to see. I love it!
..that is out of this world.
You're amazing.Aww, thanks.
It's this roller-coaster of emotions that you never get off.
All this week...
The terrine's gone upside down. Oh, no!
..these four celebrities have been battling it out for a place
in the quarterfinal.
Oh, God. My fish is on fire!
Oh! This is a nightmare.
Now they're back to fight for a place in the semifinals.
As soon as you're in that kitchen,
like, this overwhelming energy just hits you,
and you're like, "Right, I can do this."
I'm really enjoying it, and at the same time,
I feel beaten up by the process of doing it.
This is a tough world in these MasterChef streets, you know?
This is tough going.
I've cooked some steak, cooked some burgers.
That's as far as my recipes that I know go.
Now I'm just in no-man's-land.
These four are so good, in the last round,
we couldn't actually knock anybody out.
It's quarterfinal day,
and they have got to deliver under the utmost pressure.
Welcome back.
A MasterChef quarterfinal is a big day.
Such a big day you are going to be presenting your food to a finalist
and two champions of MasterChef.
Danny Jones...
..Angellica Bell, and last year's winner Lisa Snowdon.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's a massive day,
because at the end of this,
two of you will be leaving the competition.
1 hour and 15 minutes,
two courses.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.
Marcus has taken the competition really seriously.
He always wants to do lots more than anybody else
in the whole MasterChef kitchen.
He wants to show off as much skill as he possibly can.
The question is - can he keep the momentum going?
It is fair to say my wife is thoroughly sick of MasterChef.
I made four mango sauces last night,
and one of them's better than the other three.
I hope I can remember which one!
Marcus, what are you making for us?
Five-spice duck breast with a mango sauce,
kind of spicy pak choi, and miso aubergine.
Dessert is Tooting bananas.
There's a tiny little production of honey, weirdly enough,
in Tooting right where I live. So I've bought some,
and I thought it was funny, and it turns out to be the most
delicious honey ever. So it's banana pancakes with flambeed bananas,
all sweetened using honey, not sugar.
What liqueur or booze are you flambeing it with?
I'm using dark rum, and I'm flambeing it,
because I'm 31 years sober,
and this is the only way I can have rum.
Hey. Marcus, we wish you the very best of luck.
Thank you. You'd better get on toot suite. Indeed.
Marcus has decided to go all out.
Duck can be really tough,
so what he's got to do is make sure that he renders the fat
and lets it rest for a good amount of time.
That banana dessert, it's so sweet.
So we've got a banana pancake, we've got a banana on top of it,
and then we're going to drizzle the whole thing in local honey.
That is going to be far too sweet,
unless he knows something I don't know.
My nerves are hitting me today.
I think it's cos, like, when I do something, I really like to do
it well, even if it's making someone a cup of tea, you know what I mean?
Dani's proved herself to be a really good all-rounder.
So far, her style has been crowd-pleasing.
Keep it up, Dani. Keep it up.
I'm obsessed with food. Like, waking up in the middle of the night
and thinking about recipes? Never in a million years.
This has just completely taken over my life.
What are you making, Dani, that's going to impress? Thai fishcakes.
And then I'm also doing a prawn linguine for the main,
and I'm making my own pasta.
Ooh.
Would you like a place in the semifinals? Yeah, I'd love to.
I didn't think I'd get this far, to be honest.
Why did you come on MasterChef, Dani?
Because I love to cook. I just love it.
And your boyfriend, what does he think about you doing it?
Well, I've tried to make him do the whole John and Gregg thing.
I mean, he really doesn't give me the feedback that I want.
Was he happy to shave his head?
Oh, God!
Dani continues on the tradition of doing crowd-pleasers.
Fantastic.
She's starting off with what she calls a Thai fishcake.
It's slightly bouncy.
They don't fall apart like we think of a fishcake.
They're just made of seafood and a red curry paste.
Dani's making her own curry paste. I'm really impressed.
I'm a little bit concerned about her linguine.
Cheese, prawn, wine, cream.
It's getting a little bit rich for my liking,
but I'll reserve judgment.
I will.
Mica comes into the MasterChef kitchen and brings a big ray
of sunshine, both with her big smile, but also with her food.
Give us more of the tropical flavours you love, Mica.
It's worked so far.
Mica, what are you going to make that's going to
really impress everybody?
Some chilli jumbo prawns in a white wine sauce.
And then I'm going to do some sticky barbecue wings,
with some garlic butter mash and a macaroni cheese.
Comfort food. I love it. I've just got to cook what I love.
Why do you love cooking so much?
I think I get it from my granny, you know? She absolutely loved cooking.
And when I was growing up, I just wanted to be her,
cooking and singing and feeding everyone, you know?
Mica's starter, we've got a bowl of prawns still in the shell
that we're serving with some hopefully lightly toasted,
crunchy bread. The sort of thing I'd love to eat.
Me and you sitting in the park with a bottle of wine.
This is one of the family favourites.
They love my macaroni cheese.
Our main course, we've got little chicken wings,
which she's marinated with lots and lots of different spices.
She's making her own barbecue sauce.
Those chicken wings have to have a good amount of spice to them,
because otherwise we're not going to have a lot of flavour.
I've just got to make sure that the meal I cook today,
I just cook it like my life depends on it.
You know, the garlic prawns have got to be climbing off the walls.
And the sticky chicken, they need to be, like, requesting,
"Can I get more of that, please?"
I'd like James today to give us food that he really loves,
because when he does, it tastes great.
His repertoire is expanding, and he is getting better.
The only one who doesn't know it is James himself.
I do think that this is about as far as I'm going to get,
I've got to be honest. I know I've said that every single round.
I'm starting to think that people might think that
I'm slipping John and Gregg a few quid or something like that.
I've gone for a nice, spicy Korean chicken with some gochujang.
Yeah. Is that how you say that? Yeah. Gochujang.
With rice. What's our dessert? I'm trying my hand at these
cookies and cream truffles. Nice and simple.
Serve it with what?
HE STUTTERS:What more do you want?
Gochujang, a paste which has the flavours of miso and chilli
with a little bit of sweetness coming from sugar.
I'd like that chicken to have a bit of spice to it,
otherwise we've got bland rice with a chicken which could dry out
very quickly if it doesn't have enough sauce with it.
His dessert is more of a kind of after-dinner chocolate nibble.
How are you going to make those look anything else but a chocolate?
It looks like melted chocolate.
I think I've put too much coconut oil in that, though.
That stinks of coconut.
Smells like someone's trod in coconut
and walked it all through the house.
That's what I'm getting.
There's ten minutes. Marcus, first course, ten minutes.
Are you going to be all right?
I suddenly feel like I should have done less,
but I won't feel like that. I'll get there. This will be fine.
This is the highlight of my year.
It's really exciting to come back to be a judge because you're
getting cooked for. As long as it's good and cooked well.
No raw food, please.
I'm feeling good. I'm excited to taste the food.
I'm excited to see if it's as good as mine.
Bring it on.
I totally feel for them today, cos I remember how nervous I was.
I felt like this felt like the biggest amount of pressure today,
because it starts to get to that point where you think,
"I might be able to get through."
Ladies, great to see you. Cheers! Cheers!
So nice to see you. What a pleasure.
Right, Marcus, how are you doing?
Aubergines are all right? The aubergines are good.
Marcus is serving us Chinese five-spice duck breast
with mango sauce, miso aubergine, and spicy pak choi.
I hope Marcus really does treat that aubergine well,
cos you can overcook it and you can undercook it.
Duck's cooked? That's done. Duck's cooked.
And I want the spicy pak choi to be crunchy still.
Don't want it to be watery.
This is quite an exciting mix of flavours,
because if that mango sauce is done well,
it will really complement the whole dish and just finish it off.
I think this looks great and it smells great, Marcus.
There's a lot of work in there. Congratulations.
Thank you. Well done.
Hello. Hello, Marcus!
I hope you're hungry.
We are starving. Ooh!
Ladies and gentlemen, this is five-spice duck breast
with a spicy mango sauce,
miso aubergine, and chilli and soy pak choi.
Thank you so much. Thank you. Enjoy. Thanks.
Oh! You can smell it immediately, can't you? That Chinese five spice.
Mm! On that duck breast.
So I can taste the Chinese five spice on the skin.
The pak choi's nice and crunchy.
I can taste the chilli and the garlic in there.
My miso aubergine is cooked perfectly.
I love the charring on my pak choi.
I think the aubergine's umami's coming out there.
I want to go in for more and more.
You know, it's a really good effort.
The aubergine itself is lovely and sweet and woody,
miso across the top being really meaty.
The five spice on the duck,
it's almost like nutmeg and cinnamon.
Mate, I'm loving it.
Marcus, 15 minutes, right?
But you've still got quite a bit to do, yeah? So much.
Yeah. OK, come on. You can do it.
This is the mix for the banana pancakes.
It's a very simple, sugar-free recipe that I can enjoy,
and my 18-month-old can enjoy.
Oh, amazing! Tooting bananas.
Really want to taste the rum in there.
And then you've got to flambe it all up. And not set fire to the place.
Your nuts are being caramelised, your bananas are cooked.
What else has got to go on here?
Cinnamon sauce, the cream. Wow.
Oh, my word.
Now there's a plate of indulgence. Look at that.
Are we ready to go? Yes.
Hello again. Marcus. Hey!
This is called Tooting bananas.
All the sweetness has come from Tooting honey,
from just down the road where I live.
The bananas are flambeed in honey
and a little bit of rum.
Banana pancakes, and vanilla, honey and rum cream,
with candied pecans on the top.
Tooting bananas. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Marcus. Enjoy.
Yummy!
ALL:Mm!
The pancakes are light.
The bananas are still firm,
but you can taste that they've been glazed really well,
and I think there's enough sweetness with using his Tooting honey.
I love
this. And the textures with the candied pecans just gives
it that extra little something-something.
It's a beautiful dish.
At home, we cook banana pancakes every day for my son, right?
I think these might be better. No!
That's a big statement, Danny. You'll have to get Marcus in.
Yeah. Marcus, got something to tell you, sunshine!
You're moving in!
You're my new nanny!
That's not too sweet. It's nice.
It's almost like banana split meets banana daiquiri.
And the local honey, it tastes good.
Oh, my God!
Phew!
Honestly, my heart is actually pounding.
I can literally feel it going, "Doof, doof, doof."
I'm not going to pretend, I'm not going to be faux modest
about it, I really want to be in that semifinal.
Dani, first course, ten minutes. Are you going to be all right?
Think so. Thai fishcakes? Yep.
Come on, kid. You can do it.
I think I'm all right. I need to get these in, though.
I think, yeah, me nerves... Argh! I'm shaking.
Fishcakes can be quite bland, so I want a lot of Thai flavours.
And the sweet chilli jam, a bit of a punch.
A bit of a kick to it.
They smell good, Dani. Yeah?
One broke, but, you know.
Here we go. Thank you.
Ooh!
Dani! Hello! How are you?
I'm shaking. I know, it's scary, innit?
It's so horrible. Hello.
Thanks very much.
So I've made Thai fishcakes with a sweet chilli dip,
so I hope you like it.
Thanks very much. Thank you! Well done.
I totally understand the pressure,
but I'd have loved it to be a kind of cute little shape or something.
But, you know, it smells amazing.
It's a little bland. I want more flavour. I want more lemongrass.
I want more... Just more oomph.
You hit the nail on the head. A little bit more of the Thai punch.
I just think the clash of the sweet and sour in that chilli jam
is explosive. Yeah.
It's great. And it really complements the fishcake.
The texture on the outside of the fishcake is crispy breadcrumby.
It's the texture inside. It's just a little too soft for me.
The dipping sauce is very, very sharp.
Dani, you've got five minutes. Oh, amazing. So much time!
Handmade prawn linguine.
It's got to be the right texture. It can't be too thick.
I want to taste that garlic,
I want to taste that chilli, that white wine.
Dani, it's not quite linguine.
No. It's rustic pappardelle.
My mouth's watering, cos the picture I have in my head
is this big bowl of pasta full of this beautiful, creamy,
awesome sauce, and the prawns cooked to perfection. I think I'm ready.
Ooh, look at them. Yeah? Mm!
I did want it to look prettier, but it don't matter.
On time with both dishes. Well done.
Hello. Hi!
So I've done a chilli and garlic prawn linguine in a creamy
white wine sauce, and there's just, like, a little Parmesan crisp
on the top. Thank you. Thanks, Dani. Enjoy. Thanks, Dani.
First impressions are that we haven't got linguine,
we've got pappardelle.
But I think it's absolutely yummy.
I love that fire, that kick of chilli in there.
Dani's been brave here. I think making pasta like that is
an unbelievable achievement in that kitchen.
I would have loved a little bit more of that white wine sauce.
We've got some Parmesan crisp. It's not that crispy, but it tastes nice.
Pasta's really nicely made. I have to say I'm impressed here.
Perfectly prepared and cooked prawns.
There is plenty of chilli in there and pepper, and the sharpness
of the white wine and lemon. I'll tell you what, it don't look great.
It tastes great.
Oh!
That was so intense. I feel like I've run a marathon.
That's how I feel.
You've got four minutes left, Mica. Are the prawns cooked?
Prawns are cooked. Right.
All you've got to do now is just get this bread and the prawns
on the plate, and you're done.
Spicy jumbo garlic prawns in a white wine sauce.
I want to taste those spices. I want to taste that garlic.
I want the prawns to be juicy, well cooked.
It smells great. Go, Meesh, go.
Go, Meesh, go. Well done. Come on. Be back for your wings.
Hello, lovelies. Hello! Hi! Hello.
So I have made you some spicy jumbo prawns
with a little white wine sauce.
The bread on the side's obviously to dip so you can get
the flavours and that.
Yeah? So be nice. THEY LAUGH
All right?
I know I've made a little career out of not being very nice
all the time, but be nice back.
MICA SIGHS
Meesh came in here like a firecracker,
and this epitomises Meesh.
I mean, it's packed full of flavour.
It's really spicy and punchy.
That sauce and that prawn,
she definitely got a lot of flavour in it, and I'm really impressed.
The sauce and the prawns are cooked beautifully.
Love this sauce. Going in for more.
Mm.
Lashings of garlic, a good amount of Scotch bonnets to make it
nice and hot. That's really, really good.
Ooh, look at those wings. Whoa!
You've got three minutes. Really?
Yeah, yeah. Give it a whip. Give it a whip. Give it a season.
So for main course, we've got Meesh's sticky honey barbecue
chicken wings, with a garlic butter mash and macaroni cheese.
This main is something that I'd order when I'm out
with the lads. I hope they are messy. I hope they're crunchy,
I hope they're sticky. Everything about it. Yeah.
JOHN:They smell fantastic.
Now what? Mac and cheese?
The cheese has to be crispy and bubbly and yummy.
Come on. Come on, girl. Come on.
That is carbtastic comfort food to the max for me.
Come on! They're hungry!
Go, Meesh. Off you go.
Let's do this.
Hi, guys. Hiya! Woo!
So I've brought you some sticky barbecue wings,
and I've done it with my mac cheese,
and I'm giving you some piped mash.
Yeah, I hope you enjoy.
Thank you. Thank you, Mica. Thank you.
Oh, come on, guys. Look at that.
She hasn't scrimped on the cheese.
And that mash is...
# Smooth! #
The chicken wings are delivering. They're cooked beautifully.
They're sticky.
Ticking all the boxes for me.
This is up there for me. It's like the ultimate comfort food.
Everything has deep flavours. That mac and cheese
I think is some of the best mac and cheese I've ever tasted. Yeah.
The home-made barbecue sauce is delicious.
What's not to love?
Mm!
Those chicken wings are perfectly cooked,
and that barbecue sauce is everything it should be.
That's yummy.
Those chicken wings are absolutely fantastic.
I've eaten a lot of chicken wings in my life,
and they're going in my top ten chicken wings I've had.
SHE SIGHS
Oh, my God.
That was horrendous. It's like I got in there and it was like,
"Right, Meesh, you've got five minutes left."
But I'd just walked in there! That's how it felt.
James, you've got 15 minutes, yeah? Brilliant. Love that.
Can I have less time?
GREGG LAUGHS
James is cooking Korean gochujang chicken with rice.
But rice, remember, can be a little bit tricky to cook, especially
when you're under pressure, cos you want that bite still, don't you?
It's a bit '80s, innit? '80s cheffy.
But, you know, I'm an old school guy. I'm a bit of a throwback.
Is that a vegetable in there? There is.
There's a little bit of spring onion running through that.
You are getting better there, James.
Every bit of that chicken has got to be cooked perfectly
on every plate. It's got to be juicy.
It can't be dry.
Let's go! Come on, James.
You're on time. Come on.
Use your James charm.
Well, no, actually, just deliver the food. All right!
All right, guys? Hello, mate. How are you?
Can't grumble.
It's a Korean style chicken with rice, basically.
The chicken should taste quite nice.
The rice might be a bit bland, but sorry.
Enjoy. "Sorry"!
Looks good. Yeah.
The rice is cooked brilliant. I think the rice is all right. Yeah.
The sauce is hot, really hot and nice.
But I think the chicken's slightly overcooked.
I'm into spicy sauces, but it is really overpowering.
The rice is not bad.
It's quite light and fluffy.
He could have added something to the mix.
Gaviscon?
LAUGHTER
That sauce is both hot and sweet and sour,
and a little bit smoky. But chicken's slightly dry.
Right. You've got your truffles.
Yeah. You've got to dip them in some chocolate. Yep.
You're doing white and dark? I'm going to try, yeah.
OK. Good luck.
Cookies and cream chocolate truffles.
I don't know what to expect.
I'm not sure I'd call a truffle a dessert, more of a little treat.
But if he's making each of the elements, if he's making
the cookies and he's doing something fancy with the cream and putting
it all together, I think it could taste really delicious.
Fingers crossed. Giving him the benefit of the doubt. Yeah.
I'll tell you what, I wasn't expecting the contrast
of the chocolate. Look at that!
They're a bit rugged and rough, aren't they, James?
Yeah, they're rustic.
Well done. Off you go. Love it, James.
Oh, you're still alive. Hello. Brilliant.
Thank you, mate. There you go.
Now you've got a cookies and cream truffle with chocolate.
LAUGHTER
It was the shrug that sold it! Yep.
They taste better than they look.
That filling is good.
It's like a lovely, smooth chocolate biscuit.
It's rich! Like, much more rich than I thought it was going to be.
I mean, it's not a complete dessert, but the flavours are good.
That is sweet and sticky with lots of different types of chocolate.
I really like that.
It's rich, it's dark. It's slightly bitter with cocoa.
HE CHUCKLES
I don't know whether I loved that or hated it.
I'm not sure.
I'm just a bit delirious, to be honest.
It's like moments away from potentially being in the semis.
It's in the hands of the gods now.
I've got to say, I think that was a great quarterfinal.
But, sadly, two people are leaving us.
James has come a long way in our eyes.
He started the competition as a novice.
In this round, we had a Korean-flavoured chicken
with rice, lots and lots of spice,
but the chicken was dry, which was a real shame.
Our dessert, the chocolate truffles,
they tasted great, but they were shabby.
Mica made for us prawns with a white wine garlic sauce.
We both indulged in it, and so did the dining room.
And those chicken wings were absolutely delicious.
Dani made for us her version of a Thai fishcake.
The texture wasn't that bouncy texture I'm used to getting
from a Thai fishcake.
The main course of the prawns, though, with the pasta,
was a really good dish.
Now, Marcus was really ambitious.
I really enjoyed the duck with the miso and the aubergine.
The banana dessert, I really enjoyed it.
And it was clever cookery.
We've got a decision to make. Who stays and who goes?
I hope the two dishes I've made today are good enough.
This is for a place in the semifinal,
where I really want to be.
I love it here, so if I stayed on, I'd be ecstatic.
If this is the last chance I get to cook, I'm at peace with it.
I wouldn't feel like I'd been cheated or anything.
If I went home today, I'd still be so happy
with everything I've produced,
so that's what means a lot to me.
What a fabulous quarterfinal. Congratulations.
Two semifinal places.
The first celebrity going through to our semifinal is...
..Marcus.
Yes! Yes!
Congratulations.
Awesome.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
The second celebrity going through to the semifinal is...
..Mica.
Wow. Oh, Dani. Well done, babe.
Congratulations, Mica.
James, Dani, thank you so much for all your hard work.
Thank you.
I definitely feel like I've walked in one person
and come out another, you know? It's been great.
I'm proud. I'm happy.
It's been a really good time.
I'm gutted. I'm gutted.
It's been a wild ride, and I'm honoured to have been a part of it.
Mica, Marcus, you are semifinalists!
Yay!
Yes! Come on.
Amazing! Amazing!
A semifinal place is fantastic.
I don't compete, unless I'm playing, like, Ludo or something.
I don't compete like this.
I couldn't be more chuffed. Right here, right now,
I'm not doing any more work for a while.
I'm just going to put my feet up. And I'll tell you what,
tonight has got takeaway written all over it.
I'm not cooking again for at least 48 hours.
Next week, five new celebrities take on the challenge...
I'm baffled, mate.
..to become Celebrity MasterChef champion.
It just has to look nice.
Oh!
That is not elegant.
It reminds me of being a young kid with my nana.
I think that's fantastic.
I definitely need an hug. All right.
Just arm around the shoulder, all right? Well done, sir.