It's the Celebrity MasterChef final.
This is the culmination of an absolutely fantastic competition.
Why, hello, celebrities!
Ooh! Hello!
We have seen people from the world of acting...
Let's cook.
I feel really stupid! ..singing... Cake, cake, cake!
Yeah, baby!DJs...
Everything's burning.
What the hell is actually going on here?
..presenters... Ha-ha-ha!
..reality stars.
This is what we call it, yeah!
There's Traitors, Gladiators.
Wahey!
At times there's been triumphs.
Sex on a plate. Ooh!
Perfect. Wow!
That was a fascinating experiment.
Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you, it's been emotional.
There's been the occasional disaster.
Oh, it's burnt. Oh, my God.
Oh, my patty has fallen apart.
Oh, what did you do?
For crying out loud, let's all have a lay down, shall we?
But this competition has been spectacular.
The Vikings are coming! Come on! Rawwwr!
Woohoo!
We started with 20, down to our final three.
Now it's crunch time.
It means the world to be here.
I think that we all deserve to enjoy today, really,
it's incredible.
Whatever you do in life, you work to get to these days.
Bring it on. Let's go.
The determination I have is full.
It's like a battery, you know when it's fully charged.
I'm so ready,
I cannot really wait to start.
Craig, Vito, Rochenda,
and just one trophy.
Winner takes it all.
Hello. Hello.
Well done, all three of you.
One final push.
This has the makings of an absolutely stand-out
MasterChef final.
Right now, what you've got to deliver is two majestic courses,
a main course and dessert,
and you have two hours.
At the end of this, one of you will be our champion.
Let's go.
Oh, today, today, we dance!
It's such a blessing to be here.
We all just feel like ready for it and up for it.
So, yeah, up for it.
When John and Gregg were speaking at the top, I was feeling
a little bit kind of, I don't know, a little bit emotional
because it's our last day here. Like, it's been so good,
none of us want it to end.
Craig, I believe, is a master technician.
Mate, for a celebrity cook,
I mean, this guy is showing some skill here.
I'm lost for words.
It is perfect!
Absolutely stunning.
This is incredible.
Craig along the way has shown off huge amounts of process.
He wants to show off, but every so often Craig can make
a little mistake.
I can't believe what I've just done.
I can't ignore the fact that you've got salt across the top
of your tart. No.
He can't afford a mistake in this round.
Oh!
Truth be told, this competition's done more than just
improve my cooking,
it's kind of altered the way I think about life.
I'm having, like, the greatest time. Taking on challenges
I would have avoided before for fear of not doing well in them.
Fish in! I'm a yes man now.
Whoa! That's a beautiful thing!
Skill after skill after skill!
I've got no criticism at all.
That's a triumph.
What a day!
What does that say? Is it salt, is it sugar?
Don't you dare mix those! HE LAUGHS
Brilliant.
You've got a very supportive wife. Mm.
Four children. Yes.
They have said to me this morning and they all sent individual
messages. My youngest daughter calls me "bruv".
She goes, "Bro, you got this, crack on.
"We're very proud of you. Whatever happens, happens.
"Go and have a good time, because you get to do this once."
The idea behind my main course today, it's kind of like this whole
story of MasterChef on a plate.
I came in wanting to cook everything around me,
not trying to do too much.
HE EXHALES
That's been the biggest learning for me.
So I'm really using three ingredients - monkfish,
mussels and leeks.
Process, process.
Monkfish is a fantastic fish if you know how to cook it.
You've got to colour the outside really nicely.
Hopefully, a good amount of butter and lots and lots of seasoning.
But you don't want to overcook it.
If you overcook it, it goes really chewy, almost bouncy.
Around the outside, a mussel veloute.
Glug. That's how I measure wine.
Velvety cream rich sauce should be silky smooth.
I love mussels.
For me, childhood, Ireland,
Dad, they're just an amazing thing.
On a bed of buttered leeks and wild garlic.
It's got the makings of a beautiful, elegant dish.
HE HUMS AND WHISTLES
Three egg whites. Let's go!
Craig's dessert is a blood orange panna cotta served with lemon curd
and a salted chocolate tuile.
You're going to put salt in a dessert deliberately?
I need to rid myself of the ghosts of the demons of Saltgate.
A panna cotta is not easy.
You've got to put enough gelatine so it just holds.
Don't forget the blast chiller, blast chiller, blast chiller.
Lovely, rich, almost marmalade bitter blood orange.
Oh, look at the colour of that. Oh, my word.
That's a lovely flavour.
Come on! OK.
On the side of that, a tuile -
he wants to show off process and technique.
SIGHS:Yes.
It's the most stressful thing I'll do today.
Salted chocolate, nice idea.
He's just got to make sure that he doesn't mistake
his flaked salt for sugar.
Salt, salt, salt, not sugar.
If I allow myself a daydream, the daydream would be ringing my
family and telling them I'm bringing home a trophy to them.
How long have we got, guys?
One hour gone, and it's the final!
Come on!
How you doing, miss? Oh, good! How are you, darling?
All good.
Rochenda, for me, is the most eclectic cook of the competition,
and we've seen her cook food from all round the world.
That's a dish you could put in the final.
I have died and gone to heaven.
CORK POPS Whoa!
Mate, that is an absolute treat.
It's got style, it's got ambition.
It's delicious. Yes!
Trofie di Rochenda. Oh!
I'm happy to do a nettle risotto.
All right, Nigella!
I'm considering her journey... Yeah, man!
..and I can't remember a mistake.
OK. Final service!
She's had a really strong competition!
OK, Rochenda. Awesome!
Massive congrats to whoever put this together.
It really is a work of art.
Oh, I couldn't be more proud of myself.
How are you all doing, you all right?
Yes, Chef! Yes, Chef!
Watch out, you might get messy.
Everyone wants to snatch the crown.
I mean, we're here now, why not try?
SHE LAUGHS
Is this a big deal for you today?
Yeah, it's a really big deal.
I mean, I couldn't cook at all ten years ago, so it's been a long, long
journey and it's ended up here, so,
I mean, what more could a girl ask for?
Wish me luck!
I'm not going to go rogue with anything today.
I'm stripping it back -
it's going to go classic.
Ooh!
I've travelled round the world with my food, and I want to bring
it back home.
Rump of lamb!
Rochenda's main course is a roast rump of lamb, fondant potato...
Oh! ..a mint sauce...
I was hoping for not a boil over today, but done me usual.
..with a lamb jus.
There's a huge amount of work in here,
real classic style and skill.
Oh!
If she gets that lamb fat crispy, and it's nice and pink
and juicy inside, she may well get my vote, cos that is delicious.
Render! Render!
Kale, anchovies and hazelnuts in a bonbon.
Woo! It's not something I can remember eating before,
and I really want
to see how that turns out, cos that is strong.
Ooh!
Great. Great.
Right, what's next?
Rochenda's going to make an orange polenta cake.
Oranges and lemons boiled,
and then they're blended whole,
and then the polenta is added to it.
Polenta cake, if it's too dry, can be almost gravelly.
You want it to be as moist as you can, but too wet,
it won't hold, it'll fall apart.
Rochenda, it's smelling good.
Thank you very much.
I need to get that in.
Woo!
Dessert inspiration is dedicated to my lovely friend Sam's son,
who is called Sidney, who is also known as Peanut,
and he's a little 14-year-old aspiring chef.
And when he mentioned to me what his favourite dessert was,
it was just a no-brainer, I had to go with it.
Sidney is such a massive fan of MasterChef.
So here's to you, Sidney.
Also, pistachio ice cream.
Mm.
How's your ice cream? Churning away.
Is it going to be churned in time?
I hope so, yeah.
Fingers crossed.
You have just 40 minutes left, everybody,
40 minutes. Where's the time gone?
40 minutes.
I shouldn't have...
Vito just does beautiful Italian food
as well as anybody I've ever met.
Magnifico. Oh, grazie.
That is superb. It's got my tongue dancing!
His food seems humble, but, actually, in technique,
it's really complicated.
This is parmigiana in fifth gear. Hey!
His inspiration on the way has been his uncle, his grandmother
and his mother.
It's the food he loves, it's what he grew up with.
I watched you make this tart with the care and the love
because you did this for your uncle.
Oh, I'm so overwhelmed.
And he's showing us not just in the plate of food,
but the way in which he dances around the kitchen.
Woo!
Boom!
We know where his heart is, we know where his style is,
and it is beautiful.
Woo!This experience means so much to me.
I'm used to dancing with someone, so I always have to, let's say,
bring the attention to the lady, because the lady is the picture,
I'm the frame. But here I am the picture
AND the frame. It's the first time I do something just for myself,
and I'm so happy, so grateful, so overwhelmed.
How are you feeling about this final?
I feel nervous, I just hide always with a smile.
My nonna said, "Vito, you got this. Just believe in yourself."
So I decided because you know that I like to write everything here,
the recipe, I wrote the sentence,
"You got this. Believe in yourself."
So while I cook, I'll just repeat this,
and I know they're there with me.
Vito's first course is scialatielli allo scoglio.
He's making us a pasta dish which is laden with seafood.
I really feel the pressure.
But Vito is making a pasta I've never seen before.
This pasta is particularly difficult because you've got the flour
and the egg, but he's adding milk to that,
and he's adding cheese to that.
Too much cheese and that flavour is challenging the fish.
OK.
One day my family and I went to Positano,
and we had this scialatielli allo scoglio,
just eating in front of the sea.
It was one of the best days ever...
Has to be 10cm each.
..so I want to bring that day to MasterChef.
These bits of pasta are mixed with lots of different things
from the sea.
There is prawns, there is mussels, there is clams,
There is a squid that I cut in ring - everything.
He's got to be really careful
the texture of each one of those individual bits of seafood
is absolutely perfect, but the whole dish comes together as one.
Speed up, Vito!
OK.
The dessert is the baba, which is like, you know,
the one my mum or my nonna used to make for me on Sunday,
you know, it's like a big baba,
like this, very spongy, full of rum.
A rum baba. He's got to make a perfect sponge.
Oh, we like it.
And he's got to soak it in enough booze
so you taste that booze.
But the sponge has got to be quite dense so it can HANDLE
all of that booze.
But I make two different options.
So I would like to make with rum.
The other one is with the cream and the cherry.
Fabulous!
Huge amount of work.
He's going to be really pushing it.
When I'm in the kitchen,
I can actually imagine my family right behind me.
I can see them focused on the food with me.
I never feel alone.
Finalists, you have just 20 minutes.
Ah!!!
I've got to get my fish on, star of the show,
which is worrying me slightly.
Just got to concentrate now in these last minutes.
SHE EXHALES
Oi!
The pasta has to finish to cook in the sauce.
How many minutes left? You have ten minutes.
Oh, like, this is so stressful.
How are you going on, Vito? I'm getting there.
Bello, bello!
You have just five minutes.
Can I get a blowtorch, somebody? I need to burn this place down.
That ice cream going to be churned, you reckon?
ROCHENDA:Yeah. Easy!
Oh. Yes, sir. You're trying to get us drunk.
You have one minute to complete your masterpiece.
Oh, mamma mia!
Oh, it's looking good, but you are running out of time.
Oh, God. Has this worked?
How's your ice cream, Rochenda?
Oh, my God, what the hell is that?
Ah!
Guys, that's it!
Your time is up. Well done, everybody.
Go on, lads!
Boom!
Craig.
Go on! Go on!
Craig's main course is monkfish on a bed of buttered
leeks and wild garlic, topped with a panko mussel and crispy leeks
served with a mussel veloute and a wild garlic oil.
It's a rich, buttery, creamy dish, and the fish is cooked perfectly.
The little bonbon, crispy bonbon, with the salty mussel
inside is a little treat.
I think this is a fantastic demonstration of some
serious, classic cookery.
Your sauce has that wonderful richness of moules mariniere
with cream running through it.
The leeks underneath, nice and buttery,
and it's great.
Look at all this style and elegance.
Who is this person?
Craig's dessert is blood orange panna cotta with lemon curd,
a salted chocolate tuile, fresh blood orange,
and a brown sugar crumb.
I love the fact that you've used blood orange.
It's bitter and slightly sweet at the same time.
On the side of that and the brown sugar crumb,
almost like the base of a cheesecake.
Fantastic. Your tuile is a little bit thick, but it has a snap.
So that's really good news.
Your panna cotta, as you can see, is a little bit firm,
but I appreciate the work.
Unbelievably. I think that's great.
I love the contrast of the lemon curd on the top - properly sharp.
I think you've taken it to the edge with the amount of gelatine, right?
But the flavours of blood orange, lemon curd and salted chocolate
are lovely.
Throughout the whole of this competition, including today,
you have refused to take it easy or play it safe.
You have always, always pushed yourself.
It's been the greatest time.
I...
HE EXHALES
So emotional. What's going on?!
Inside, it's a little party going on in there.
Ah, it's great.
What a great way to finish this up.
Oh, my God.
What has this place done to us?
Yeah. It's intense.
Woo!
Rochenda, if you would, please.
Rochenda's main course is rump of lamb with mint sauce,
fondant potato, a kale, anchovy and hazelnut bonbon,
onion cream,
charred spring onion and a lamb and red wine sauce.
That lamb is perfect.
It's pink and it's juicy.
Fondant is perfectly well done.
I think it could have done with a sprinkle of salt.
OK. That bonbon is particularly great.
There's a slight nuttiness to it.
You've cooked the kale inside.
A lot of really good cookery here.
That sweet, rich onion sauce goes beautifully with the lamb.
Spring onions. Lovely idea. I like the way in which you twist them.
The mint sauce - tasty.
Could probably do with a bit more of a zing, but it's really well
made and there's some great, classic technique.
Thank you so much.
Rochenda's dessert is orange polenta cake...
I think it's a really pretty thing.
Thank you very much.
Really pretty.
..soaked in an orange syrup, topped with a pistachio crumb,
fresh blackberries and served with a pistachio ice cream.
Your cake is made beautifully.
The flavours are fantastic.
You get sweetness coming from the orange, the sharpness
of lemon, and across the top of that you've got more sweetness
and bitterness at the same time with those pistachio nuts.
And then a sharpness from the blackberry.
I'm sad that pistachio ice cream hasn't set.
It's really beautiful.
It's mellow, but at the same time really, really rich.
It tastes great.
With polenta cake, you get a little bit...
It's almost like gritty.
It's a little bit of crunch, and I love it.
I think your cake is superb.
Thank you so much.
Throughout this competition, you've never been shy.
You've never been frightened.
You kept on fighting all the way to the end.
I mean, thank you so much for having me.
It's been absolutely brilliant.
VITO:Well done. Come here. Come on.
That's beautiful.
ROCHENDA:I'm feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
It's like getting to the end of a kind of massive race.
Oh. CRAIG:I know, right?
I know, right?
Get across the finish line
and you just feel so proud of yourself.
Because it's just like it's all done and dusted.
VITO:It's been beautiful, guys.
ROCHENDA:Yeah, it is such an amazing feeling.
Vito, please.
Ciao.
Vito's main is a seafood scialatielli -
handmade basil, Parmesan
and pecorino pasta with prawns,
clams, mussels and squid,
served in a tomato and chilli sauce.
And it tastes fantastic. Really? Delicious. Thank you.
You cooked every single piece of seafood here really beautifully.
The prawns still tastes of a prawn,
rich and wonderful. The mussels, slightly nutty. The clams,
all slippery and tasting of the sea.
I don't have any complaints at all.
Thank you.
Pasta with milk and cheese.
That is delicious. Sweet tomato.
More than a hint of chilli.
That is a connoisseur's proper Italian splendour,
with the fruit of the sea.
Yes!
For his dessert, Vito has served a rum baba.
One half only soaked in rum syrup...
..the other half is also topped with zabaglione, a Marsala wine
cream, and cherries in syrup.
Your babas themselves are cooked absolutely perfectly.
It's light and it's airy.
My head is slowly spinning because it's all flavoured with rum.
Your zabaglione cream is slightly sweet, but not too sweet.
It's delightful.
One of them is cherry.
The other half is completely drenched.
If you put your fork in it, you can see the liquid coming out.
I'll tell you why you are a brave man.
It looks spartan, so you're just relying on the quality
of your cookery. You are absolutely right.
You are absolutely bang-on.
That is perfect, perfect, perfect.
Oh, really?!
Throughout this competition, the love for your family and food
has shone through all the way.
Love what you've delivered.
I think your flavours are fantastic, and you should be really
pleased with what you've done.
Yeah!
Oh!
Oh, thank God. Amazing.
I gave all my best.
I feel happy, I feel that I spread love.
Are you all right?
They did not take this final lightly.
They absolutely went for it, all three of them.
That was an absolute delight.
And now for us, the hard work starts.
I think we saw a fully rounded Craig today.
I think he showed us the technique that he loves so much...
..with elegance and great presentation.
Rochenda has become a master of world cuisine, and it's also now
about the classics.
So much passion, so much heart.
But she allied that with delicious.
Vito just sticks to his guns.
Today showed the absolute majesty of proper Italian cookery.
The food that he grew up with.
If John and Gregg named me champion, it would be amazing.
I'd probably be an emotional wreck.
I feel like I've done my absolute maximum capacity, so, of course,
I'd like to hold the trophy.
I have more confidence now, but to believe that I can be the one
to win MasterChef, I don't know.
# Come on, skinny love what happened here?
# Suckle on the hope in light brassieres
# My, my, my, my, my, my... #
We have a ton of respect and admiration
for what you have achieved.
You have made this year's competition absolutely brilliant.
ALL:Thank you.
Our Celebrity MasterChef champion 2024 is...
# Who will love you?
# Who will fight?
# And who will fall far behind? #
..Vito.
Yes!
I told you!
Oh, yes. Yes. Mate, well in.
Rochenda, Craig, what an amazing competition.
You must hold your head up high.
CRAIG:Thank you. We loved it. We loved it.
Thank you so much, guys. Vito... You're staying there.
Stay, buddy.
ROCHENDA:Bye!
Ciao.
Thank you.
Oh! It is what it is.
Only one person can go to the moon.
I'm really looking forward to getting back and committing
my full attention to my partner, Mark.
I'm sure he's really looking forward to me not constantly
talking about food.
Love you, Mark.
I've loved it so much.
It's been one of the most valuable experiences,
I'm not just saying it, of my entire life.
But I'm so happy for Vito.
He absolutely, 100% deserved it.
And he can dance. Damn!
He's got so much going for him, that kid.
And this, my friend, is for you.
Thank you. Yay!
Thank you so much. You are our champion.
I cannot believe it!
Look, it's so beautiful.
Oh. Oh.
Vito came into this competition with a purpose.
He wanted to show us his life on a plate,
what he's grown up with, the food he loves and why he loves it.
And what he's done is he's made us love it, too.
That's what good food is all about.
He is in love with creativity.
John, he is something quite special.
# Once upon a time... #
People think that food is just food.
But no, I keep saying food is life.
That never will leave me alone.
It's the first love of my life - food.
And I cannot just wait to share all of this with my family.
# Once upon a time I was something to someone
# See your shape under gold streetlights
# But every time I'm close, you move
# And I'm just left with the truth... #