MasterChef rocked by fix claims as star mixes up sugar and salt and STILL goes through to the final
CELEBRITY MasterChef has been rocked by fix claims after competitor Craig made a spectacular error with his lemon tart as he mixed up sugar and salt.
Viewers have called out the BBC programme after TV and radio presenter Craig Doyle made it into the final alongside Line of Duty actor Rochenda Sandall and Strictly professional dancer Vito Coppola made it to the final, jilting one other competitor.
Fans were left fuming after last night’s (Thursday 19) “disgraceful” episode which saw Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey axed from Celebrity MasterChef instead of Craig, 53, despite his monumental blunder.
Battling it out for a place in the final three, Craig, Rochenda, Vito and Harry were tasked by judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with creating a dish inspired by someone special, before then progressing to Chef’s Table to cook under the guidance of legendary chef Adam Smith.
In honour of his mum, Harry, 36, baked an apple and plum oat crumble with vanilla custard.
Meanwhile, Craig produced what looked to be a perfect lemon tart, which he completed with four meringues to represent each of his children.
However, Craig’s tart did not live up to its presentation as he made a terrible error in the kitchen, as he mistook the salt for the sugar turning his sweet treat into a savoury mess.
Craig thought there was no coming back from his blunder, admitting he “made peace with going home” and had booked an afternoon of golf.
However, in a shocking twist of events, judges John, 59, and Gregg, 59, decided to eliminate Harry from Celebrity MasterChef.
It turned out Craig had only salted the filling of his tart, so the crust was still perfectly baked. While John called out the presenter for his silly blunder, the judges were impressed with the sweet half of the tart.
And in a shock twist, it seems Harry’s crumble wasn’t up to scratch, leading to him being eliminated from the cooking competition.
Reacting to John and Gregg’s decision on X, formerly Twitter, one viewer fumed: “What are you talking about? He put salt on the lemon tart!”
“I’m sorry…. but that’s a bloody disgrace – so you can make a MASSIVE mistake and put salt over your food and not sugar, but still get through. I feel so sorry for Harry – he should’ve gone through. I’m disgusted with this appalling decision,” another raged.
While a third pointed out: “At this stage of the MasterChef competition, if you do such a silly thing as put salt on your dessert, that should’ve been an elimination. Harry’s desserts were a bit mismatched but there was nothing wrong with them. He should’ve stayed.”
“How can you put salt on a desert instead of sugar and not be eliminated from a cooking competition??” a fourth agreed.
Harry took his defeat gracefully, hugging his fellow competitor Craig before departing.
Gregg Wallace's career to date
Gregg Wallace has been a familiar face on TV for years now thanks to his role as a judge on MasterChef - but let's take a closer look at his career so far...
- Gregg Wallace left school at 15 and started his career working on a fruit and veg stall in London.
- In 1989, he started George Allan’s Greengrocers, a company that grew to a turnover of £7.5 million.
- Gregg’s experience in the world of fruit and veg lead to him co-hosting Veg Talk on BBC Radio 4 with Charlie Hicks for seven years.
- He then became the first host of Saturday Kitchen in 2002, a role he held for a year before being replaced by Antony Worrall Thompson in 2003.
- At the same time, Gregg presented a number of food-related TV specials, including Veg Out for the Discovery Channel.
- Gregg landed his most notable TV role as a co-presenter and judge on BBC’s competitive cooking show MasterChef in 2005. He stars alongside John Torode.
- In 2010 Gregg pursued another life-long dream of opening a restaurant. He opened the establishment Wallace & Co. in Putney.
- Then, in 2012, he opened Gregg’s Bar & Grill in a joint venture with the Bermondsey Square Hotel.
- Gregg then scored a hosting gig with the BBC, presenting the documentary Supermarket Secrets in August 2013.
- Unfortunately, times were tough for Gregg, and in the same month, it was reported that one of his companies, West Veg Limited, had folded, owing more than £500,000.
- In 2014, both of his restaurants folded, with Wallace & Co owing suppliers £150,000.
- However, his TV career continued to thrive, and in 2015 became the regularly host of the award-winning documentary food series Eat Well for Less? Gregg helmed the show for eight years before stepping away.
- He also competed on Strictly Come Dancing.
- Gregg then made Telly history again when he revived the BBC’s historical game show Time Commanders.
- More recently, the celebrity chef has presented a number of travel programmes such as Big Weekends with Gregg Wallace, South Africa with Gregg Wallace, and the food mockumentary, Gregg Wallace: The British Miracle Meat.
Harry now joins the other axed celebs from this year’s Celebrity MasterChef competition, including Diane Carson from The Traitors, Love Island star Chloe Burrows, model and TV personality Christine McGuinness and Sugababes singer Mutya Buena.
Now the celebs have been whittled down to the final three. Craig, Rochenda and Vito will face off for one final challenge where the winner takes all tonight at 9pm.