Original subtitles

Eight talented chefs have battled their way through the heats

and are now vying to cook a course on this year's menu.

With celebrations of illustrators, animators and comic book heroes,

it promises to be visually spectacular.

Looking good, Ed. Andi, didn't you get the memo? What?

Tom! Good of you to come as Wallace.

I haven't.

Welcome to finals week.

This is the final hurdle... Good luck, everyone.

...where the champions from each region or country return...

The competition's on. I'm scared about that.

...and compete to cook at a spectacular banquet

at Brighton's Royal Pavilion,

celebrating the 65th birthday of national treasure Paddington Bear,

and everything that's great about Britain's animation industry,

from comics and computer games to cartoons and illustrations.

Let's rewind and take it from the top, then.

In the gruelling week ahead...

No, I10, no, no.

BLEEP

...talented finalists will cook a course a day...

This is now a whole nother level.

...aiming to dazzle our expert panel"

It all works in perfect harmony.

It's a real elegant slap in the face.

Properly sings, doesn't it?

...and special guests from the world of animation.

They'll score each dish out of ten...

Yes! ..to ensure only the finest dishes earn a place on the menu.

I'm here to win. It's as simple as that.

I'm here to get a dish to the banquet.

Today, the banquet starter will be decided.

Oh, that's the one.

And with the chefs battling first-day nerves...

I am sweating.

...as well as each other, this could be tense.

Cooking the starter is...

The fact that I'm actually en route now to the to the finals week

is just surreal.

The eight finalists, some of the country's most exciting chefs,

are returning to the Great British Menu kitchen.

I'm excited. I'm a bit nervous to see who's there.

The calibre of chef on Great British Menu is already

really high, but now it's finals week,

the calibre of chef is so high, so it's going to be tough.

It's going to be epic.

They're yet to find out who they're cooking against, but know

they'll be the best of the best.

My nerves are not that bad at the moment, but I'm sure once

I get there it will get worse.

I definitely think I will be the underdog by a mile.

Well, how are we feeling, guys?

A bit nervous. You nervous?

Yeah. Really, really nervous.

Northern Ireland's imaginative Gemma, proud Welsh chef

and champion of Welsh produce, Mark,

and Michelin-starred Scotsman Adam have all tried

and failed to reach the banquet before.

This is my third year in the competition.

I'm just going to give it absolutely everything.

I need to concentrate more, push even more

to get my name on that board. Any big changes or new dishes?

Yeah, I completely changed my starter. So did I.

This will be my third attempt. Second in the finals.

Sol need to make sure that I give it my all, because I really want

a dish at that banquet.

Hello. Hello. Hiya.

Determined South West champion Nick earned a star

as our own Tom Kerridge's head chef, but narrowly missed out in the final

stage of the heats in 2021.

Last time I was on the competition, I didn't make it to finals week.

So already this is new territory for me.

Working for Tom adds another level of pressure, I guess.

London and the South East's quietly confident Avi, known for modern

Indian cuisine, is the group's first newcomer.

Quite nerve-racking, I must say.

Well clone, though. I do believe I've got a few winning dishes.

But that's just me thinking my food is amazing.

Hello, everyone. Hello. Hi, guys.

The final three contenders are all newcomers too.

Which restaurant are you from? Roots. Yeah.

Oh, you work for Tommy Banks? Yeah. A lot of pressure.

Creative North East champion Will brings eight years' experience

working alongside the Yorkshire culinary legend.

It's amazing to be here representing North East and Yorkshire.

Really, really want to get a dish to the banquet.

Proud Brummie Tom cut his teeth alongside culinary greats, including

Sat Baines and Michael Wignall,

but his love of food started even earlier.

I was a very, very young lad when Great British Menu started.

So this is very much for the 16, 17-year-old who once dreamed

of being here. What about yourselves? Where do you work?

I own my own restaurant in a suburb outside of Manchester,

in Prestwich.

North West champion Danielle is hoping her experience cooking at top

restaurants in Norway can help take her all the way.

It feels amazing to be at finals week.

I never thought I'd make it this far.

Are we all excited about the possible banquet

dishes within us? Wouldn't be here otherwise, would we?

Good luck, everybody. Let's have a good week. Good luck.

Yeah, good luck.

The winning courses will be chosen by our formidable panel,

chef and restaurateur Nisha Katona,

food podcaster and comedian Ed Gamble, and Michelin-starred,

two-time banquet winner Tom Kerridge.

It's finals week. I'm so excited.

Same here. I've been in their shoes. I know what it's like.

Ancl this week is incredible.

The competition is steep this year. It really is.

Ancl it wowed us the first time, but it's got to really blow our socks

off this time. And that's flavour, but it's also that storytelling.

We've got to see both of those things.

And I don't want camaraderie, either. I don't want it.

I want it to be like Squid Game in that kitchen.

So, after seeing the other chefs, it's going to be a hard competition.

It's going to be super tough.

I think there could be a few people to really keep an eye out.

Adam Handling, obviously, probably being the main one.

Nick has a restaurant right around the corner from me in London,

and I've known Tom for ages. He's a very good chef.

I am really excited about seeing everyone else's dishes, though.

Welcome, chefs.

Feel free to answer me.

Hi. LAUGHTER

Good morning. Hello?

How are we all feeling?

Good, thank you.

Look at these gorgeous faces!

Adam, you're the only one who's been to finals week before.

How are you feeling, darling? I feel all right.

I feel not as bad as I did last year, but I feel good.

I'm very focused. Third time's the charm, right?

Ancl Will, Tom, Danielle and Avi, this is your first time

in the competition. How are you feeling? Are you feeling nervous?

I'm more excited than nervous, I'd say.

It's amazing to be in this position, with all these amazing chefs,

so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm just excited to be here. Too much positivity.

I want to see them destroyed.

LAUGHTER

Well, listen, first to cook is going to be Gemma, Adam, Will and Avi.

OK, you four. Off you go. Thank you. Thank you.

Which means Nick, Tom, Danielle and Mark, you'll be cooking later

on this afternoon, so go and chill out, I'd imagine.

Put your feet up and stuff. Thank you so much, chefs.

Good luck.

Good luck, guys. Good luck, guys. Good luck.

Cooking first are our champions from Northern Ireland, Scotland,

the North East and Yorkshire, and London and the South East.

They're going straight on to the starters as the mini courses,

canapes and pre-desserts, are not judged in the finals.

Finally, we're cooking, and the competition's on.

The judges are looking for a plant-based dish with drama,

flavour and a clear link

to British animation and illustration. Whoa!

Northern Ireland's Gemma is preparing a ravioli filling

with no less than four types of mushroom, along with ginger,

miso and capers.

Absolutely delighted to be in finals week.

Really proud to be representing Northern Ireland

at this level.

Scotland champion Adam is confiting potatoes with bay leaves

and pickled spruce tops.

Finals week. What do I expect?

It's going to be scary because these are the best of the best.

They can cook.

Real stiff competition. Obviously, Adam's clone it twice before

North East winner Willis a newcomer,

and has one of the highest scoring starters from the heats.

Feeling good. Nice to get started.

His colourful side dish of purple potatoes will accompany an equally

vibrant watercress soup, and could be his ticket

to the banquet on his first attempt.

I feel I've got maybe a couple banquet-worthy dishes.

Avi, cooking for London and the South East, has high hopes

for his highest scoring dish.

I'm most confident about my starter.

I love this dish. It's one of my favourite dishes to eat and cook,

so I'm really looking forward to getting it to the banquet.

He's preparing a delicate pumpkin for roasting and creating a mint

chutney, before combining flour, carom seeds and oil

for a papdi chaat, a type of Indian cracker.

But recreating his success from the heats won't be easy.

With this dish, there's a lot of cloughs involved.

So if I add too much water, or if I don't fry something

to its perfect crispiness, it could go wrong.

So, Avi, how excited would you be to go down to Brighton and cook

for the banquet? I think it'd be fun. Brighton's a great city.

It would be nice to cook for a banquet full

of interesting people.

What about you, Adam? Yeah, it would be good to get out of London. Yeah?

HE LAUGHS

This week, the scores from the heats are reset and each chef

will be marked solely on what they present to the panel.

Today, that includes our guest judge who, after making his mark on BBC

comedy Goodness Gracious Me, is now also known as a voice in animations

such as Bob The Builder, Thomas And Friends, and Postman Pat.

It's Kulvinder Ghir.

Nice to be here. So nice to have you here.

Ow! I've just banged my knee. That's a good start!

LAUGHTER

The tables are quite low, aren't they? Straight into the comedy, eh?

You're quite a hero of mine.

I know you're voicing in animation, but of course, there's

Goodness Gracious Me, which is what I was raised on.

Only yesterday we were just celebrating the 25 years

since it was last put on. Fond memories.

Personally, I quite like it where we left it as well, because...

Don't want to revisit it.

Well, people wanting more of it, you know? It's a bit like food.

So where does the animation part sit in that?

Because, of course, Postman Pat is one of the things you did,

Bob The Builder. That's been amazing, actually, because they had

created new characters, like Ajay.

Morning, Pat. It's the rocket.

She's not running properly. I don't know why.

Ended up doing nearly 144 episodes of that, which is fantastic.

I am sweating!

In the kitchen, Gemma and Adam are under pressure.

They're cooking all-new dishes, as their original starters scored

poorly in the heats.

Both new dishes go big on mushrooms.

I definitely think it's better than the first one.

So, yeah, hopefully it's going to be enough.

I want to at least get the first dish out the way,

because that's the one that the judges haven't tasted.

Gemma's mushroom ravioli will be supported by a rich mushroom

puree, while Adam's centrepiece is maitake mushroom,

which he's steaming before barbecuing later,

plus making a mushroom puree with yeast oil.

I think it is a risk to do a new dish for finals, but I'm not

really here just to enjoy a score of eight.

I want to do better.

Gemma has the dubious hon our of serving first.

She is doing Little Owl In The Dark, and this is

a completely new dish.

Ancl the inspiration is...

HE MIMICS AN OWL

Nicely clone. Amazing.

There is an owl in the dark.

NISHA LAUGHS

Gemma's all-new mushroom starter celebrates Paul Howard's

illustrations in The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark,

and she's desperate to improve on the 27 points her original dish

scored in the heats.

Let's rewind and take it from the top, then.

I am doing a black dish, so I'm going to do a black charcoal

ravioli. That being the dark. Yep.

I'm also going to do a black garlic focaccia on the side, with some

fresh truffle, and a nice mushroom broth with that as well.

Wow. And are you hopeful?

I am hopeful.

With her focaccia baked, Gemma creates a mushroom puree, which she

mixes into her ravioli filling,

before rolling and shaping the pasta...

World's fastest raviolis.

...that's coloured with activated charcoal.

Tight for time, making pasta and bread in the starter.

But, you know, go big or go home.

The main feedback for the first starter was the balance was off,

so I've made sure that this dish is not like that.

To offset the rich ravioli and focaccia,

Gemma's creating a tangy vegan cream cheese, and using Madeira

and sherry vinegar in her broth.

Always exciting when there's a new dish, because I think it shows

that the chefs really, really want it.

Ancl quite often, the new dishes come out amazing

because they've...they've really put a lot into it.

Ravioli cooking... Pasta nice and thin? Yeah.

...Avi helps by deep-frying maitake mushrooms, while Gemma

fin is he's the focaccia.

What's on top of that bread? The vegan cream cheese.

Gemma, are you happy with the colour on this? Yeah, they're lovely.

Yeah, thank you.

You've got two minutes, Gemma, to the pass. Oui.

Gemma adds black truffle to the focaccia...

just a bit of truffle, then, yeah?

...before serving the ravioli, topped with pickled shallot

to add more acidity...

One minute to the pass, Gemma. ..and seasoning the fried

maitake mushrooms. What's going on with the mushrooms?

So it's just a bit of cep powder and a bit of truffle powder.

The dish is served with a jug of mushroom broth,

and will be presented under an owl-themed cloche.

OK. You happy, Gemma? Yeah, I am happy-

It's a whole new world there. That was...

SHE BLOWS A RASPBERRY

LAUGHTER

Why don't you send it? It's the first dish of finals week.

Service please, guys.

Gemma's tribute to the illustrations in

The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark

is served by suitably attired waiting staff, in the dark,

with a subtle twit-twoo.

OWL HOOTS It wasn't me!

This is beautiful. Look at this!

The second group aren't going hungry, either.

How are you? How was that? Yeah, that was tight.

This is a focaccia. It's a what? The bread.

Don't you swear at me like that again.

That crust on that bread is really good.

The focaccia is lovely. Yeah.

Tucking in there, chefs. Good. Lovely. Yeah.

TOM: That is the star of the show.

That piece of bread is absolutely delicious.

The truffle on the top is great.

Ancl the crispy mushroom, I think, is amazing.

The ravioli, though, it doesn't taste of mushroom enough.

I think it was the pickled shallots. There was too much acidity.

That's just what skewed it.

Did you get truffle? I didn't. Not enough.

I did like the bread. I thought that was lovely.

I'm just going into my conscience whether I want to go back into it.

Are you glad you changed it? Yeah.

Hopefully, it's going to be enough to not make me last.

It's a brave thing to do, to come with a completely new dish,

but it means it sort of has to arrive perfect.

It's a great dish, but there's improvements

that need to happen to it.

Next, Adam's rival all-new mushroom starter.

This is Adam Handling, Scotland,

and this is The Mice That Saved The Lion.

So, I'm a little bit nervous cooking my starter, because it's a brand

new dish, so I hope it works out well.

As before, the dish is inspired by the woodland scenes in an animated

version of The Mouse And The Lion fable voiced by Billy Connolly.

My feedback from the judges were perhaps the tomatoes

didn't quite work with the inside of a forest.

So I've worked hard to basically emulate things that you would find

in a forest.

His woodland theme rests on steamed then barbecued maitake mushrooms,

pickled girolle mushroom, and a deep-fried British woodland staple.

Tempura nettles. Absolutely.

I hope there's a tempura clock leaf nearby.

LAUGHTER You'd need that, wouldn't you?

I'd love a dish to be at the banquet, so fingers crossed.

He came so close last year. To make it this time,

Adam will need to control the bold mushroom flavours

and ensure the presentation is clearly linked to The Mouse

And The Lion animation.

It's a fierce field. Does it feel good to be here again?

It does. Learning from last year.

It's a very stressful week. Yeah. So just focus.

As Gemma fries tempura nettles...

How are we looking? I'll have them up, please.

You've got one minute to go, Adam.

...Adam rolls his con fit potato in a potato thyme crumb.

Potato looks gorgeous, gorgeous colour.

Next, the mushroom and yeast puree,

then pickled wax cup mushrooms and the barbecued maitake mushrooms.

They've been heavily, heavily cooked and then almost burnt

and then rehydrated after being steamed.

So they taste super, super meaty.

Can I have my little crispies over there?

The tempura nettles cover the dish, which is topped with chervil

and cep mushroom powder.

Adam presents it under cloches decorated with mice to reinforce

the link with the animated Aesop's Fable,

The Mouse And The Lion.

Are you happy? I'm happy.

Would you like to send it, Chef? Yes, please. Service.

Thank you very much.

Oh, wow.

Adam likes big flavours, but I personally am looking

for a bit of reprieve.

Lovely earthiness. So much umami in there. It's so good.

Yeah, it's great, isn't it?

Barbecued the mushroom. That's really good.

Yeah, that's probably my favourite is the barbecued hen.

What I like is the tempura nettle is nice and crunchy.

I love the texture on that potato.

Really, really good.

I love the char on the mushrooms. Yeah. Yeah. So nice.

Really, really juicy.

Every element on that plate,

the flavour has been pulled as much as you can get.

I don't know if it's, like, a complete dish.

It's almost like a garnish or something. Yeah. Feels like a...

I feel the same.

I feel like I should be pouring something on it.

Ancl that sauce, you're quite right, would have slightly softened it.

Everything on there is lovely. Yeah, it is.

It's just missing something.

I'm not getting a story.

So it seems the only link to brief is this cloche

with the stuck-on mice and the card.

Yeah, but you could just bring a ham sandwich and plop that card in front of it, couldn't you...

You could. ..and say that's a link to brief?

The North East's Willis next with a watercress soup.

Bit of nerves, bit of excitement.

When you're voicing that, is the animation being shown

in front of you, so you're just mouthing it and wording it?

No, we're just mouthing it.

And if you're playing two characters in one scene...

LAUGHTER ..and that's where it gets really, really fun.

I bet you feel insane doing that as well, don't you?

It can, because especially in Postman Pat, because I had another

lovely character in there called Bill.

He was a nine-year-old Yorkshire boy.

IN A YORKSHIRE ACCENT: So you have to start talking like him,

like that, all of a sudden.

You know, I'd give it a bit of a Yorkshireness about it.

I know what's good in ice cream. Cherries.

And then...then you had Ajay, like a first generation Indian.

IMITATES AjAY: All right, there? You all right? Are you well?

Are you coming over today, are you?

Oh, Pat, that'd be champion!

That's been the joy of when you do animation, you can really play.

Will's dish of green soup and blue string pudding is in hon our

of the volcanic green soup found in The Clangers.

Can you do a Clanger noise at all, Kulvinder?

HE WHISTLES

In each soup he'll serve

pan-roasted maitake mushrooms, onions steamed in their skin

and shaved truffle, with a blue potato cake on the side.

Now, I remember this dish, and I remember

absolutely loving this.

Tom gave the dish ten in the heats, saying it was an unforgettable

flavour punch.

But the other judges scored it an eight, as they felt

it was over-seasoned.

So Will's got his work cut out pleasing everyone today.

Back in the kitchen.

Yeah. First dish jitters.

Well, your nerves served you quite well last time, I think.

I'm assuming not really any changes.

1g of salt out of the veloute, that is it.

ANDI LAUGHS That is the only tweak I've made.

He'll need everything else to be identical to build on his high

scores and beat his rivals.

Yeah, I'd love to get any dish in the banquet.

I think they're all worthy of doing so.

Onto his blue potato cakes. Will places wild garlic emulsion,

fennel pollen, vinegar gel and nasturtiums, before combining

watercress, parsley, spinach, stock and soya milk to create his soup.

Just, like, scatter the bottom of the bowls with the pickles.

Yeah, just do me one. And then if you want to follow

with these onions. Yeah.

Will serves maitake mushroom puree,

topped with pickled and roasted maitake mushrooms,

steamed onion and shaved truffle.

Like, this much? Yeah.

Next, Will's vital watercress centrepiece.

Are you happy with the consistency of your soup?

It's a little bit thick, to be honest.

To maintain what he hopes is an identical consistency to last time,

Will's making a last-minute tweak.

Is everything all right with that veloute?

Yeah. It was a little thicker than last time.

I've just kind of let it down with a bit more veg stock... Right.

...so I can get the foam really.

Soup adjusted and aerated.

You're due at the pass now, Will.

But take the time you need.

Will serves his tribute to the green volcanic soup in The Clangers.

Wow, look at that colour. You happy?

Yeah, very.

Would you like to send it? Yeah. Service, please.

I'm getting more onion.

I really like those capers still.

Good veloute? I love it. Yeah.

What do you think about the seasoning in it? I think it's really high.

Tasty, but it's on the edge, on the border, yeah.

I find it quite salty actually, but I do

like that crispy thing.

Good for a first course.

There's a lot of acidity in there, so it kind of wakes your mouth up.

I don't think I can eat a lot of it. just small amounts.

It's salt and acid.

I just feel like there's more onion, mushroom, truffle, capers, now

it's almost like it's that stuff just covered in a bit of a sauce.

But I miss the soup, because that was really fresh

and delicious and green.

Is it a soup? It should be a soup, yeah.

It's a punchy way to begin the meal, that's for sure.

Let's hope they're all perky in the judge's chamber, shall we?

Yeah. I think there's probably the same amount of liquid.

What he's clone is he's clone it slightly differently.

He's aerated it just a little bit more

and he seems to have just dialled it down.

Yeah. I think he's listened to your two notes.

Don't you start blaming us.

Next, London and the South East champion Avi.

I gave this a ten. Based on the crackers and chutneys

of Indian street food papdi chaat,

Scrambled Snake by the Lake is inspired by Alex Scheffler's

illustrations in The Gruffalo.

Chaat means to lick the plate clean. It's so good.

Ancl it was, in my view, it was really that good.

So let's hope he's not changed anything dramatically.

I can't wait to see this dish again.

Do you think you're a contender? Absolutely.

I've scored the highest points for this dish,

so I'm going to give it my best shot.

Having netted an impressive 37 out of 40 in the judges' chamber

in the London and South East heat, Avi has a lot to live up to.

Dough prepared,

he fries his papdi chaat before combining ground chickpeas

with rice flour, sunflower oil and chilli powder to create another

dough for his all-important crispy snakes,

that he shapes with a wooden press and fries.

I'm making more, just so I have a couple extra, just in case

one of them breaks.

Now for the epic assembly, starting with the papdi chaat and snakes.

What's that you're putting on? Oat yoghurt.

I've got a tamarind chutney going on that.

What's that?

Mint, green chilli and green mango chutney.

Onion, tomatoes and chillies are next.

I've got some dry mango powder here.

I feel like I want to get a Dorito and just... Yeah.

What are they?

These are kind of crispy sprinkles, I'd say, made with chickpea

flour, water, salts.

He's still going...

You have two minutes, Avi. Yeah.

...with red and golden beetroots, roast pumpkin and pomegranate.

You're going to need an army for the banquet

I need a few hands.

If you just start that dish now it'll be ready for the banquet!

Avi's added a card to help diners understand the link to

The Gruffalo's scrambled snake illustrations.

Could you place them upright, like that?

I'm happy with that. Great. Service, please.

He's added this card, which at least shows the connection a little bit.

Ancl there's an instruction there to break the snake

onto the chaat.

It's nice colours, different textures,

but it's quite spicy in the middle.

Oh, yeah. That's got a lot of flavour. Mm-hm.

This has made me wanting to eat this by looking at it.

Not only is it beautiful to look at, the flavours are so punchy.

The pomegranate that sits in there, the crunch of it, the acidity,

the spice levels are beautiful.

It also feels like you're eating something healthy.

It's just a bit mad, actually.

I do actually really like it.

The beetroot's probably just about the main element, is it?

Ancl in chaat, when do you put beetroot?

It's a real twist, isn't it? Yeah.

It's sort of explosive. Creamy, cold, acidic, sweet.

These little biscuits... Mm. ..and they're like little rafts... Yeah.

...that hold everything together. They balance it.

It stops everything mushing together.

Are you enjoying that, dear?

THEY LAUGH

I'm trying to think of something negative, to go, yeah, but.

You don't need to, man.

No. Not everything needs to be negative, Tom.

You've got to chill.

First night is clone. How's everyone feeling?

Yeah, good. Glad to have it out of the way, to be honest.

Really happy that the starter's done.

Everybody's very anxious until the first course goes.

Yeah, it was a little touch and go in the middle of it.

I made a whole new dish today.

Has it paid off?

I won't know until the judges tell me, but I think it might have.

Hello, my darlings.

Hello. Hello. Hi, Kulvinder. How are you?

We're really good. Good food? Fantastic.

Mr Kerridge, how are you?

Very, very, very good, thank you.

It's been some great food.

Really, really good dishes.

The two dishes that were brand-new, they were fantastic improvements

on the dishes that we first had. That's good news.

There's one that I'm slightly disappointed about and it's made me

feel a bit sad, but it's still a really high score.

It just made me go, oh.

I think I cooked the dish well,

made a small tweak.

I think that might have stood me in good stead.

Your dish was awesome, so was yours. I'm very happy with my dish.

It takes a lot of focus to get that starter right.

So super HAPPY-

I think the chefs are really responding to this brief

and you are right across that, aren't you?

So is it lovely to see a world that you're so immersed

in being celebrated?

Absolutely. Yeah.

I mean, if you look at the food, you can see the colours in it as much

as you might see in an animation.

Oh, that's nice. You know, so,

animation, as you know, is heightened in itself. Mm.

So the food that we're getting here is quite pungent...

Yeah. ..in its taste. I'm glad the chefs' endeavours are paying off.

There are four more to come.

I hope the next four are going to do just as well.

I'll be back here to check in with you and have a chat, right?

It's lovely to have you here, my love. I'll see you soon.

Bye, Andi. Bye!

Hello, everyone. Hello. Excited to get going?

Yeah, I think I would liked to have gone first, if I'm being honest.

Yes. It's a good feeling.

Yeah, I can imagine!

Wish you all the very best. Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck. Good luck. See you later.

See you in a bit. Good luck.

The next four chefs are going all out to impress,

with Wallace And Gromit, the Wombles and Fireman Sam.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

Good luck, everyone. Good luck, good luck. Good luck. Let's go.

The second group sees the Central, South West, North West and Welsh

champions all vying for supremacy.

So the expectation for me is tough competition.

I'm expecting everyone to bring their A-game.

Down-to-earth Central champion Tom is choosing beetroots to create

a gel for what he hopes is a much improved Pac-Man inspired dish.

He'll serve it with a smoked mayonnaise made of aquafaba -

or chickpea water - and smoked grapeseed oil.

I'm not one to turn around and say, yes, that's banquet-worthy,

because I'm not choosing.

If I was choosing, all four would go through.

The South West's precise Nick is combining cold pressed carrot juice,

coconut oil and Pernod for a carrot jelly royale.

We are all super competitive chefs.

That's why we're here.

Meticulous Danielle, cooking for the North West, is creating

a mushroom broth with kombu and roasted onions,

hoping to beat her more established rivals.

I'm expecting some tough competition from the chefs this week.

I've watched a few of them being on the show before and I've loved

what they've done, so just makes me more nervous to have to cook my

dishes and let everybody taste it.

She needs to balance her earthy mushroom flavours with a creamy

almond and miso puree, plus a lighter zingier

lemon thyme pickle gel.

You've got to infuse the lemon thyme first into the pickle

and then set it with agar.

It means the world to be here, so I just want to showcase what I can do.

Proud Welsh chef Mark is creating a carrot puree

and hoping to go all the way on his second attempt.

If I get a dish at the banquet I'd be super happy.

All the hard work would be worth it.

The carrot puree will complement a braised carrot, which Mark

is soaking in a fermented koji rice.

It will be served alongside lentils, which he's cooking

in mushroom stock.

Are you a vegetarian, vegan? Do you like that?

I would say I'm going more and more vegan.

Only because...it might sound stupid, but it's getting easier.

Mm-hm. Yeah. It's now making me feel more intrigued to see what creative

juices are going to be ending up on my...for me to eat,

on the sense of being vegan.

Yeah. Because I ain't eating anything bland.

THEY LAUGH

I can't do the blandest thing.

Nick is serving first.

I'm really up for it.

Now it's time just to get in there, cook it and smash it.

He's hoping to cook the Golden Carrot at the banquet, a tribute

to the super-sized vegetable in Wallace 8; Gromit -

The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

How did you get on with the starter, with the first course?

Yeah, I had the 34. OK.

I had a ten off the guest judge.

Nine off Nisha. Oh, wow.

I got a 32.

I got a nine off Nisha as well. What about you?

I had a pretty steady start, mate, to be fair,

and I think I got 27 in the chamber.

Nick? I got 33.

So I'm actually changing.

I'm just tweaking something based on Michael O'Hare's feedback...

Yeah. ..which is to put carrot in the carrot.

I'm making a carrot tartare and adding that as well. Nice.

Excited to taste them all? Sure.

With a carrot jelly royale setting, Nick's creating potato ribbons,

which he'll shape into the carrot centrepiece of his dish.

That's how you make those. Yes.

So then do you fry that? Exactly that. Yeah.

Well, it's a beautiful dish.

I mean, it's very technically quite challenging.

Like all of your dishes are technically quite challenging. Yeah.

So getting that right and getting the balance and everything else

is quite the feat, isn't it? Yeah, exactly.

It's all about balance.

Now rolled, Nick fries...

A couple of average ones, but they're all right.

...before creating the revised filling with minced carrots,

capers, dill and horseradish combined with vegan feta.

And it's all change.

Hello. Hello. I'm here. I'm so glad.

And that's because Tom is Nick's boss.

Hey, Chef Nick. Yo. How are we?

Getting there.

Even though he would, of course, be scrupulously fair, we're not

going to put him or Nick in that position.

So I'm getting a turn in the hot seat, and I'll be judging Nick's

dishes, and Tom is taking my place in the kitchen.

Do you guys remember this dish? I do. Oh, it was fantastic.

Ancl in terms of link to brief, you couldn't do better.

With the carrots ready and hopefully perfectly crispy,

Nick begins to plate.

Do you want anything? I tell you what you can do is get the soil on.

As Mark serves the soil of dehydrated black olives,

breadcrumbs, truffle oil and herbs... Two minutes. Yeah? Oui.

...Nick fills his carrots with vegan feta and carrot tartare...

Are you happy with the cook of the carrots? Yes, happy.

...before coating with gold powder.

I'm covered in gold again.

LAUGHTER

Nick's so-called anti-pesto of herbs,

pickled vegetables and parsley oil is served in tins.

Wallace and Gromit have got a pest extermination company

called Anti-Pesto.

That's my nod to that.

The carrots are topped and placed on the soil.

You're supposed to be up at the pass, Chef. I'll be a minute.

One minute. Nick's carroty tribute to Wallace 8; Gromit -

The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, is served.

Happy with that? Very happy.

That's genuinely the first time I've seen that as well. Yeah.

Genuinely is. No-one will believe that, will they?

No, no-one will believe it! It looks great.

Feel free to send it, mate. Go, please, guys. Service.

I mean, it's just immediately, visually... It's stunning.

...it has such impact, doesn't it?

I think it looks absolutely amazing. The carrot itself, beautiful.

Well, he's added quite a lot of carrot to

that centre filling, hasn't he?

But in terms of flavour, it's one, two dimensional.

The carrot itself, I think, is delicious.

I love that vegan feta. I think there's enough seasoning in there...

Oh, inside... Inside the carrot itself.

I like that he's added the carrot tartare. I think that's delicious.

I love the crunch, but the flavour wouldn't be up my street.

What do you guys think? I really like it.

I love the anti-pesto with the apple as well, and cashew.

Yes, it's nice textures as well.

Presentation's good.

Well, even the pesto is a little bit flat.

It's very her by, but it's kind of lacking in depth.

A bit bland? THEY LAUGH

Are you happier with the set of the custard?

Yeah. Yeah. You don't want it too firm.

I don't know if I'm fond on the texture of the royale.

It looks incredible. I just wanted that carrot flavour

just to be a little bit more carroty.

What's the dust, the soil? So it's black olive, lemon, thyme. Spice?

Yeah, caraway, nutmeg.

What it doesn't do for me at the moment

is wanting me to go back and eat some more of it.

It's like the soil gets wet and then it clags up.

It's too realistic a soil, really, isn't it?

It's too soily. That's the problem.

Right, I'm off. Oh, we miss you already.

Oh, sure.

It's been a wonderful interlude, but there's work to do, Ed.

Actual work, do you remember?

Actual work. I think you'll find this is actual work.

You're very brave, etc, etc.

Actual hard working central champion Tom is next,

with his beetroot and pear starter simply titled Pac-Man.

Isn't that when he goes "om-nom-nom"?

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Essentially what we've been doing all day so far. Yeah.

The judges loved the clear link to the brief,

but scored it just 27 out of 40.

It had some mixed reviews.

Very solid as a dish.

But is it impactual and exciting enough to be to the banquet?

Ancl have you clone something about that?

I've beefed every single element up.

I've got a pine nut pesto going on the bottom.

So it just gives that a bit of vibrance on the base

of the plate. It's to add that body to that dish as well.

Ancl the seasoning will be quite high on that. Beautiful.

I wish you loads of luck, sir. Thank you, Andi.

After cracking open and dicing the salt baked beetroot, Tom blitzes

the pesto of beetroot, pine nuts and blanched garlic before plating.

This is the salt baked beetroot on top.

You start to be familiar with the shape of it.

Yeah. Like Batman. Batman, yeah?

So happy that you've noticed the face.

You've got five minutes, my love. Thank you, Andi.

Next, he adds the smoked mayonnaise, then a ketchup of pear juice,

cider vinegar and sugar.

What are they, Tom?

These are smoked, salted almonds. That little bit of texture.

Tom, you've got just under one minute to go, love.

Finally, the effect is hopefully clear

when Tom adds his pear and beetroot jelly.

That looks good.

You recognise it now? Yeah, it looks like Pac-Man.

Looks like Batman, yeah?

Tom serves under Pac-Man joysticks, complete with sound effects.

Looks great, chef. You happy? Yeah, really happy.

Want to send it? Yeah, absolutely. Perfect. Service please, guys.

Wait, wait, wait.

JOYSTICK BLEEPS It's my favourite.

ANDI LAUGHS

As you're the guest judge, would you like to press the button first?

I'd love to.

JOYSTICK BLEEPS Yes.

JOYSTICKS BLEEP IN UNISON

Perfect harmony.

LAUGHTER

Pretty, no? Yeah. Yeah, very pretty.

When I took it out of the box, it was a slightly deflated,

eyeless, soulless looking Pac-Man.

Ancl then you get into it, and I just think the flavours are fabulous.

I like the smoke that comes through.

I like the texture of the almonds.

What's the creamy stuff on the bottom? Pesto, he said.

It's almost like a hummus consistency.

It's very gentle, isn't it?

It may be missing a couple of dimensions for me.

All flavours that really work nicely, innit?

Beetroot, almond, a bit of smoke.

Wow. I like the contrast between the almonds

and the smoked mayonnaise.

I think it's quite delicate as a dish,

but really lots of flavour in there. Yeah, I agree.

I think it's tasty, yeah.

To start the meal, I think we would need something a little bit

more uplifting and a little bit... Yeah.

This is a very easy transition into the meal.

Ed's right. For the starter of a banquet,

you want something a bit more exciting, a bit more vibrant.

There isn't anything that makes this sing.

I hadn't had something that's going to go...

HE GASPS

"Oh, can I have some more? ls there any more there?"

The north-west's Danielle is perfecting a black garlic

and yeast extract puree for her mushroom starter,

which the judges will sample next.

Kulvinder, what was it about your background and where you grew up

that gave you this ability to just do all of these accents?

It was just partly to integrate and to adapt within a culture

because I wasn't born here.

I came here when I was seven, and when we first settled

in London, everyone was talking like 'at.

Next minute my parents took me to Yorkshire and they said,

"Don't 'ee talk funny?"

Since clay one, when I came at seven,

I haven't clone anything else apart from this work.

Danielle's dish, Eat Like A Womble,

is designed to represent the autumnal floor of Wimbledon Common.

I think... Yeah, we enjoyed this.

It does feel like you're eating like a Womble would eat.

Straight off the floor.

It's a tribute to the narration and voices of Lancashire-born

Bernard Cribbins in the legendary stop-motion animation.

I seem to remember really liking this.

Yeah, I was going to say, I liked it as well.

Yeah, I remember... Was it Uncle Orinoco?

Uncle Bulgaria. Uncle Bulgaria!

Sorry, Uncle Bulgaria. Was there a Florence?

No, that was the Magic Roundabout.

Magic Roundabout. Was Florence.

Where did they used to forage? Wimbledon Common.

This is a section of Great British Menu I like to call

"People Over 40 Try And Remember Things."

LAUGHTER

That's right!

Danielle scored a solid 32 out of 40,

but has taken advice in the hope of scoring even higher.

So Tom's advice was to lose the mushroom cookie altogether.

So I've clone that. How about the way that it looks?

So, I've kept my Womble houses. Lovely.

I've also got a nice illustrated card with a little Womble poem on

to really bring home the Wombleiness of the dish.

Underline the Womblenelity.

Yeah. If that's a word. It is now.

With Womblenelity at the forefront of her mind,

Danielle finishes her artichoke crisps

before creating her starter's mushroom centrepiece.

So what are the mushrooms in the mix?

Black trumpets, oyster mushrooms.

Ancl then there's some yellow chanterelles, grey chanterelles.

After simply frying in dairy-free butter, Danielle plates.

Whilst they're in the butter, just added a couple of the ramson capers

to the butter. So they're not, like, lethal when they're really fresh,

but they're still there in the background.

You've got three minutes, Danielle, OK? Yes, Andi.

How's it all going? Good, so far.

Next, the puree of black garlic and yeast extract,

which, as a by-product of the beer making process, is a subtle nod

to the Wombles' love of recycling and avoiding waste.

The black garlic is cooked with sherry vinegar and demerara sugar

first and then I blitz in a little bit of minced truffle,

and then the Marmite as well.

It's your last minute, Danielle. Yes, Chef.

The mushroom broth is decanted,

and Danielle serves the artichoke crisps resembling autumn leaves...

Quite Wombley now.

...hoping they make up for the crunchy texture

lost by ditching her mushroom cookies.

Ooh.

You happy, Danielle? Yes, very.

Well, let's send it. Service, please.

WOMBLES THEME PLAYS

For a nostalgia hit, Danielle's dish is served to the Womble soundtrack.

# Underground, overground, Wombling free

# The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we... #

Lovely broth.

# Making good use of the things that we find... #

it just smells of pure mushroom truffley loveliness, doesn't it?

Can we dive in?

That lemon thyme pickle gel, I think it's just great.

Yeah. Properly sings, doesn't it?

Tastes exactly like it smelled, doesn't it? Exactly, mate.

I think it's got a really nice acidity to it,

but also different textures.

I love these artichoke crisps, as well.

Texturally the almond puree's a little bit...

Feels a bit grainy, a little bit claggy.

I think the mushrooms are really meaty.

Loads of umami through it. Yeah, I think it's a lovely dish.

I think it tastes really good.

There's loads of inspired little moments all over that plate.

I'm liking the variety in the taste.

It's really, really combined those flavours really well together.

There's nothing too cheffy about this.

It is just, like, "How can I create what feels like a woodland floor?"

Let's hope the judges like mushrooms, eh?

LAUGHTER

But it's everything that you would want from a celebration

of mushrooms. This is truly savoury and earthy.

There used to be a mushroom cookie and a hummus thing on this dish,

and we don't need it.

It's the best thing I've eaten all day, by a mile.

I definitely think that's a contender.

This hits you with how delicious it is.

This is a truly talented chef. You could actually wear that.

There you go. Look at that.

Fabulous. I'm camouflaged now.

Now I'm not here. Who said that? "Who said that?"

That's the worst dad joke ever.

Finally, Welsh champion Mark.

I've come here to win. It's going to be a hard week.

Ancl his dish is called It's A Fire! Call Sam!

This is a carroty celebration of the Welsh animation Fireman Sam,

for which Mark is braising his carrots in carrot juice with thyme,

before creating a foamed sauce with oat milk and smoked water.

It's like you're Fireman Sam,

and you just walked into a fire in a carrot factory.

They make them in factories, right?

What? Fireman Sams? Carrots.

Carrots. Oh, no. On both counts.

With 34 out of 40 in the regional final,

this is Mark's highest scoring dish.

Are you aware that you are joint second place in the scoring

of the starters right across the regions?

Oh, that's good. I didn't know.

I thought, "I bet he doesn't know that." But you absolutely are.

You and Will. Anything particularly challenging about this dish?

The challenge, get the balance right with a smoke and still taste

that carrot. In the middle of it all?

Well, you did it brilliantly before, and I'm sure

you're going to achieve it again.

Mark adds con fit garlic and shallots, truffle and smoked vinegar

to his lentils before creating a fresh spring onion oil.

How you feeling, Mark? Yeah, good. Happy? Yeah.

Everything how you wanted it? Yeah.

Mark tops his braised carrots with carrot puree and cob nuts

before serving more puree on the plate.

Vibrant colours. Yeah. What's the inspiration again? Fireman Sam.

So there's a lot of smoke elements.

You've got, like, smoked vinegar in it.

The smoky lentils with garlic and truffle are next.

What's that stock? Shiitake. Nice.

So I've used truffle mushrooms really just to help the flavours.

Balancing these rich flavours with the fresh carrot centrepiece

will be tough.

Are you nervous? Another carrot dish to compete with.

I mean, it does look great. Yeah.

Mark's also bringing back crispy fried carrots, which he removed

for the Welsh final after they went soggy in the heats.

They wanted more texture for the dish, so I've decided to put them

back on, but put them on the side in a fire bucket.

By serving them separately, Mark is hoping they maintain their texture

and get him a winning score.

What's the oil? This is spring onion. Spring onion, nice.

More cob nuts and the carrot centrepiece are next.

I hope they'll get it, like with all the hidden flavours. 100%, mate.

What's that? It's a smoke foam made with soy milk and smoked water.

Mark finishes his smoky celebration of Welsh animation

Fireman Sam with oak smoke under a cloche.

Oh, that's the one.

Oh, goodness. Don't they look great?

That's topped with a fireman's hat

and with the crispy carrots to the side.

The fire buckets look great. You happy? Yeah.

Let's send it.

# When he hears the fire bell chime

# Fireman Sam is there on time

# Putting on his coat and hat

# In less than seven seconds flat... #

Hello, chefs?

Come on in.

Look at your little anxious faces. Come on in.

That smell is just fantastic.

The smell is incredible.

That's real sort of street market food smoke, isn't it?

But it's not just token, that feeds right the way through this dish.

Yum. That's delicious, Mark.

You've got a carrot dish. What do you think about this carrot dish?

What you were trying to achieve with the smoke,

I think it's absolutely delicious.

This was the addition. A little bit more flair.

It's beautiful. I think it's great.

I like so many of the elements. I really like the carrot crisps.

I like the cob nuts. I like the lentils.

I love the hazelnut going through there as well.

I thought that was super tasty.

The little carrots for crunch.

The actual carrot, I'm getting very little from.

Yeah. I'm with Ed, I think the actual main focus point

isn't really focused. It's not a great carrot.

What do you think, Kulvinder?

There is skill in this in the making of the lentils, that they're not

overdone, that they still have texture to them.

I find it sweet as much as I want it to be fiery.

Listen, it's a very, very nice dish.

It's not going to the banquet, though, is it? We don't know.

We don't know what the scores are going to be.

Well, Tom's one of the people scoring.

How do you fancy its chances?

I'm going to say that Ed's probably not going to give it a ten.

Ed, you loved it.

There were a lot of elements that I did love, but the main central

element I did not, which for me is an issue.

And I concur completely with Ed on that.

OK. Lovely. That is all eight of you cooked.

I feel good. Feel good to get the first one on the way.

I'm glad it's over. It was a nice one to get done.

I'm really happy with the way it went.

It feels like the competition is properly begun now.

Yeah, I think I've clone well.

My dish, I think the flavour's there.

I'm going to go chat to the judges,

and I'll see you guys in the judging chamber.

Amazing. Lovely.

So there's definitely, you know, two, three, I would say, at least

for me, that are quite strong contenders there, Tom?

Yeah, I do think by the time we sit down and we put our scores

together, it will be close between...

Yeah, I would say two or three.

I really enjoyed it today.

I mean, there's dishes in there I've tasted that I've never tasted

before, so it's been quite liberating in that sense.

But the presentation was amusing and fun.

But, overall, I think there were two or three dishes in there

that was really, really beautifully made.

I think there were a couple of dishes that really divided us,

because I think there were some real moments of magic.

I think there's been a bit today of being very excited

by the presentation and link to the brief, and then the actual

taste of the dish, not necessarily living up to that - and the reverse.

I think there's definitely going to be a couple

that are top contenders.

Well, guys, shall we see what the judges scored us?

Absolutely. Let's go.

After eating some of the courses today,

I hope I'm not last.

I just want to get in the judges' chamber.

I want this first clay to be out of the way.

There were some good dishes, but I might be in with a shout.

My starter is one of my strongest dishes, so I'm really hoping

I can take it to the banquet.

After tasting everybody else's, I wouldn't say

it's my strongest dish.

We both did carrot dishes, me and Mark.

I think they were both very good. Mark's was excellent.

I'm super nervous, going to the judges' chamber,

but hopefully I won't be going out first.

Hopefully I'll be there in the top.

I think in this competition, it's anybody's game any day.

Welcome, chefs. Come on in, everybody.

Hello. Hello.

How you all doing? Good. Good.

Well, you've all done very well.

You worked really, really hard.

Yeah. How was it in that kitchen today, guys?

Good. Good. Calm. It was hard. Good to get going.

OK, I wasn't in their kitchen.

Yours wasn't calm? No, it wasn't calm. No.

I'd just like to thank you all for some amazing cooking today

from all of you, especially taking on the challenge of vegan cooking.

Absolutely a delight to taste all your different cuisines

that were presented to me.

Well, look, it's time to reveal the places of who's come

where from today's cooking.

So in last place today...

...it's Gemma.

Absolutely loved the black garlic focaccia.

I thought it was amazing.

Very, very pleased that you changed the dish completely.

This was a massive, massive improvement.

But today, I just felt that we'd seen it for the first time.

It needs to go away, have some tweaks, and come back again.

Thank you, guys. Cheers.

I'm not deflated at all about coming last, but coming here with a

brand-new dish was always going to be a risk.

And in seventh place is...

Tom.

Torn, we loved the presentation and the inspiration was great.

It was exciting to see a computer game represented. There were loads

of amazing little points to that dish, like the smoked almond

and the smoked mayonnaise.

But you came up against a very strong field today,

but well done.

Thank you very much, guys.

How you doing? All right? You good? Yeah.

Listen, I've brought a new dish.

I didn't think it was going to do well, so...

Never my strongest dish, especially from regionals as well.

But good to get one out the way.

And I'm ream] focused for the rest of the week.

Looking forward to seeing who actually gets through now.

And four of you have now fled,

which means four of you will go to third position.

It just shows how closely pitted you were.

So the first of those chefs...

...is Mark.

With your fantastic Fireman Sam Dish, which for me was smoke

and mirrors, but real substance.

It was delicious.

The next chef to assume third position is Adam.

Adam, you changed your dish completely,

which is very, very brave.

Are you pleased that you did that?

I am. I wanted to make the brief a little bit better.

It's my weakest one out of all four.

So there's more yet to come.

If that's your weakest,

you're in good form, I can tell you.

Ancl the next chef in third position...

...is Will.

So, Will, that was your Clangers

soup or the veloute, which was frankly

the most delicious primordial soup that ever existed.

It was fantastic. Were you pleased with it?

How did you find the clay? Yeah, it came out I think quite well.

It's probably same as regionals, tweaked the seasoning a little bit,

made a bit of a difference. But, yeah, I think I'm happy.

Ancl the remaining chef in third position...

...is Nick.

With a spectacular carrot of gold.

How was your clay? Pleased with it? It was good.

Yeah, it's tough going first, but I managed to get it clone.

Was happy with what I sent. So, pleased.

Yeah, you should be. It was, it was really breathtaking.

The link to brief was fantastic. Well clone. Thank you.

Well done to all four of you.

Please go back to the kitchen, have a little chat amongst yourselves

and remember, three more opportunities to get

onto that banquet menu.

Oh, wow!

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

In one hit?

Four of you came third? Yeah. Amazing.

I'm very happy I took the risk to change the dish.

I think that if the judges had seen it, had I not listened

to their feedback, I probably wouldn't be joint third.

So I'm glad I took that risk.

Felt good. You know, I got a third technically.

So it's, yeah, fun.

Got the third. So it's not bad. It's good.

It was really funny that there was four of us tied in third place.

It just goes to show how tight it is.

Well done. Well clone you.

OK. So that brings us to the two of you, Avi and Danielle.

Ancl your dishes - Scrambled Snake by the Lake and Eat like a Womble.

How does it feel to have got this far?

Yeah, really good. Amazing.

Never thought I'd be here.

Your eyes went so big. Yeah.

Was it a bit of a surprise? Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. I mean, I was really happy to be here.

I mean, it was... Yeah, it's unbelievable.

Well, listen, both dishes we thought were absolutely fantastic today,

but it does all come down to points.

Ancl I can tell you that this was so, so, so close.

There are only two points in it.

There can, of course, only be one winner.

And I can tell you now, that cooking the starter at the banquet

celebrating British animation and illustration for Paddington's

65th birthday is...

...Avi.

Thank you. Congratulations, Avi.

It's a spectacular dish full of flavour, bursting with colour.

I think the visual impact of the dish is one thing,

and it's amazing. And then you eat it, and it's a cacophony of beauty.

Thank you. Well done. Congratulations, Avi. Thank you,

Tom. We loved that dish in the regionals.

Ancl today as well, it absolutely sang. It was magical.

Everything about it was just a true celebration of vegetables,

just like it should be. Thank you.

It got very close to me as animation, the colours,

the vibrancy of it, you know, the different tastes that you got

from each of the elements that you put in there.

I absolutely enjoyed both of the dishes. Congratulations to

both of you there. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And, Danielle, this is your first time in the competition. Yeah.

Ancl you're straight through to finals. And I know you appreciate

this... Yes, definitely. ..because you're still

so... Ancl you're one of the last chefs standing.

You should be so proud. Thank you very much.

We're very proud of you. Appreciate it.

Like Tom said, it was very, very close indeed.

Avi just edged it in the end.

But, Danielle, hopefully this sends you surfing through the week

on a wave of confidence. Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you. Chefs,

thank you so much. Avi, congratulations.

Why don't you go back to the kitchen and get your name up on that board?

Because you are cooking the starter at our banquet.

Thank you. Well clone, chef.

Congratulations. Well clone. Brilliant.

Yes!

Did it.

I feel amazing, coming runner-up,

especially against a dish like Avi's.

Sitting in that chamber, just to be two of us.

And for me to be one of them was an amazing feeling.

Yeah, I feel incredibly happy and so pleased

that I'm in this position.

To nail the first dish is an absolute hon our

and I feel so good.

Oh, waiting's over.

Who was it then? Yeah?

Well clone.

Yeah. Well done, chef. Thank you.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Well clone, Dani, as well. Well done. Well clone.

You'll be on cloud nine for the rest of the week now, right?

Kulvinder, thank you so much for coming.

Oh, it's been a pleasure.

We have our starter. Exciting.

Day one clone.

Cheers, guys. Cheers. Congratulations. Thank you.

ALL: Cheers.

First one clone, everyone. Absolutely, cheers, guys.

Tomorrow, the chefs compete to cook the fish course,

and an award-winning animator joins us

to judge who will emerge triumphant.

It's anybody's guess.

Hello, my loves.

Hello, Andi. Hi, Andi. You read my mind.

Cheers, everybody.

Well done. Well done.

Tomorrow, with one less place at the banquet up for grabs...

I'm scared about that. I'm just, like, very nervous about this dish.

...the chefs feel the heat when they cook their fish courses.

Oh!

Oh, BLEEP.

Who will flounder?

It's green and it's slimy.

And who will flourish?

Cooking the fish course at the banquet is...