The hottest show of the summer, ITV’s Cooking With The Stars, reaches the final tonight and what a competition it’s been. For the first time, we’ve been able to cook along with all M&S ingredients, collectable recipe cards and chef Percy Pig!
Eight top chefs, eight passionate celebrity cooks, one unmissable TV show! Hosted by Emma Willis and Tom Allen, Cooking With The Stars saw top chefs teaming up with much-loved celebrities in an epic battle of the frying pans! Going from kitchen zero to hero, brave celebrities taking part include AJ Odudu, Naughty Boy, Denise Van Outen, Johnny Vegas and Strictly’s Shirley Ballas, who are mentored by their professional partners and tested every week in gripping cooking battles as they produce dishes worthy of a top restaurant!
Emma Willis, who is presenting, told us a bit more about the show…….
“So, in a nutshell, it’s a cooking competition where eight celebrities are paired with and mentored by phenomenal stand-out chefs. Each week the celebrities are challenged with a different cuisine and compete against each other to win our golden frying pan! Some of the celebrities had never cooked anything before and some of them had cooked a bit so it was interesting to watch how competitive people got and how they really upped their game”.
“While the celebs are cooking, the chefs are in the room watching and they’re not allowed to interact with them. At times it’s almost like there’s Gordon Ramsay-style steam coming out of their ears when they want to try and stop something they are doing wrong or take something off boil that they’ve left too long and it’s like mush in a pan. So, it was brilliant from an observational point of view as well because there was so much going on.”
Emma Willis & Tom Allen
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Emma Willis & Tom Allen
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Comedian Tom Allen, who is no stranger to a kitchen, or cooking show himself, told us what it was like working with Emma Willis….
“We’ve never worked together before and it was a wonderful experience. Emma has so much more presenting experience than I do and she was lovely and warm and we just laughed the whole time. We enjoyed spending time with all the chefs and the celebrities and loved hanging out together. She was good at talking to celebrities about the sensitive and the emotional things whereas I’m just better at making fun of people, so I think it’s quite a nice balance.”
“We’re really proud of the show, it’s really fun and there’s a lot of warmth and love in it. We want the viewers to feel like they are part of our friendship group and hopefully they will enjoy it as much as we did. If I’m watching TV, I want it to make me feel good, I want to see people having a nice time, just trying something and doing their thing. I think this series has got all of these elements in it.”
Cooking With The Stars – Emma Willis and Tom Allen. (Image credit: ITV)
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Cooking With The Stars – Emma Willis and Tom Allen. (Image credit: ITV)
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The most exciting part? M&S customers can have a slice of the action too. In a cookery show first, viewers won’t have to drool over the dishes on screen with no hope of re-creating at home! The eight chefs have created their own exclusive recipes for the show and all ingredients are available at M&S Food. You can pick up free collectable recipe cards in M&S Foodhalls every week… and show the Cooking With The Stars celebs a thing or two in the kitchen! 😉 #cookingwiththestars
Percy Pig fans rejoice – the Percy soft toy is back in a limited edition new look. He’s been cooking up a storm to celebrate the show and is all dressed up in a chef’s hat and Cooking With The Stars apron.
Pigs do fly… off the shelves! There was Percy mania as M&S launched Percy soft toys at Christmas and Easter (around 10,000 in just a single day in the run up to Christmas!). Becoming a collectable must-have, the exclusive Cooking With The Stars chef Percy Pig is sure to become an immediate bestseller, so get in there quick.
Large Limited Edition Chef Percy Pig Soft Toy £16 – available at M&S Foodhalls and online.
Percy – Cooking With The Stars
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Percy – Cooking With The Stars
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The Cooking With The Stars final is almost upon us and WHAT series it’s been. We’ve seen laughter, tears… and quite a few culinary injuries too as our celebs went from kitchen zeros to heroes! In a cookery show FIRST, M&S Food gave customers the chance to create the dishes on-screen and turn up the heat in their own kitchens.
Every week there’s been a different themed cuisine, from French to Indian, as we went on a culinary journey around the world. After each episode, customers have picked up collectable recipe cards, and ALL of the ingredients on the show have been available, from top quality fish and seafood to herbs and spices. Tonight’s final recipes are set to be the most popular yet, as customers try out the Cooking With The Stars CHAMPION’S dish at home and serve up winning restaurant quality food for their family!
As customers excitedly rose to the challenge, M&S has seen over 200 thousand visits to the Cooking With The Stars page to try out the recipes. It’s become the most visited editorial page – ahead of Colin the Caterpillar and Percy Pig! Over the course of the series, over 1.8millon Cooking With The Stars recipe cards have been collected at M&S Foodhalls.
Italian Week has been the most successful so far, with customers taking on the challenge to make something new and exciting for their families. Choosing to make the Italian expert’s dish, the customer favourite recipe has been Denise and Francesco’s Italian tortelli with burrata, ‘nduja and balsamic vinegar. Picking up the ingredients to make the dish, sales soared and nduja paste was up 11% and Grana Padano was up 29% on the previous week.
Last week’s South East Asian semi-final saw Johnny Vegas leave the competition, as his surf and turf laska failed to impress the judges. He said “it’s like a dancefloor in your mouth when you get this right… it’s the difference between Ibiza and Wigan!”. Well, Johnny may be heading back to the North-West 😉 but our customers have been showing us THEIR MOVES as they created the dish at home and his laksa has also been one of the most popular recipes of the series so far as customers did Rosemary proud!
The grand finale is TONIGHT on ITV at 9pm and it’s ‘Signature Dish’ week – the celebs will be creating recipes that their chef partners are BEST KNOWN FOR… the heat is on! And in the cook-off, they’ll be testing every skill they’ve learnt so far, using their new-skills to taste, season and cook like a star.
The finalists battling it out to be crowned champion are: Harry Judd and Nisha Katona, Denise Van Outen and Francesco Mazzei, and AJ Odudu and Jack Stein. Host Tom Allen said Cooking With The Stars has been “as competitive as the Olympics” and we have to agree… but as we enter into the final, who is going for gold? Here’s what the finalists have to say:
In the final, Harry will be making Nisha’s signature dish, Indian Chat Bombs. Nisha says “Harry was one that couldn’t cook and here he is making one of the most fiendish dishes on the Indian menu!”. It’s a technical dish, the success of which lies in the delicate dough, and at Nisha’s Mowgli resturant, she has chefs which just focus on making chat bombs all day long!
Harry didn’t think he stood a chance at winning when he started the competition but cooking to the beat of his own drum has got him a long way as he’s escaped not one but TWO cook-offs!
Harry told us…..
“I can’t believe I’ve made it to the final! My cookery skills up to now have involved microwaves and toasters…my signature dish at home is scrambled eggs! I never dreamed that I’d make it this far and it’s all thanks to Nisha’s amazing mentoring. At the start of the competition I thought my chances of winning were very limited, especially after all the kitchen injuries – I’ve been bandaged up more times than I could count! Everyone’s said I’m the dark horse in the competition and now I’d absolutely love to win the show… I’m up for the fight!”
Harry & Nisha (©ITV Plc)
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Harry & Nisha (©ITV Plc)
” data-medium-file=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-200×300.jpg” data-large-file=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-683×1024.jpg” width=”683″ height=”1024″ src=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-683×1024.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-85163″ srcset=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-683×1024.jpg” 683w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-200×300.jpg 200w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-768×1152.jpg 768w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-1024×1536.jpg 1024w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-1365×2048.jpg 1365w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-696×1044.jpg 696w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-1392×2088.jpg 1392w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-1068×1602.jpg 1068w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-1920×2880.jpg 1920w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Harry-Nisha.-280×420.jpg 280w” sizes=”(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px”>
In the final, AJ will be cooking Jack’s signature dish, rack of lamb with braised peas, new potatoes, pickled cucumber and lamb sauce. Jack said “AJ is taking on a Herculean challenge in terms of what she needs to do!”
Choosing to add her own flair, rather than always sticking to the recipe (often to Jack’s dismay), throughout the series she’s shown she’ll push herself with every task and is ready to take home the Cooking With The Stars crown.
AJ told us….
“I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor than Jack – so patient, so knowledgeable, and really fun to be around. I’ve learnt loads and made a friend for life. Bring on the final!”
AJ & Jack (©ITV Plc)
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AJ & Jack (©ITV Plc)
” data-medium-file=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-200×300.jpg” data-large-file=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-683×1024.jpg” width=”683″ height=”1024″ src=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-683×1024.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-85159″ srcset=”https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-683×1024.jpg” 683w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-200×300.jpg 200w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-768×1152.jpg 768w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-1024×1536.jpg 1024w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-1365×2048.jpg 1365w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-696×1044.jpg 696w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-1392×2088.jpg 1392w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-1068×1602.jpg 1068w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-1920×2880.jpg 1920w, https://southwaleslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AJ-and-Jack-280×420.jpg 280w” sizes=”(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px”>
Denise will be cooking langoustine and asparagus gnocchi tonight, a dish with family history, which is very close to Francesco’s heart. Francesco says “if she makes the gnocci right, I’ll be very happy, but sometimes Denise, she can panic…”
Denise Van Outen has loved being in the competition and just needs to keep her cool! Under Francesco’s guidance she’s shown she CAN COOK and can’t wait to show her new skills off in the final.
Denise told us…
“Before Cooking With The Stars, I was an oven pizza kind of girl, I just wasn’t any good at making things from scratch. But Francesco has taught me everything he knows and he expects a lot from me – he pushes me to improve every single time. He’s Italian and Italians, you know, are notorious for being passionate about food. I just love cooking and I’m SO excited to have made it into the final… I’m definitely going to give it my best shot to be crowned champion!
Denise & Francesco (©ITV Plc)
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Denise & Francesco (©ITV Plc)
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After watching Cooking With The Stars, switchover to the M&S YouTube channel for Extra Helpings for all the backstage gossip and unseen footage! Join YouTube royalty Woody & Kleiny to find out which celeb can eat a Percy Pig biscuit the quickest, how long it takes Emma Willis to find Colin the Caterpillar, and which celebrity contestant the chefs really think will win. M&S wine expert, Fred Sirieix, has picked perfect wine pairings for the chef’s dishes and Fred will be joining Woody & Kleiny in an M&S store each week… getting up to some serious fun, including blindfolded tastings! Unmissable!
Subscribe and watch Extra Helpings on the M&S YouTube channel – HERE
Here’s a look at the first episode’s recipes – all available as free collectable recipe cards at M&S Foodhalls! Find ALL the ingredients that appear on the show at your local M&S Food, from pasta flour, herbs and spices to top-quality fish and seafood.
Find the show’s recipes, along with more Cooking With The Stars info RIGHT HERE