Celebrity MasterChef Returns with Locatelli and Dent
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- Celebrity MasterChef returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Tuesday, 18 August, with its 21st series featuring a new judging partnership of Giorgio Locatelli and Grace Dent.
- Filming at Birmingham's Digbeth Loc Studios runs 12 to 13 hours a day with cameras rolling continuously, according to Dent, who said she has no control over how she's edited.
- The judges take deliberately different approaches — Locatelli focuses on technique and execution from a chef's perspective, while Dent examines the wider story behind each dish as a critic, giving the pair what Locatelli called a "360 degree" view.
- Locatelli highlighted a key difference between the UK and Italian versions — British MasterChef draws on Indian, Japanese and Mexican influences, while MasterChef Italia is rooted in Italian tradition.
- This year's celebrity contestants include Olympic medallist Emily Campbell, broadcaster Jason Mohammad, comedian Joe Pasquale, TV personality Shakira Khan and musician Jay McGuinness.
- Guest judges Paddy McGuinness, Zoe Ball and Morgan Burtwistle (better known as Angry Ginge) will each appear across three heats to set the celebrities bespoke challenges, with four from each heat progressing to the quarter-finals.
- Dent, based in Birmingham for a year, said she loves the city's shopping and people, while Locatelli, living in the Jewellery Quarter, called Birmingham "very welcoming" but said the British winter was "a killer."
Why it matters: The new judging duo signals a deliberate tonal shift for the franchise, pairing Locatelli's technical chef background with Dent's food-critic eye — what Locatelli called examining food from "360 degrees." With 12-13 hour shoot days and cameras rolling continuously, Dent said hours of pressure reveal contestants' real personalities rather than their polished opening impressions, and some celebrities even sing, dance and dress up in the studio.
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