THE HEAT is on!

JOHN TORODE and GREGG WALLACE on the terrifying new challenges awaiting the hopefuls – just don’t mention potatoes!

MASTERCHEF

 WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY, TIMES VARY, BBC1 COOKERY

The MasterChef team are turning up the pressure as the new series of the popular BBC1 culinary competition will feature the show’s scariest challenge to date: cooking with fiery-tempered chef Gordon Ramsay!

‘The contestants see it as 10% treat and 90% abject terror,’ grins Gregg Wallace, who returns alongside fellow judge John Torode as the 18th season begins this week.

With Gordon on board, a brand-new Audition Round, a lunch for war veterans and a trip to Ireland, there will be plenty to test the 45 amateur cooks to the limit as they spend the next seven weeks battling it out to become the next MasterChef champion.

Here, TV Times grills John, 56, and Gregg, 57, about what to expect in the famous kitchen…

Welcome back, boys! We hear you’re mixing things up with a new challenge…

JOHN Yes, it’s called the Audition Round, where, for five weeks, nine home cooks arrive with their ingredients and cook us their Signature Dish.

The twist is, we don’t watch them cook – we’re served each dish in the new Tasting Room.

It means they can concentrate without us getting involved and making them nervous.

GREGG I don’t like change, so I wasn’t sure at first, but I love it.

Before, we’d watch the contestants work, chat to them and start to form an opinion – but the most important thing is what’s on the plate. This way we get the pure, unadulterated dish.

Did it help the contestants overcome first-day nerves?

JOHN Well, as you’ll see in the first episode, the quality of food is pretty extraordinary.