‘It's tense, funny and a bit GRUESOME!

Emma Willis on the surprise ingredients of TTV’s new culinary contest…

- ELAINE REILLY

COOKING WITH THE STARS NEW TUESDAY / ITV / 9 PM / EP 1 of 6 / COOKERY

As one of our most popular and in-demand presenters, Emma Willis knows her onions when it comes to what makes a hit entertainment show.

Now, the host of The Voice UK and The Voice Kids is hoping ITV’s brand-new culinary competition, Cooking with the Stars, will also prove a recipe for success!

Here, Emma, 45, who co-hosts the series with comedian Tom Allen, gives us a taste of what to expect from their star-spangled six-parter…

How does the show work?

We’ve got eight celebrities paired with eight chefs competing against each other [see our guide below]. Each week, there’s a different themed cuisine. They have an hour to cook restaurant-standard meals, and sometimes it isn’t just one plate, it’s four or five dishes.

At the end of each episode, the bottom two celebrities go into a cook-off against each other and one person leaves. The cook-off is judged blind by the chefs. So the mentors might unknowingly vote for their celeb to go home!

Do the celebs have any culinary skills at the start?

Pretty much all of them had very little cooking experience. Some could probably master toast and that was it – and that’s not a joke!

Some knew their way around the kitchen. Griff Rhys Jones, for example, has traveled the world and tried every cuisine under the sun, but hasn’t cooked for a long time.