Celebrity MasterChef’s second heat of the series aired on Friday night, with Olympic hockey player Sam Quek, 31, and former EastEnders star Phil Daniels, 61, fighting for a place in the semi-final. They were also up against consumer affairs presenter Dominic Littlewood, 55, and Kingdom Choir conductor, Karen Gibson. It was up to judges John Torode, 54, and Gregg Wallace, 55, to decide who to send through after all four remaining contestants cooked for three former finalists of the BBC cookery show. However, regardless of the result by the end of the episode, fans already knew who their winner of the season was.
Tasked with creating two dishes, Sam opted to serve Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, 38, Rylan Clark-Neal, 31, and former soap actress Sophie Thompson, 58, a starter and a main course.
Explaining what she was going to be serving up to the judges, the gold medal-winning olympian said the former finalists were going to be treated to a trio of oriental delights which included spring rolls, tempura and shumai dumplings.
To follow up, she added she was also going to plate up black peppered steak with boiled rice and pak choi.
It’s fair to say, both John and Gregg, as well as the guest critics, were in absolute awe of the sportswoman’s work.
However, it was the voice of the viewing public who have already decided Sam is their winner regardless of who else is yet to cook in the kitchen.
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Taking to Twitter, one viewer posted: “Think Sam could be the series winner. She can actually cook #CelebrityMasterchef.”
Another added in support of the Olympian: “Really hope Sam wins! Her food looks phenomenal! #CelebrityMasterchef.”
“Team Sam Quek for the win! #MasterChefUK #CelebrityMasterChef @SamanthaQuek,” a third remarked, whilst a fourth wrote: “Sam’s knocked it out of the park #CelebrityMasterchef.”
A fifth opined: “@SamanthaQuek Can you come and cook my dinner please? That looked amazing. #CelebrityMasterchef #MasterChefUK.”
So, could the sportswoman be in real contention to take the crown from reigning 33-year-old champion and Olympian Greg Rutherford?
With two heats now completed, it looks like there could be more than one contender for the crown as another five celebrities enter the kitchen next week.
Among them are actress Felicity Montagu, 59, presenter Jeff Brazier, 41, and pop artists Lady Leshurr, 31.
This trio will also be joined by The One Show guest host Gethin Jones, 42, and presenter Amar Latif, 45.
They will also attempt to make it through to the next round, but will any of them be able to wow the viewers at home as Sam has done?
Speaking of how the celebrity edition of the cookery show is different from the amateur format, John told the Bournemouth Echo: “There’s something very different.
“The amateur one is very intense; there’s a lot of responsibility, lots of great food and it’s very interesting.
“And then you go to the celeb [one] and really you have no idea what you’re going to encounter. It’s like jumping into a river and hoping that it’s not moving too fast, that there’s not too much mud at the bottom of it.”
Gregg added: “I look forward to the celeb version because I expect it to be more relaxed, more fun, at times.”
Celebrity MasterChef continues Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.