Celebrity Masterchef: Is Janet Street-Porter the new Ferran Adrià?

Celebrity Masterchef - one of the most easy watching and addictive programmes on television - is back! It all got underway on Wednesday night (July 31, 2013) with a spurious group of famous chefs including comedian Katy Brand, former Sugababe Heidi Range and Jo Wood. Yes, that Jo Wood. The ex-wife of Ronnie Wood.

However, it was the ballsy journalist Janet Street-Porter who emerged as a potential winner, "She knows how to bone a duck," mused the pensive John Torode as the former newspaper editor went to work on a bird.

Former greengrocer and Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace is known for his blunt dismals of contestant's food - despite seemingly having no credentials to judge good food, other than selling bags of onions in Covent Garden - though even he looked terrified as Street-Porter gave him as much back.

The first challenge was the famous 'mystery box' of ingredients whereby contestants are tasked with dreaming up and cooking a dish with the ingredients at their disposal. A spider crab was the key element here, which Brand managed to turn into a pretty impressive looking ravioli. 

Jo Wood's crabcakes got the thumbs up, though it was Street-Porter who excelled. "I eat roadkill," she explained, pointing out that a mystery box of decent ingredients was childsplay, "If I see a pheasant or a rabbit that's been hit by a car, I'll pick it up, pluck or skin it, and eat it."

Next up was the tricky palate test, where the would-be chefs are asked to taste a dish, note down its ingredients and recreate it. Torode cooked a duck soup with dumplings, though Sugababes singer Range mistook it for pork. 

Finally, the whole gang headed to the Royal Albert Hall to help prepare a lunch for 100 members of the Cirque de Soleil. Brand and Street-Porter performed strongly, though Wood and Range struggled.

So there you have it. Celebrity Masterchef is back. Rejoice. 

The contestants in round one of Celebrity Masterchef 2013

Heidi Range Struggled on Celebrity Masterchef

The Judges Loved Katy Brand's Ravioli

The Ridiculous Gregg Wallace