A HEREFORDSHIRE celebrity is among the new famous faces hoping to win the Celebrity MasterChef trophy.
Coronation Street actress Melissa Johns, who got her first taste of acting in the Panto of the Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society at the age of eight, will be attending the with Happy Mondays star Bez, Strictly Come Dancing professional Johannes Radebe and actress Su Pollard upcoming series of participating Celebrity MasterChef has been announced.
The actress, who is also the co-founder of Triple C, a collective of disabled and non-disabled creatives, wrote on social media focusing on changing access to art for all people with disabilities and better representation of artists / performers work towards disabilities in the industry – said she makes a “BANGING CRISPY sandwich”.
There are TV star Joe Swash, the blue singer Duncan James, the British Got Talent finalist and comedian Nabil Abdulrashid and the judge The Great British Sewing Bee, Patrick Grant.
The Celebrities will air over six weeks and will also face a new series of Cooking Challenges, with acclaimed chefs such as Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona, Nieves Barragan Mohacho and others performing as special guest judges.
This year’s 20 celebrities, again including MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace, also include comedian Munya Chawawa, Melanie Sykes, former EastEnders actress Rita Simons, singer and reality TV star Megan McKenna and Penny Lancaster.
Will Kirk from the repair shop is among the participants, as are television star Katie Price, former English soccer player Dion Dublin and journalist and author Gavin Esler.
Hoping to impress with their culinary skills, Paralympics champion Kadeena Cox, Love Island star Kem Cetinay and actress Michelle Collins will also impress.
Show Editor Katie Attwood said, “There’s a lot of humor and entertainment in this year’s line-up. Lockdown has proven productive to the culinary skills of our famous faces, and we’ll see some extraordinary talent and amazing dishes as the celebrities swap their day jobs for a spot in the MasterChef’s kitchen. ”
Sarah Clay, BBC Editor, said: “Celebrity MasterChef is one of the highlights of the UK summer schedule and this series is more entertaining and charming than ever.
“The 20 brave celebrities are joined by a multitude of chefs on brand new tasks that will make this year something very special. The standard of cooking is nothing like anything we’ve seen before. ”
Celebrity MasterChef’s 2020 series was won by Irish-Iraqi broadcaster and YouTube star Riyadh Khalaf.
Celebrity MasterChef, produced by Shine TV, will be returning to BBC One this summer.