The celebrity line-up for series two of ITV’s Cooking With The Stars 2022 has been confirmed, and it looks set to be a starry affair indeed.
The competition show, hosted by and Tom Allen, sees eight famous faces battling it out in the kitchen to be crowned best cook.
Each celebrity will be partnered with famous foodies who will mentor, teach and take them from passionate amateur to restaurant-level chefs.
The celebrities taking part this year include ’s , who will be partnered with British chef and TV presenter Rosemary Shrager, and ’s Josie Gibson, who is teaming up with Scottish chef and restaurateur Tony Singh MBE.
Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes will receive her training from renowned chef and business owner Ronnie Murray, while ’s Anne Hegerty will be taking lessons from Michelin Starred French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
’s Maura Higgins will be mentored by chef director Jack Stein; TV expert Dr Ranj Singh will be partnered with author and regular chef on This Morning Clodagh McKenna, and comedian Joe Wilkinson will be with Korean chef and restaurateur Judy Joo.
Influencer and star of The Circle Woody Cook, son of BBC presenter Zoe Ball and Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, will be partnered with restaurateur and TV personality Mike Reid.
Speaking about this year’s new recruits and forthcoming series, presenter Emma said: ‘Tom and I had so much fun last series and I’m looking forward to getting back into the kitchen.
‘The pressure the celebs are under is real and once the competition starts heating up everybody wants to win, but I’m hoping there isn’t as much blood as last series!’
Tom added: ‘The celebrities are being trained by some of the best chefs in the business and with the clock ticking it’s always tense to see if they’ll improve their cooking enough each week to measure up to the judges’ high standards.’
The celebrities will take part in cooking battles as they use their mentoring to produce delicious dishes that will be judged by the remaining professionals.
The bottom two will then have to fight for their place in the competition, creating a dish without any help from their mentor.
This is followed by a blind tasting judgement from the professional chefs, unaware of whose food they are tasting, as they choose who to eliminate from the competition.
Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning at ITV, said: ‘With the warmth of Emma and the wit of Tom I’m excited to see what culinary delights this year’s cooking novices bring to the table.’
Last year’s series featured Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, DJ and I’m A Celebrity star Naughty Boy and TV presenter and Strictly star AJ Odudu. McFly star Harry Judd was crowned the winner.
The series is in partnership with Marks and Spencer.
