麻豆社

It鈥檚 semi-finals time, and the eight remaining cooks are ready to battle it out for a chance at victory. As Anna and Grace ramp things up with their biggest challenges yet, each of the contestants will be aiming to keep their track records in check and stay on course for MasterChef stardom. Sadly, it will mark the end of the road for one, leaving just seven still in the race.

First up, it鈥檚 off to the National Rail Museum in York, where they are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway. There, a banquet is being held for 100 railway staff, volunteers and enthusiasts. Anna and Grace have arranged for the event to be catered for by the eight semi-finalists, but fine dining on this scale for 100 guests is beyond anything they will have faced before. Success will come down to detailed planning and some serious graft.

To add extra pressure, the celebratory menu has been designed by Anna, who will also be running service, and the amateurs will work in teams to deliver an exceptional starter, main course and dessert for the banquet. It goes without saying that each of Anna鈥檚 dishes is packed with demanding technique and elements that require the utmost care. Anna won鈥檛 be pleased if any of the expensive produce, including venison loins and cod fillets, goes to waste. Much like the railway network, everything must run like clockwork and be on time.

Every move the semi-finalists make will be scrutinised by the judges. At the end of the challenge, Anna and Grace will decide which team was the strongest, and they will head straight through to the next round, leaving the other two teams with one final chance to impress.

Back at MasterChef HQ, they will battle as individuals to keep their place in the competition. Anna and Grace鈥檚 brief is an Invention Test - they will be asking the semi-finalists to cook one dish that celebrates one of the three main ingredients used at the railway banquet: cod, venison and rhubarb. However, they cannot work with the ingredient they worked with previously. They will have just 90 minutes to deliver a flawless dish that wows the judges. Can the amateurs think on their feet and deliver a dish packed with enough skill and flavour to stand out from the pack?

Anna and Grace will then have a tough decision on their hands, as one of the cooks will be heading home while the rest move forward in the race to become this year鈥檚 MasterChef champion.