The popular ITV cooking show Cooking With the Stars is set to return to screens tonight (June 7). Eight celebrities including Bristol's Josie Gibson are set to compete against each other as they work with their professional chef mentors to win the show.
For the next six weeks, the show which is co-presented by Emma Willis and Tom Allen will be broadcast on a Tuesday evening at 8pm on ITV One and the ITV Hub. The celebrities will go through a series of battles against each other in a bid to reach the final.
Looking ahead to the series, 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 in the last series."
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Tom added: "Last series was so exciting. Emma Willis and I have been polishing our frying pans in preparation – we have so much fun working together. 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."
Here are the stars who will be putting their culinary skills to the test on the show:
Josie Gibson
This Morning co-host and Bristol girl Josie Gibson is diving into Cooking With the Stars this year to "fall back in love" with cooking. To help her to do that she will be mentored by Tony Singh on the show.
Josie has said: "I wanted to fall back in love with cooking again and I want to be able to invite all my friends over and cook a badass meal. I want to broaden my horizons and I want to pick up lots of skills from the chefs.
"I was going to put myself on a cooking course anyway and now I’m being mentored by one of the best chefs in the country Tony Singh MBE. I want to learn how to cook Indian food so I couldn’t have been paired with anybody better and I like spicy food."
Anton Du Beke
Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton is swapping his dance shoes for a frying pan in the new series of Cooking With The Stars. Rosemary Shrager will be the star's mentor for the show and the pair will be looking to waltz away as champions.
Although Anton has confessed that he has never cooked in his life and he has done the show to learn how to cook. He has said: "I thought I’d like to learn to cook but I’ve never been bothered about cooking.
"I’ve never been that interested in cooking as I couldn’t cook. I couldn’t be bothered to learn and I had no interest in going through the process of learning really.
"I ate out my entire life so I didn’t need to cook or have any desire to cook. Then suddenly you get older and I have a family now. My wife does all the cooking but it’s something I felt I’d like to do."
Anne Hegerty
The Chase star and former I'm A Celebrity campmate Anne is stepping into the kitchen this series. She will be mentored by Jean-Christophe Novelli who is a French celebrity chef.
Anne has confessed that she did say no to the show at first before her agent managed to convince her to do the show. She said: "Nothing made me say that (yes), I said no. I said 'you are kidding?'.
"I have an agent who is very good at working out what sort of things I should do and what sort of things the public would like to see me in. He is very bad at taking no for an answer so, basically, I got leaned on to do it."
Dr Ranj Singh
Famous TV doctor Ranj is set to appear on the show and has confessed his love for all things food. He will be mentored by fellow ITV star and chef Clodagh McKenna for the series.
Ahead of the show, Dr Ranj has said: "I wanted to learn how to cook, that’s all I wanted to do and the opportunity to be mentored by Clodagh was amazing. I absolutely love it. I want to basically get my family over to mine and round my dinner table and cook them a meal.
"I’ve never done that before. I would love to get them all round and wow them.
"All my family cooks and I am probably the one that cooks the least out of all of us but then I like to think it’s because I am the busiest out of all of us. I have got this really lovely big dinner table and I got it thinking one day I will be able to have everyone around and now, I can."
Dame Kelly Holmes
Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes will be hoping to walk away from the show in top spot just like her Olympic races. Chef Ronnie Murray will be mentoring Dame Kelly along the way and hoping to bag the win.
Kelly has said she is doing the show to learn new things about cooking. She has said: "I wanted to learn some cooking skills and do something completely different to what I do which is motivational speaking and fitness.
"So, to do a show like this and learn from a professional chef I thought would be a nice thing to do."
Maura Higgins
Love Island icon Maura has confessed her love for cooking ahead of the show's launch. Throughout the series, Maura will be working with famous chef Jack Stein as she looks to become the first female winner of the show.
Maura has said: "I really enjoy cooking and I think it’s good to do a show where you’re going to take something away from it. I’ve always kind of cooked at home but never cooked anything like sauces or anything like that from scratch, so I thought it would be nice to learn."
Joe Wilkinson
Comedian and actor star Joe Wilkinson is stepping into the Cooking With the Stars kitchen in a bid to learn some new things from the chefs. Helping him learn new things is his mentor Judy Joo.
Joe has said: "I did like the idea of learning from the chefs. It's been really lovely learning all the techniques and stuff and it does change how you cook as there is certain stuff you have to do all the time. Hopefully I’ll remember it."
Woody Cook
The son of radio presenter Zoe Ball and music legend Fatboy Slim, DJ Woody Cook is heading on the ITV show to learn how to cook he has confessed. Hoping to help him learn to cook is Woody's mentor Mike Reid.
Woody has said: "I couldn’t cook so that’s why I wanted to do it. I like pushing myself out of my boundaries and comfort zones.
"I think cooking is an important skill that I need to learn. When else will I get an opportunity to learn how to cook, have a great time doing it, challenge myself, push my boundaries and maybe prove my surname, can Woody Cook?"
Cooking With The Stars launches tonight at 8pm on ITV One and the ITV Hub.
