Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon has shared why she took some time away from the cobbles to challenge herself in a new show. The actress, who plays Maria Windass in the ITV soap, revealed back in April that she is one of the celebrities taking part in the next series of Cooking With The Stars.
The ITV show will see Emma Willis and Tom Allen return as hosts, presiding over all the action as eight celebrities are paired with professional chefs who will mentor them in a bid to transform them from amateur to expert in a matter of weeks.
The eight celebrities taking part in the new series alongside Samia are BAFTA award-winning actor Jason Watkins, boxing legend Chris Eubank, actress Joanna Page, singer and television personality Peter Andre, Busted’s Matt Willis, Steps’ Claire Richards and Love Island star Indiyah Polack.
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Throughout the series the celebrities will be guided by their Chef Mentor as they attempt to create the winning dish in a series of intense Cooking Battles. The loser of each Battle will then have to fight for their place in the competition in the Cook Off – as they're tasked with creating a dish they’ve never seen before.
Judged blind by all the chefs, there is the possibility that the losing celebrity could be sent home by their own Chef Mentor.
The professional chefs taking part in the challenge this year are British chef and TV presenter Rosemary Shrager (partnered with Peter Andre), chef director Jack Stein (partnered with Chris Eubank), Michelin Starred French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli (partnered with Samia Longchambon), and Scottish chef and restaurateur Tony Singh MBE (partnered with Claire Richards).
Completing the line-up are Michelin Starred executive chef Michael Caines MBE (partnered with Joanna Page), restauranter and cookery author Shelina Permalloo (partnered with Matt Willis), chef & restauranteur April Jackson (partnered with Jason Watkins) and award-winning chef Ellis Barrie (partnered with Indiyah Polack).
Revealing her latest gig on Instagram at the time, Samia posted a selfie of herself with her chef mentor, Jean-Christophe Novelli, and said: "Thrilled to finally announce the new challenge that I’m taking on… @itv Cooking with the stars!" She went on to share: "Thank you to you, wonderful @jeanchristophe_novelli .. I feel so honoured to have you teaching me how to cook properly. I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.. I’m loving every delicious second!"
She has since shared little snippets of her skills with her fans but in her first interview about taking part in the competition, Samia has told why she agreed to take part. "I’ve wanted to do this show for a long time because I love cooking," the 40-year-old said.
"I’m a family cook - I cook for my kids and my husband and apart from in the summer when you have barbecues, I don’t really cook for a lot of people and I tend to do the same things for the family. I wanted to broaden my repertoire."
Speaking of her husband, professional skater and Dancing on Ice star Sylvain Longchambon, Samia says cooking duties are pretty even between the pair at home. She said; "We both cook. I probably do a bit more but it just depends on whoever is at home. I plan the meals a bit more whereas Sylvain will just see what we’ve got in the cupboard and throw something together and it’ll be brilliant."
But while she's been loving the experience, Samia did admit to making a 'stupid mistake' as she suffered a kitchen 'disaster'. The soap star revealed: "There was a disaster in training actually when I burnt all my fingers and my thumb. It was a really stupid mistake.
"I was taking a pan out of the oven and Jean-Christophe had told me to put a tea towel over the pan handle which I did but I also forgot the lid had also been in the oven. With my other hand, I took the lid off and burnt all my fingers and thumb and had to get medical assistance but I’m fine now."
Cooking With The Stars returns Tuesday, July 4, at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
