Get ready to see sparks flying in the kitchen this summer, because RTE's serving up its first ever Celebrity MasterChef.
Gone are the days when we sent our 'slebs to The Restaurant to try and earn a few gold stars. Now we're pitting them against each other in a battle for culinary glory. The first batch of willing sacrificial lambs includes a few familiar faces, and one or two you might never have expected to see...
First up is Gary Cooke, best known for his Apres Match antics. He's joined by writer and broadcaster Maia Dunphy (who spends much of her time chatting to Tubs on the wireless), athlete David Gillick, Mr Universe turned Lottery presenter Kamal Ibrahim, former model and columnist Yvonne Keating, RTE sports presenter Tracy Piggott, and Irish Times Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope, aka yer man Daithi and Maura called from the set of Today to chat about being stuck on a train.
That's a fine bunch if we do say so ourselves, but contestant number 8 is the icing on the cake: Sure isn't it only RTE newscaster Aengus Mac Grianna? He's never one to shy away from making some highly entertaining telly.
We've got six weeks of action to look forward to from July onwards, and the celebrities will really have to pull out all the stops if they want to be in with a chance to win: Dylan and Nick aren't that easily pleased, but they are quite excited about working their first 'sleb hopefuls.
"I am very excited about the first Celebrity MasterChef series. We have such a broad selection of celebrities who are professionals in their own right using their love of food and their competitive passion to win, which I think will make for a great competition. I am really interested to see who breaks away from the pack and takes the first ever title of Celebrity MasterChef", McGrath said.
"I’m over the moon that we are coming back for a third series of MasterChef and putting our eight celebrities through their paces. I'm hoping to see passion, skill, common sense and a good humoured chef. We have a group of celebrities that we think have what it takes to come out of their comfort zone and rise to the challenge to take the title of Celebrity MasterChef", Munier added.
Sure won't we get a good laugh out of it either way, eh? More of this now please. Did you know our Aengus lives with his partner on an alpaca farm? You learn something new every day...
