Celebrity judges revealed in Celebrity MasterChef 2026 trailer

Paddy McGuinness, Zoe Ball, and Morgan Burtwistle (AKA Angry Ginge) will join Celebrity MasterChef as this year’s Celebrity Guest Judges.

Celebrity MasterChef returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Tuesday 18 August for a five-week run and the BBC revealed a first-look trailer for its 21st series.

McGuinness, Ball and Burtwistle will each appear across one of the three contestant Heats, where they will ask the celebrities to take on a bespoke culinary brief which will either see the celebrity contestants advancing to the quarter final or, sadly, heading home.

This year’s series sees Michelin-starred, award-winning chef, author, and restaurateur Giorgio Locatelli joining award-winning journalist and food critic Grace Dent as this series’ judging pair.

Across the course of five thrilling weeks, the judges will be putting their taste buds through a sensory assault course as they discover which celebrities have the palate and skill to chop, slice and sizzle their way to lifting the iconic Celebrity MasterChef trophy.

The celebrities set to battle it out for victory this series are: Actor and comedian, Donna Preston; Weightlifter & Olympic Medallist, Emily Campbell; Gladiator (Dynamite) and singer, Emily Steel; Presenter and former Royal Ballet dancer, Eric Underwood; Broadcaster, Jason Mohammad; Musician, actor, and author, Jay McGuiness; Comedian, actor, and author, Joe Pasquale; Paralympic athlete, Lauren Steadman MBE; YouTuber and Comedian, Max Fosh; DJ and presenter, Melvin Odoom; Actor, Nitin Ganatra; TV Personality, Shakira Khan; Actor and presenter, Sue Cleaver; YouTuber and Comedian, Tom Simons (A.K.A TommyInnit); and singer, Una Healy.

• Meet the Week 1 Celebs
• Meet the Week 2 Celebs
• Meet the Week 3 Celebs

Celebrity MasterChef runs over five weeks. The first three weeks feature the three Heats, with five celebrities competing in each Heat. Throughout these rounds, the contestants are put through a series of culinary challenges, with the top four from each Heat progressing to the quarter final. The competition then moves into the Semi Finals in Week Four, before the strongest contenders advance to Finals Week, in with a chance to raise the iconic trophy.

Celebrity MasterChef is a Shine TV (part of Banijay UK) production, in association with Ziji Productions, for BBC One and iPlayer, commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning for the BBC. The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Sarah Clay and Charlotte Smith. The Executive Editor for Shine TV is Katy Fryer and the Series Producer, Ryan Daly.

• Watch Celebrity MasterChef on BBC iPlayer

alice.lemaistre@multitudemedia.co.uk

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