Here’s the line up of contestants for the second series of Cooking With The Stars on ITV in 2022.
Cooking With The Stars in partnership with Marks & Spencer is hosted by Emma Willis and Tom Allen.
The series sees famous faces partnered with famous chefs who will mentor, teach and take them from passionate amateur to restaurant level chefs.
In each episode, the celebs will compete in a series of cooking battles with the results judged blind by the professional chefs. Not knowing whose food they are tasting, they could find themselves voting their protege out of the competition.
Cooking With The Stars 2022 line up
The celebrities taking part in the new series and their professional chef partners are:
Anton Du Beke
Professional dancer and TV personality Anton Du Beke, partnered with British chef and TV presenter Rosemary Shrager.
Anton said: “I don’t cook at all. I’ve never cooked anything in my entire life. That is difficult for the judges to comprehend and understand really. When I said to producers I don’t cook they said ‘that’s fine but what’s your signature dish’ and I said ‘I don’t cook so I don’t have one’. I don’t cook so the first time I cooked anything was the first morning of training with Rosemary. It was the first time I’d been in a kitchen and cooked something with a pan on a stove.”
Kelly Holmes
Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes, partnered with renowned chef and business owner Ronnie Murray.
Kelly said: “During lockdown I got the chance to do more cooking because of course I was forced too. I love flavours and I like to see what’s in my cupboards and fridge and make something out of it. I really enjoy that to be honest. I’m not a chef and I’m not a cook at all but I was getting into it. So, I was being a bit more creative with things. I had cider vinegar and wine vinegar and I’ve never used those things before so I was just making things up which I actually really enjoyed.”
Josie Gibson
This Morning’s Josie Gibson, partnered with Scottish chef and restaurateur Tony Singh MBE.
Josie said: “I thought I was OK at cooking and then I was with a professional and I realised I’m not. I make a lot of things from packets, I just didn’t realise. I can knock up a roast dinner but ask me to knock up an Indian meal and I would not have a clue. I’ve been so busy I’ve lost my love of cooking and I’ve just forgot so I want to get that back. It’s very rare that I sit down with Reg (Josie’s son) and have a cooked meal as we go out a lot because it’s only me and him.”
Anne Hegerty
Chaser Anne Hegerty, partnered with Michelin Starred French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Anne said: “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. I did an interview recently with Kelly Holmes and her answer to that question was ‘I believe in pushing myself, challenging myself and expanding the boundaries of what I can do’ and my answer was ‘my agent made me do it’.”
Maura Higgins
Love Island’s Maura Higgins, partnered with chef director Jack Stein.
Maura 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.”
Dr Ranj Singh
TV expert Dr Ranj Singh, partnered with author and regular chef on This Morning Clodagh McKenna.
Dr Ranj said: “I love food, I absolutely love food and I love going out to eat. I love trying different things and I’m quite adventurous when it comes to food. I am not fussy or anything like that. I eat pretty much anything and I love doing different things and trying different flavours, but I have never really done the other side of it. So, if you gave me a recipe or a set of instructions, I am pretty good, I just never have the time. I live by myself so there isn’t really anyone to cook for. It takes some joy out of it and because I am so busy, food has to be a convenient thing. Grab and go, I always say food is functional. But I wanted to learn the art of cooking and enjoy the making side of it. To have the opportunity to be trained by an expert, of course I would take that!”
Joe Wilkinson
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, partnered with Korean chef and restaurateur Judy Joo.
Joe 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
DJ Woody Cook, partnered with restaurateur and TV personality Mike Reid.
Woody 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?”
Hosted by Emma Willis and Tom Allen, Cooking With The Stars airs Tuesdays at 8PM on ITV. The final episode airs 12 July.
Emma Willis said: “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 last series!””
Tom Allen added: “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.”
