Gregg Wallace’s booming voice tells us “cooking doesn’t get tougher than this” in the opening credits of BBC’s Masterchef, but two Irish ladies are proving they are worth their salt in the kitchen. Shauna Kelly, originally from Sligo and London-based Dubliner Alison O’Reilly have both managed to wow John Torode and Gregg, securing their places in the final dozen of the highly popular competitive cookery competition.
Having endured a rigorous multi-stage entry procedure, both cooks managed to navigate their way through an intense heats stage to earn their top 12 places. 25,000 entrants vied for their place at audition stage, out of which 400 were selected, with just 64 qualifying for the televised stages.
The intense heats stage saw the contestants tasked with a Market Challenge, which Shauna sailed through by creating a decadent dessert of chocolate orange marquise. Alison’s poussin dish similarly caught Torode and Wallace’s attention, and both went on to impress a judging panel of previous Masterchef winners Shelina Permaloo, Daksha Mistry and Juanita Hennessey, as well as The Guardian’s food critic Jay Rayner.
Both Alison and Shauna are tipped for success on the show based on their impressive performances thus far and will battle it out tonight and tomorrow night in the next stage of the competition, which sees the final twelve split into red and blue teams. The next episode will air at 8pm tonight with the first team flexing their culinary skills, followed by Thursday night’s challenge for the second team.
Success at this stage would see the ladies advance to Friday’s episode and one step closer to the title which has opened many doors in the food world for previous champions such as restaurateur Thomasina Myers and cookbook author Ping Coombes.
Tune in tonight, Wednesday, and Thursday at 8pm on BBC One to see Alison and Shauna fly the Irish flag in the pressure cooker and hopefully make it through to Friday’s episode. For more information on BBC’s Masterchef click here.
