EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt will swap Albert Square for the kitchen as he competes against the likes of Vicky Pattison, Dame Zandra Rhodes and Oti Mabuse in this year’s Celebrity MasterChef.
The actor, who plays Ian Beale in the soap, reality TV star Pattison, fashion designer Dame Zandra and Strictly Come Dancing professional Mabuse have been confirmed for the popular cooking competition show, along with Olympic gold medal-winning athlete Greg Rutherford, American Motown star Martha Reeves and retired footballer Neil “Razor” Ruddock.
MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace will also put former boxing promoter Kellie Maloney, Love Island star Dr Alex George, former The Only Way Is Essex favourite Joey Essex and The Chase quizzer Jenny Ryan in the new series.
The line-up also includes Gogglebox star Dom Parker, comic Josie Long, French actress Elizabeth Bourgine, and radio presenter and actor Mim Shaikh.
DJ and lawyer Judge Jules, BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker, Radio 1’s Rickie Haywood-Williams, heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte, and runner and former Marine Andy Grant complete the line-up.
The 20 celebrities will take part in a number of challenges across the six-week series, including invention tests, a pairs task in which two stars must join forces to cook an identical dish without seeing each other, and cooking for paying customers in a restaurant.
Other tasks will see them whip up dishes for past champions, as well as restaurant critics, while simultaneously impressing Torode and Wallace.
One of the challenges will see the star cooks face the hungry hordes of diners at venues such as ZSL London Zoo, the Ford Factory in Dagenham, and the Hendon Metropolitan Police Training Centre.
They will be competing to win the title of Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2019, following in the footsteps of previous winners Ade Edmondson, Lisa Faulkner, Angellica Bell, Kimberly Wyatt and Sophie Thompson, among others.
BBC Commissioning Editor Carla-Maria Lawson said: “This Celebrity MasterChef has all of the right ingredients for a series full of entertainment, pressure and fun.
“Once again we have a brilliant variety of different characters and there will be some surprises along the way as they are put through their paces and pushed to their limits.”
The series will air later this year.