Cooking with the Stars 2024 line-up in full
The celebrity cooking competition returns to ITV…
Sure, they’re famous but are they any good in the kitchen? It’s a question that Cooking with the Stars has been itching to answer ever since its ITV debut in 2021 and they’ll soon be asking it again in a brand new series.
This celebrity cook-off invites well-known faces to put their culinary prowess to the test via a series of cooking battles where the best chef will emerge victorious. Thankfully, they don’t have to face this daunting task alone, with each celebrity paired with a mentor chef whose job it is to transform them from clumsy amateur to kitchen pro in just a handful of weeks.
However, while these mentors are on their celeb’s side during the cooking, they act as judges during the moment of truth, with each expert deciding who will go and who will stay — including the possibility of them sending their own protege packing.
The lucky winner will not only emerge victorious, they’ll also bag the coveted golden frying pan — but we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Continue reading for all the key details you’ll need about Cooking with the Stars’ 2024 return, including its release date, hosts and line-up.
When does Cooking with the Stars 2024 start?
Cooking with the Stars 2024 will start at 8pm on Tuesday, 30 July. The show will be dished up on ITV1 and the channel’s free streamer ITVX.
Who is in the Cooking With The Stars 2024 line-up?
The full line-up for Cooking with the Stars 2024 was unveiled in April, with eight celebrities swapping their day jobs for the heat of the kitchen. Each will be paired with a professional chef who will act as their mentor, guiding them through the competition — and hopefully to victory.
So who will be giving it a go?
Carol Vorderman
Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman will be among the celebs showing off their culinary skills in the contest. She has said she signed up because she’s fallen out of love with cooking and is hoping to reignite her passion for it.
However, viewers could be in for some drama, as Vorderman has admitted that she’s had more than her share of kitchen “disasters” and that she’s no stranger to a burned dish.
“I am very good at burning things,” she confessed. “In fact, world champion level at burning things and that’s because my brain is really hippity hoppity so when I have to stand over something and stir it, my brain gets bored and I go off and do something and then 15 minutes later, I think what is that smell? I come back and hope it’s not ruined!”
She went on: “When my son Cameron was about eight, we moved to Bristol and we rented a tiny little flat for about a year or so which I loved and we all loved. There was a tiny kitchen and I can remember him saying to me, ‘Mum, how do I switch this on?’ and I said, ‘What on darling?’ and he said, ‘That thing that you burn my pizza in!’”
Christopher Biggins
Stage actor and TV personality Christopher Biggins should be fine with anything to do with pasta, as it's his specialty.
However, there are certainly some things off the menu, with the star saying mussels are his “food hell”. “I am not that keen on them,” he said. “I can’t have oysters as I have been ill twice with oyster poisoning and it is horrible. You feel like dying, you really do. So I suppose anything to do with shellfish. I love prawns, but shellfish like oysters and mussels and things like that are not for me.”
Biggins wished he could have had the opportunity to cook for the late Queen as he was a big fan.
He said: “I met her many times at different functions and she had a wonderful sense of humour, and I think I would have cooked her something very simple, maybe a nice piece of dover sole and some nice green vegetables to go with it.”
Ellie Simmonds
Paralympian Ellie Simmonds has one big reason for signing up — competition.
The star said she hopes to get more cooking experience from taking part in the show but also just loves putting herself to the test against others. “I love competing, I love competition,” she said.
Swimmer Simmonds is also interested in food, explaining: “When I was an athlete, I really thought about food and what was the best food to put into my body. My body is an engine and it needs to be fuelled with the right foods.
“When I was younger and an athlete, I was definitely aware of getting the best food into my body, whether it’s a balanced diet, fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates or protein. That was my inspiration, the knowledge and the understanding of what foods worked best for me. My inspiration now is the joy that food gives you.”
Abbey Clancy
Model and TV star Abbey Clancy claims to be a “rubbish” cook but despite that, said she's the one who cooks in her family. The former Britain’s Next Top Model contestant is married to football star Peter Crouch and they have four children together.
“No one else in the family cooks apart from me,” she said. “Pete’s never made me a meal in 20 years. I think the most I’ve ever had out of him is a piece of toast. I think he might have made some pasta with chorizo, but that’s it. My daughter Sophia likes cooking, she makes herself those smoothie bowls every morning.”
“My signature dish at home would probably be a fish pie,” she added.
Linford Christie
Olympic sprinter Linford Christie has admitted he’s always “bragging” about his culinary skills but that the TV show has been a bit of a “wake up call” for him.
“With some of the foods we are cooking it’s just not food I cook at home, so it’s a real eye opener,” he explained. “Also at home when I cook, I don’t measure and I have all my seasoning and I know where to go to get things and what goes in where.”
Discussing his own diet during his athlete days, he said: “For me I never had a diet as such, I just didn’t eat red meat. I ate what I liked which was still healthy.
“When the nutritionist started to tell me what to eat, I realised it was how I ate anyway. I think if you try to cut things out your body craves it. Everything in moderation is good.”
Katherine Ryan
Comedian Katherine Ryan said so far she’s been a nightmare in the kitchen. “I just can’t cut, I’m really scared,” she said. “I’ve had quite a few cuts, so I got some slice proof gloves and I even cut through one of those. Now I’m one glove down, so I’ll have to put the other glove on my left hand.
“I also spilled some flour and oil all over the floor... I also over-boiled my sauté potatoes so they turned into mash, they were ruined. Everything I’ve done has been a disaster.”
Ryan said she’s hoping to become a better cook through the series. “I also wanted to be part of something that I would watch,” she said.
“When I’m watching television, I really want to get to know somebody’s personality. I want to know who they are when they are caught off guard and not focusing on being a character. I think this show really gets to the heart of who someone is. I think I’ll know Carol better just by seeing when her hands and mind are distracted, and she is her funny true self.”
Pasha Kovalev
Former Strictly star Pasha Kovalev, who is married to Countdown’s Rachel Riley, said there is a “lot of pressure” on the series.
“They are very different, but at least on Strictly the pressure ends after a minute and a half!” he joked. “Either way on this show, the pressure lasts for an hour at least and so many things can go wrong or if you are lucky they can go right!
“I have noticed that in other people and myself, when you still have an hour at the beginning, you keep your cool and then half way through or when you only have 15 minutes to go, you suddenly realise I have a,b,c left to do and some things still aren’t ready. And then you still need to plate the food! And as they say, if things aren’t on the plate no one is even going to look at it, so it needs to be on the plate and ready to be served. That is a lot of pressure!”
Harry Pinero
YouTube personality Harry Pinero said he signed up because he actually wants to learn to cook, something he hasn’t done much of.
“My whole life I have basically been getting cooked for like a King or a Prince, however you want to put it but I definitely wanted to learn some skills,” he said.
“So it wasn’t about winning the competition, it was about learning skills and techniques and what it actually takes to cook. I am getting taught by a Michelin star chef and that’s not something everyone has the opportunity to do, so I feel like I have won just based off that.”
Pinero has a son and said he wants to be able to cook fun food for him.
Who is hosting Cooking with the Stars 2024?
Cooking with the Stars series 4 will once again be presented by Emma Willis and Tom Allen. The pair have hosted the show since it began in 2021.
Willis has previously served as host for Celebrity Big Brother during its stint on Channel 5 and can soon be seen as the host of Netflix’s new dating show Love is Blind: UK with her husband, Busted bassist Matt Willis.
Allen is a comedian who has hosted a range of different shows including The Apprentice: You’re Fired! and The Great Christmas Bake Off alongside fellow comic and actor Matt Lucas.
Cooking with the Stars 2024 starts on 30 July at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX