MasterChef viewers stunned by salt and vinegar disaster round

What did you miss?

MasterChef's latest heat left viewers shocked by a series of kitchen disasters with salt and vinegar.

The BBC contest launched its 20th series this week with the standard of cooks getting higher each year, but fans thought the competition had hit an unexpected sour patch in heat two which featured two kitchen nightmares.

Contestants suffered mishaps with both salt and vinegar, but viewers were amazed that one of them made it through to the quarter finals.

What, how, and why?

MasterChef fans are used to marvelling at the incredible standards of cookery from its amateur contestants, so they were left stunned by two hard-to-stomach errors in heat two – particularly as one of them was chosen to progress to the quarter finals.

First up, contestant Peter had a difficult opening challenge when he burned the red cabbage that was supposed to be the main ingredient of his dish, but worse was to come in a fish task where he attempted to caramelise some carrots.

But as judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace tasted the dish, they pointed out that he seemed to have mistaken the salt for sugar, leaving his carrots inedible.

One viewer commented on X: "Mistaking salt for sugar. Rookie mistake," as someone else added: "Peter going down in a blaze of salty glory. And sugary tears.

"Taxi for Peter…" wrote another viewer, as one person commented: "At least Peter hasn't burnt the entire building to the ground. Yet."

Another viewer wrote: "I'm sure Peter's a decent cook, but he's had an utter nightmare under pressure."

Unsurprisingly, Peter was not put through to the next round to cook for three previous champions - but contestant Jerome's error shocked viewers even further.

As part of his dessert, Jerome chose to top the dish with pickled cherries, which left the judges wincing at the sharp taste.

Season 12 winner Jane Devonshire said: "That pickle – tastes like malt vinegar!"

The judges agreed, as Wallace said: "I'll tell you what I don't want ever, ever again, is cherries and malt vinegar," and Torode agreed: "I like sour cherries, but that's ridiculous."

Despite the controversial cherries, Jerome was chosen to go through to the quarter finals as one shocked viewer commented: "How the bloody hell did old Vinegar Cherries get through?"

Someone else, commenting on the contestant sent home, wrote: "Whaaaat? #Torode & #Gregg prefer vinegar cherries to exploding dumplings?"

What else has been happening with MasterChef?

On Tuesday, Torode and Wallace paid a visit to The One Show where they were asked what their top MasterChef moment had been from the past 20 seasons.

Wallace shared: "The year Dhruv Baker won it (2010) and we were cooking for a maharajah in Jaipur, in the maharajah's palace. I stood there and thought, where are we, what are we doing, this is an extraordinary moment."

Torode added: "It was so intense, the maharajah's kitchen staff had their own chefs on standby in case the food wasn't good enough, but thankfully the maharajah asked for seconds."

MasterChef next airs on BBC One at 7.30pm on Friday.

Read more: MasterChef

• The process of landing a spot on MasterChef is fascinatingly odd (Tasting Table, 3 min read)

• Young MasterChef is coming and we're already looking forward to all the memes (Delish, 2 min read)

• Gregg Wallace 'quit Inside the Factory' after 'offending female staff' on set (York Press, 2 min read)

Watch: Danny Dyer questions John Torode's cooking skills on This Morning