ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

It's the end of an extraordinary week of semi-finals as the five contenders left in the competition go all out to stay put. This is the sharp end of the competition, and with such an enormous amount of skill and flair on show, the smallest mistakes can send the hopefuls home.

Making the leap to the final stages won’t be easy, as the next brief pushes the amateurs to their culinary limit, cooking one dish that celebrates an ingredient they can’t stand.

How can they create a coherent plate of food which has texture and flavour when the last thing they want to do is taste it? Will they understand how to use an ingredient that perhaps they have never cooked with before?

Their choices include offal, bananas and liquorice, which could lend themselves to some great plates of food. Whatever they do to these ingredients, they will need to pull something out of the bag, as only four amateurs can go through to finals week.

In one of the toughest challenges yet, one unfortunate competitor will be left kicking themselves if they miss what is surely the opportunity of a lifetime.

Next stop is finals week, where one contender’s dream of becoming MasterChef champion will become a reality – assuming they can outcook the competition!