The latest episode of Celebrity MasterChef 2021 (20 August) saw the remaining three contestants, Megan McKenna, Melanie Sykes and Penny Lancaster compete to win their place in the semi-finals.
This week, the celebrities had to prepare a two-course meal for previous Celebrity Masterchef winners, including rugby legend Phil Vickery, TV presenter Andi Peters and Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood. They also had just an hour and 15 minutes, which proved to be difficult for one contestant in particular — Penny Lancaster.
Penny has highly impressed the judges so far this week with her restaurant-quality food and quickly became a fan favourite with her lovely and friendly personality.
For the challenge, Penny decided to make a starter that she and her husband, Rod Stewart, had in a restaurant in LA, which they’ve both loved ever since. The starter consisted of braised endive with orange and walnuts, polished off with feta cheese and orange segments. However, even with the professional presentation, the celebrity judges were left disappointed with how bitter it tasted.
The next course was inspired by one of her favourite restaurants in Palm Beach, Florida, which she reinvented slightly. This dish was a butternut squash ravioli with poached prawns and truffle in a white wine cream and lemon sauce.
Penny only had fifteen minutes to complete this dish, and with the hefty list of food she needed to prepare and cook, such as roll out the pasta, fill it, cook it, as well as peel and clean the prawns, she began to feel very stressed with the time pressure.
She ended up running fifteen minutes late, which left the guest judges and John Torode and Gregg Wallace rather concerned, but they enjoyed it even so.
After cooking her dish, Penny seemed disheartened as she said, “I’d be quite deflated if I went home because I’m just loving this.”
The tardiness of the dish, unfortunately, set her back at this point in the competition, as they decided to send her home.
Putting on a brave smile, a disappointed yet grateful Penny said, “Oh, well. It would’ve been incredible to get through to the semi-finals, but it wasn’t meant to be. Absolutely no regrets whatsoever. I’ve always loved to eat food, never loved to cook and now I love both.”
Fans on Twitter supported Penny with kind words and were left gutted at her departure...
Oh no ! Gutted for Penny Lancaster ! Damn that endive dish! She has been an absolute sweetheart thought this week #CelebrityMasterChefAugust 20, 2021
Just had a quick catch up on #CelebrityMasterChef gutted for Penny but well done to Melanie and MeganAugust 22, 2021
Glad @MsMelanieSykes got through but think Penny should have got through too.#CelebrityMasterChefAugust 20, 2021
Gutted that Penny Lancaster has left #CelebrityMasterChef she was mama hen to the other contestants.August 20, 2021
@rodstewart your Penny was brilliant #CelebrityMasterChef shame she got her timings wrong. She cooked some amazing dishes and should be very proud of her achievements 👏🏻August 20, 2021
#CelebrityMasterChef Sorry to see Penny go. She has that Christina Trevanion quality - drop dead gorgeous, very ordinary, very funny, daft as a brush. We will miss her.August 20, 2021
Feel sorry for Penny Lancaster there. After having a "very good day" in the last round, one bad day in the kitchen has cost her a place. She's clearly one of the better Celeb cooks but didn't quite perform.#CelebrityMasterChefAugust 20, 2021
Celebrity MasterChef continues tonight on BBC1 at 9pm.
