Celebrity MasterChef 2026 judge Grace Dent unable to talk after Gladiator Emily 'Dynamite' Steel 'hurls vicious chillies' into her dish
Grace was unable to feel her mouthCelebrity MasterChef‘s Grace Dent is tonight rendered speechless by “vicious” hot chillies thanks to Gladiator Emily Steel.
Emily – better known to fans as Dynamite – serves exactly this to Grace and fellow judge Giorgio Locatelli as Heat 2 gets underway.
Giorgio manages to swallow it down, but Grace is left unable to ‘feel her mouth’ after trying Emily’s plate.
The judge even accuses her of “hurling” the chillies into her Signature Dish before serving it up.
Celebrity MasterChef’s Grace Dent ‘can’t feel her mouth’
Emily, 23, is one of five new contestants trying their luck in the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen this week. Joe Pasquale, Emily Campbell and Shakira Khan made it to the semi-finals after Heat 1 last week.
Emily is in the kitchen with comedian and actress Donna Preston, ex ballet dancer Eric Underwood, EastEnders’ Nitin Ganatra and YouTuber Tom Simons.
As usual, their first challenge is to produce their Signature Dish. Gladiator Emily calls upon her Thai heritage. She cooks fillet steak marinated in chilli, soy and oyster sauce. She serves it with sticky rice and a papaya apple salad. A dish of tamarind and Nam Jim dipping sauce is on the side.
It is the dipping sauce that really blows Grace’s head off. She takes deep breaths after tasting it, adding: “Wooo!”
Looking concerned, Giorgio asks her: “Are you okay?” Grace replies: “I’m good, I’m back in the room. But I’m sweating.”
She tells Emily: “Look, that sauce. I watched you hurl a healthy handful of dried chilli into there. And there’s huge pieces of quite vicious red fresh chillies… and I can’t feel the inside of my mouth.”
Grace then reassures her: “It will grow back, it will grow back…”
Who leaves Celebrity MasterChef tonight?
Grace and Giorgio discuss all of their Signature Dishes as the contestants head backstage. Unsurprisingly, Emily’s hot sauce comes up in conversation.
Giorgio says: “Emily’s dish. The Nan Jim sauce was full of flavour. Maybe a little bit too full. Too much chilli.”
Grace laughs: “She’s called Dynamite as a Gladiator. I didn’t think she was putting it in her sauce, Giorgio!”
No one leaves the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen tonight. Everyone makes it through to Day 2 at the end of the Day 1 rounds.
But one celebrity cook will leave the competition in the next episode. Who has what it takes to make it all the way?
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing 2026’s line-up is complete – here’s all the celebrities who are taking part
