For the first time in MasterChef history, after years of tasting and critiquing MasterChef contestants’ dishes, the tables will be turned on five of the country’s top food critics. This year, the restaurant critics will be putting their own culinary reputations on the line as they battle for the title of MasterChef Critics Champion 2023. Competing in this special episode for the brand new Golden Cutlery trophy are Grace Dent, Leyla Kazim, William Sitwell, Jay Rayner and Jimi Famurewa. All of them will be pushed to the extreme in two demanding challenges. Far from their usual dining room, the critics will enter the MasterChef kitchen to face their first daunting test. They will have 90 minutes to cook a dish that represents their guilty pleasure. To impress, they will have to pull out all the stops to produce a comforting showstopper that will tickle the judges’ taste buds and deliver food that lives up to their exceptional palates.