In Pictures: Meet the contestants on Celebrity Best Home Cook

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 1d

Find out who's competing on the first series of the BBC's Celebrity Best Home Cook.

Britain's Best Home Cook returns for a new series next week - but this time, the kitchen is chock-full of celebrities.

Ten famous faces will be doing their best to impress judges Dame Mary Berry, Angela Hartnett and Chris Bavin over the course of eight episodes in a bid to be crowned the country's best (celebrity) home cook.

Scroll on to find out who's taking on the challenge!

Ferne McCann

Age: 30

Occupation: Reality TV star

Signature dish: "My dish is homemade hoisin pork tender loin with Asian slaw in lettuce wraps. My Dad used to always cook pork tender loin for us, it's a lovely succulent, affordable piece of meat that's so versatile and absorbs the flavours amazingly. My hoisin is one of my favourite things to make and it's a healthier version of the shop bought ones. I love sociable eating and this dish is brilliantly interactive, good for sharing and gets people talking."

Ed Byrne

Age: 48

Occupation: Stand-up comedian

Signature dish: "Smoked pork ribs. I cover them in a dry rub that I've been perfecting by trial and error for years, then shove them in a barrel smoker for about 10 hours, spraying them with apple juice and cider to keep them moist."

Rachel Johnson

Age: 55

Occupation: Journalist and author

Signature dish: "Macaroni cheese. It's a cheese bomb. It's an explosion of three cheeses, baked with pasta. What's not to like? If I say I'm making my famous mac n cheese it doesn't just bring the boys to the yard, people will drive for hours to stuff their faces with it until they are comatose."

Karim Zeroual

Age: 27

Occupation: Kids TV presenter

Signature dish: "My home cooked signature dish would be chicken curry, with cumin rice, chapatis and all the trimmings - a mint sauce, onion salad, some fresh coriander, and chillies on the side."

Ruth Madeley

Age: Actress

Occupation: 33

Signature dish: "I'm all about easy food! Anything in a big dish you can put in the middle of the table and everyone can dig in. Lasagne is a usual dish for me. My boyfriend, Joe, has Italian in his family so I've gained some tips from his mum."

Tom Read Wilson

Age: 34

Occupation: Orator

Signature dish: "My most requested dish is my tiramisu. I love that it means 'lift me up' in Italian, and mine has a considerable slug of marsala wine so it really does!"

Desiree Burch

Age: 41

Occupation: Comedian and presenter

Signature dish: "It's a wondrous dessert monstrosity called Monkey Bread that's basically a bundt tin baked mountain of cinnamon rolls. I tend do to desserts for dinner parties or holidays, and found a recipe for this in my 20s. After bringing it to a Friendsgiving dinner one year, it became routinely requested well into my 30s among friend gatherings."

Gareth Thomas

Age: 46

Occupation: Former Wales rugby captain

Signature dish: "I love making Glamorgan sausages, which is the most traditional Welsh dish that I know and one I remember trying as a young kid. It's a Welsh vegetarian sausage made from cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs."

Shobna Gulati

Age: 54

Occupation: Actress

Signature dish: "Not a signature dish as such but my sister loves a prawn in coconut and tomato, one of my favourite things to cook for her and her family."

Ed Balls

Age: 53

Occupation: Norwich City chairman and former shadow chancellor

Signature dish: "Lasagne, it's a recipe my mum brought back from America when she was there with my dad in 1960 and it's something I've cooked many times over the last 30 years. It made headlines when I was Shadow Chancellor, in fact when I told Nick Robinson, the Today Programme presenter and former BBC political editor, that I was going to be doing Celebrity Best Home Cook the first thing he said was 'You better make sure you cook your lasagne'."

Celebrity Best Home Cook airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One from January 26.

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