Who Will Win MasterChef 2024? New Favourite Vera Turns Up The Heat
Article By
Last Updated: 
Another week of double heats and a quarter-final on MasterChef has mixed things up on betting sites, but one contestant nearly lost more than a place in the competition.
IT programmer Charlotte suffered an unfortunate injury in the first heat of the week when she sliced off the tip of her finger while preparing some spicy vegan dumplings.
She later returned to the cooking show on Thursday night's episode and admitted she was "healing well", before making it through to Friday's quarter-final, but her cooking wasn't enough to see her through to Knockout Week.
Charlotte and fellow contestants Louise and James exited the contest on Friday night, while Vera, George and Ecrin all progressed.
Vera Hits The Top
Vera is the new Evens favourite on specials betting sites to win the 20th series of the BBC cooking show after an impressive quarter-final performance.
Culinary star April Jackson was on hand to give regular judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace a hand to rate the contestants on Friday.
The self-taught chef and former Apprentice contestant challenged the candidates to deliver a dish that celebrates cheese, and pushed them out of their comfort zone to create something that's “MasterChef-worthy".
Financial analyst Vera made a lemon ricotta baked cheesecake with some cheesy accompaniments, including a strawberry marinated in a Norwegian brown cheese toffee.
Gregg branded her dish "absolutely fantastic", while John, who previously called her "one to watch" in the competition, admitted she was impressive.
April said Vera, who made it clear she is "here to win it", had truly challenged her "and won", adding: "That gave me everything I wanted from this brief."
George Nails The Brief
Vera is now ahead of Lee and Hope, who have been pushed out to 6/4 joint-second favourites on new betting sites, while George is 4/1 to win the competition after a solid quarter-final.
The doctor made aubergine parmigiana, topped with mozzarella and served with a smoked cheese and sundried tomato croquette.
Gregg praised him for "capturing the flavour" of his dish, and John admitted he is "demonstrating lots of skills".
Task-setter April also agreed George had "done a really, really good job" after he used various types of cheeses in different ways.
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down
'Brilliantly Clever' Ecrin Goes Through
Customer success manager Ecrin swapped making customers happy for pleasing the MasterChef judges on Friday, and she is now 6/1 on betting apps to win the series.
April described her plate of deconstructed cheesecake as "beautiful", and Gregg "really enjoyed" her creation, which he said tasted like "cheesecake combined with baklava".
He went on to praise her "really, brilliantly clever" dish, but he did point out that Ecrin - who doesn't like cheese - hadn't demonstrated a "huge amount of cookery" in the challenge.
Later in the episode, John and Gregg decided Vera and George were into Knockout Week, and despite John admitting she needed to "show us a little more process", they picked Ecrin and sent the other three contestants home.
That was because the judges agreed Charlotte hadn't shown a great deal of cookery in her quarter-final effort, and they admitted both James and Louise's pastry dishes were not quite cooked, and neither had enough cheese in. Hard cheese, guys.
Stay In The Loop With Free Bets, Insider Tips & More!
Live Betting. Sports Promos. Sent Weekly.
Updated by
Last Updated:
