Hungry for It

The doors to the HFI hub are open. The 10 rookie cooks meet their mentors and face their 1st challenge creating party food that is 'levelled-up' from ordinary to extraordinary and then they dish up burgers to 100 hungry diners.

It's Chicken Week, in the Level Up, the cooks have to create an extraordinary side dish to go with chicken. Those who impress land a spot in the restaurant kitchen, and are safe from elimination, the rest fight for survival in the pop-up.

In Waste Week, the remaining cooks Level Up the basic meal deal, creating 3 elements to wow the judges. The Service Challenge sees them create a menu based on leftovers. The week ends in another nail-biting Knives Out challenge.

In Veggie Week, the contestants level up vegetarian junk food, create a menu of meat alternatives for a packed out hub in the Service Challenge. The Knives Out challenge asks the bottom 2 cooks to make a frying pan pizza from scratch.

Halfway through the contest the 6 remaining cooks level up tinned food, the Service Challenge is pasta - but no traditional Italian dishes are allowed. The bottom 2 cooks make churros with salted caramel sauce in the Knives Out challenge.

It’s fast food week, and the temperature is turning up in the kitchen as the final five battle for a place in the semi-final.

For the semi-final, it’s social media week. The cooks must level up basic biscuits into Insta-worthy desserts and create a street food menu that would wow on socials.

The finalists level up childhood favourites and cater for a celebrity party attended by Michael Dapaah and AJ Tracey with the help of the eliminated cooks.