The Celebrity MasterChef finalists were Craig Doyle, Rochenda Sandall and Vito Coppola (Picture: BBC)
The Celebrity MasterChef 2024 champion has been crowned after six challenging weeks toiling away in the kitchen.
Strictly’s Vito Coppola, This Morning presenter Craig Doyle, and Line of Duty actor Rochenda Sandall were the three final stars competing for the trophy.
But it was ultimately Vito, 31, who managed to edge ahead of Craig, 53, and Rochenda, 36, and win the entire competition.
Reacting to his win, Vito said: ‘I cannot believe it! Look [the trophy] it’s so beautiful.
‘People think that food is just food, but no, I keep saying food is life. It’s the first love of my life, food, and I cannot just wait to share all of this with my family’.
The first thing Vito did upon his win, was call his delighted Nonno [grandfather] and tell him in Italian: ‘Nonno, I won! I won with your ingredients. I came first! I love you.’
Vito was ultimately crowned the winner of BBC Celebrity MasterChef 2024(Picture: BBC)
Vito wowed the judges with his Italian dishes including a seafood spaghetti (Picture: BBC)
Judge Gregg Wallace described the dancer as ‘in love with creativity’ and said he was ‘something quite special.
Meanwhile, fellow judge John Torode said: ‘Vito came into this competition with a purpose he wanted to show us his life on a plate.
‘What he’s grown up with, the food he loves and why he loves it, and what he’s done is made us love it too. That’s what good food is all about.’
In tonight’s episode, the three finalists were tasked with cooking their Ultimate Dinner Party Menu in just two hours.
Vito’s winning menu featured a main of Scialatielli Allo Scoglio, an Italian seafood pasta with scialatielli, clams, mussels, calamari, and prawns.
For dessert, he presented Babà Di Vito, a small cake soaked in rum and served with zabaione, a marsala wine cream, and cherries in syrup.
Vito beat a total of 19 celebrities on Celebrity MasterChef this year, including Diane Carson from The Traitors, Love Island star Chloe Burrows, model and TV personality Christine McGuinness and Sugababes singer Mutya Buena.
They joined make-up artist and TV judge Dominic Skinner, BBC Radio 2 presenter OJ Borg, comedian Jamie MacDonald and The X Factor star Jake Quickenden.
Also in the mix were broadcaster Edith Bowman, Emma Thynn Marchioness of Bath, comedian Eshaan Akbar, radio presenter Snoochie Shy and The Football Factory actor Tamer Hassan.
Last year’s winner was Strictly star Wynne Evans and other past winners have included TV and radio presenter Lisa Snowdon, Olympian Greg Rutherford, former The Pussycat Dolls member Kimberly Wyatt and soap star John Partridge.
Celebrity MasterChef is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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