Chopping Block's Rosemary Shrager relishes culinary calamities

Rosemary Shrager and John Whaite (Twofour / ITV)

Now, ITV hope they have the perfect recipe for success with their new daily show Chopping Block.

It has larger than life chef Rosemary Shrager and GBBO champ John Whaite running a cookery school with a difference.

Each week, four competitive couples will face a selection of daily challenges.

They all have a passion for food and want to be champion in the kitchen.

But they won’t just cook together, they’ll also live together, turning up the heat to boiling point.

Each day, the best couple will win a prize, but only the most improved will walk away with £1,000 at the end of the week.

“They’re learning to cook and they really want to do well,” said Rosemary.

“It starts off taking the mickey, by the middle of the week, they take it terribly seriously and then by the end of the week, it’s all about winning!

“I think these things are really important because when you are put under pressure, you learn and you really take it in. It’s wonderful!

“That’s what it’s all about. It’s a competition, but a competition with information and learning as you go along.”

One of the beauties of seeing amateurs in the kitchen is the culinary calamities that can unfold.

And Rosemary, who showed that she always had an opinion about food matters during her time on I’m A Celebrity, says there was one moment that lives long in the memory.

“I never thought a poached egg would cause so much grief!” shs laughs. “I will never forget that.

“But the thing is, one mustn’t patronise people just because they don’t know how to cook.

“That’s why they’re with us, but I must say that the discussions that went along with it were mindblowing. It was great fun.”

Rosemary was one of the celebrities featured recently in the BBC’s entertaining India-set Real Marigold Hotel. And no matter where she travels to, she finds inspiration.

“The thing about food is that there are only certain ways of cooking — baking, grilling, frying and so on, but actually, it’s where you are in the world,” she adds.

“If you’re in India, you use Indian herbs and if you’re in Italy you use the local herbs there — oregano, garlic and so on.

“If you’re in France, or China or Japan, use theirs.

“I think for me, Italy is probably the crossover, but I bring in a little Orient, I bring in a little Indian.

“I bring in a little bit of everything actually.

“No one country has influenced me, but each has its own flavours.”

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