The BBC has announced that it’s moving Celebrity MasterChef back to its evening timeslot after it proved to be a flop when shown in the daytime.

The channel moved the hit show to a 2.15pm slot, which drew just 700,000 viewers. More people tuned in to watch Dickinson’s Real Deal on ITV.

The Daily Mirror states, “Now, in a desperate bid by bosses to save the show, which returned last month, the winner will be crowned on a primetime Saturday night ‘round-up’ show on October 22. Last year’s 8pm series finale pulled in seven million.” Read more & comment »

The BBC may be regretting moving Celebrity MasterChef to its new daytime slot since viewing figures have plummeted.

Since moving from its 8pm slot to 2.15pm, the show has lost nearly 2million viewers.

The Daily Mirror states, “As few as 700,000 have watched some of the shows and the schedule switch has sparked 155 complaints.”

Presenters John Torode and Greg Wallace are said to be privately “seething” about the timeslot move. Read more & comment »

The BBC has defended its decision to air popular show Celebrity MasterChef in a daytime slot.

As viewers will know, the show formerly aired as part of the corporation’s evening line-up of shows, but it’s now been switched to 2:15pm instead.

A BBC spokesman told The Sun, “This series allows a greater examination of the celebs’ cooking skills.” Read more & comment »

This show has me puzzled; in theory, I shouldn’t like it, I should’ve been bored witless by it, yet I found myself most definitely erring on the side of enjoying it, which I really fought against…

The reason being, it’s so not anything new or even different. It follows the formula set down many moons ago by every cookery show ever, regardless of whether it features Z list celebs or ordinary Joe Public, they all do the same things, yet somehow, it was still compelling viewing.

Why? I’ve no idea but despite the over-familiar and over-used adjectives that were bandied about, such as “an explosion of taste” and “sweet yet sharp” type comments made by John Torode and Gregg Wallace and their infinitely predictable ‘back stage’ pseudo-arguments about who should go through, again, I found myself utterly absorbed. Read more & comment »

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has moved from dancing to cooking.

Craig has signed up as a contestant on BBC One’s new series of Celebrity Masterchef.

He told TV Times: “People will enjoy seeing me squirm and suffer. Hopefully, they will feel sorry for me – but I think everybody’s going to say that I so deserve it!”

It will be nice to see him getting criticised for a change, don’t you think?