Original subtitles

Oh, my goodness me!

60 brave amateur home cooks...

Yum, yum, yum!

..took their shot at the MasterChef title.

Go big or go home, I guess. So...

I'm already burning something.

Now, only the three most gifted remain.

Today is probably one of the biggest days of my entire life.

If I want to win that trophy, I need to deliver.

I'm going to cook my little heart and soul out,

and I'm going to have a lovely time doing it.

I'm feeling all the feelings at once.

But you cannot let your energy or your guard down for a moment.

I've got to start believing nothing else matters right now.

It's about cooking to the absolute best of my ability.

And if I do that, I think I can win.

Now, we're at the final three.

Anybody could lift that trophy.

They've come on an extraordinary culinary adventure.

What they've got to do now is bring out the big guns.

Let's go. Let's do this!

This has to be one of the best years to date.

Come on! Ooh!

ALL:Oh! Hey!

This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

We're cooking now. We're cooking!

Eight weeks, 60 contestants.

There's been extraordinary food from all around the world.

Oh, wow. That's hot.

You've raised expectation incredibly.

Can I have the recipe?

Cooked by people from all walks of life,

of all ages, from up and down the country.

Fridge?You're never too old to do anything you want to.

Carers... So far behind. Singing coaches...

It's just a slightly bizarre situation.

Lawyers, nurses...

All going good. Fingers crossed.

Teachers... It worked!

So much talent.

I think it's delicious.

I'm in heaven. Yay!

For amateur cooks, I'm so surprised by what they can create.

I love it. This has made me quite emotional.

Hundreds of plates of food, and there's been lots of successes.

Triumph! Woohoo!Oh, wow.

There's been the inventive...

Creme brulee in a potato?Yes.

A little bit of emotion...

Oh!

THEY LAUGH AND EXCLAIM

But at the end of the day,

just incredible food, cooked by incredible people.

Bingo! Absolutely fantastic. That's a stunning bit of work,

my friend.

We're down to our final three.

Sophie, Harry, Claire.

Who's going to be our MasterChef winner 2025?

I grew up in Yorkshire.

We moved to Doncaster when I was five.

I was really lucky.

There was lots of long summers and camping in the garden.

I really started to fall in love with cooking food at about 11.

I really remember doing my Brownies cooking badge

and I had to invite a friend over.

It was a really lovely feeling making food for somebody else.

In my 20s, I decided I'd go travelling and I went to Japan,

and then I went to Australia,

and then I came back fully bitten by the travel bug.

I loved the adventure of not knowing what was coming next.

I went to Canada to spread my wings,

and so I was only going to go for a year, but I stayed for 12 years.

So, that's so weird. Like, I've moved to Vancouver.

I haven't even met you. And then we made her!

Yeah!

I met Paul, and we were great friends.

We had a motorbike and we just used to travel around Vancouver,

eating and making picnics.

And we used to cook together.

Do you remember the meat envelopes that we used to eat down there?

Yeah! You had curly hair!

And then one day we just sort of realised that we should probably

stop messing about and just live together forever

and make babies and be happy.

Moving from Canada was a really, really hard decision.

I got really bad postnatal depression,

which just came out of nowhere.

People think that postnatal depression

is something that happens after you have a baby

and then you get over it. But it's actually

a fundamental shift in your body's chemistry.

And so things got quite bad, and I got really unwell.

Cooking made me realise that every single day

I put food on the table,

food gave me a sense of purpose.

It has been tough, but it's also now been really wonderful.

And that's life. And so, yeah, for Claire,

she's on a high now, and I'm proud.

I've been so lucky that even in the depths

of things being very difficult, I have adored my children.

Do you want chicken and rice for dinner?

Yes, please.

And they are spectacular human beings

who give me joy every single day.

I think she can win.

Do you? Yeah, I think so too.

Describing Claire,

she is like no-one I have ever met.

Come in and give it a stir, Mum. Good. Come and give it a stir.

She's always trying her best

to put positivity back into the world.

A big part of going on MasterChef was,

"OK, well, if I do this, maybe I'll rediscover me.

"Not a mum, not a partner." And I found her.

Whaaa!

Sorry, everybody.

Claire, in this competition, has become a culinary explorer.

I think it's really inventive. And the process you're showing,

I am amazed.

You've got technique. You've got a good eye for detail.

I'm really impressed.

She likes to be inspired by places she's lived.

They're like little Sydney Opera houses! Oh, yeah!

And by her family and by her loved ones.

So my dessert is a love letter to my husband,

because he grew up with a Danish Canadian mum.

They are fantastic. They're so light.

And it's delicious.

Believe, believe, believe.

It's been full of adventure and excitement.

It's fantastic.

You see them all jumping through Vancouver for about three months.

I think you've done some really lovely technical work here.

By her own admission, she doesn't like to cook the same dish twice.

So the first time in competition, you've actually made something

you're cooking before?

I've never made the ice cream before. Yes!

She's ambitious, but she's dangerous.

S'mores beef. Bonkers.

My low point was with William Sitwell.

You've got sweet chocolate with steak. It is quite out there.

It is like nothing I've ever had before.

To me, it doesn't work.

But you learn really, really quickly.

Let's smash it! Please don't break!

Good. It's immaculate. Brilliant.

I've been amazed at how much I've been able

to rise to the challenge and keep going.

It fell over. But like any good mum, I've got a backup in the bag, so...

Without a shadow of a doubt, I am a better cook

than I was when I walked in.

Pork princess!

You just about smashed it.

I've entirely grown in confidence.

I'm ready in two! Is it quite hot in there?

Better and better every time.

That's a job really well done by Claire.

I have absolutely loved that. Voila! Look at that!

SHE GIGGLES I love it!

I have a more profound sense of self-belief.

That's incredible.

Yay! Well done!

Can she bring it one last time? I think Claire has got it in her.

Winning this would be like Paul and the kids stood next to me.

So if I lift that trophy,

I lift it with all four of us stood together,

whether they're here or not.

I was born in London, but actually, from the ages of one year old,

I moved up to Edinburgh.

So I always remember as a very young kid,

cycling my bike along the Water of Leith,

going and getting dirty and climbing up trees

and all that sort of stuff that young kids get up to.

My brothers are eight and ten years older than me.

I was always the annoying little kid when I was younger, sort of thing.

But, yeah, especially as we've got older,

we've gotten really close.

We were quite a traditional family, you know, always at 6:00,

6.30, we would all sit around the dining table

and have dinner together. Mum would always cook.

I studied something called industrial design

at university in Newcastle,

so I sort of pictured myself as a bit of a young Steve Jobs.

The course did give me a really good eye for detail and design,

and I think I have translated that into my cooking as well.

Harry didn't really get into a lot of cooking

until he went to university.

So gradually as he came home, every time we saw him

being much more creative in the kitchen.

After university,

I moved into account management for a branding agency.

It was quite a demanding role at times.

It very much embraced the sort of work hard, play hard ethic.

I was terrible at managing my stress levels and,

you know, just suffered some pretty harsh burnout mid-last year.

Unfortunately, that led to a difficult battle with addiction.

In short, I was burning the candle at both ends and drinking too much.

Oh, what was that? Oh, no. Get in!

THEY LAUGH AND CHEER

Luckily, I had some fantastic people around me.

And, you know, I've been in recovery ever since.

Oh, no. Rubbish!

It wouldn't be an understatement to say

that I wouldn't be where I am today without Katie.

She's been an absolute rock through thick and thin.

Definitely been difficult times,

but we've worked through things together.

We're a team. He is such a genuinely wonderful person

and he's my best friend.

He's my partner. He's the other half of me.

So, yeah.

Once I'd picked myself back up,

I just wanted to do something with food.

I printed off ten CVs and walked around

all the local fishmongers and butchers that day,

and one of the fishmongers gave me a call back,

and I've been there ever since.

I'm genuinely happy when I wake up now.

I go to work, I don't have those Monday blues any more.

I sort of remember watching MasterChef with him and said,

"why don't you apply?" There we go. Thank you very much.

Cheers. Thank you so much. Cheers. Bye. Hi, there.

"It's what you love," and he went for it.

And look where we are now, so...!

Oh, wow. This looks lovely.

Dig in, everyone.

Very proud of him. Considering what he has been through

in the last year.

MasterChef and the cooking has really lifted him.

All the best, mate. Thank you. Cheers!

Cheers.Good luck, darling. Yeah.

Wheee! Flaming brilliant, that is!

Harry, creative, but inspired by the classics.

Really impressed with what you've done.

I'd eat the whole lot.

Likes to take an idea and turn it on its head.

The haggis is going to replace traditional duxelle

that you use in a Wellington.

I like this moussaka affair on the courgette.

I think it's beautiful. You showed an awful lot of skill here,

so well done.Thank you.

There's a lot of work in there, Harry. Well done.

I like it. Delicious.

He's got the skill. He loves technique.

And his food tastes great. Spot on.

Service, guests arriving in one hour.Yes, Chef!

Yes, Chef. I've grown so much as part of this competition.

OK. Nice, Chef. Let's get it carved.

Beautiful. Happy? Oh, it's just the most unbelievable relief!

I have done things that I didn't know I could do.

Service, please!

I wouldn't be surprised if a top chef handed this to me.

I think that is absolutely stunningly gorgeous.

Thank you. Let's go for it.

Only once in the competition has he tripped up.

At the end of the day, I pushed my boundaries

in that challenge and it didn't all come off.

I would have pushed up the acidity.

The meringues are starting to collapse.

But, you know, I still look back on it fondly

because I tested myself.

I don't think I've ever played it safe,

and I don't plan on changing that any time soon.

The terrine is a masterpiece.

Personal highlight has got to be the experience in Greece as a whole.

It pushed me into an area of cooking that I didn't know was in me.

Here we go!

Whether it be meat, fish or something sweet,

he is a perfectionist.

It was like my grandma is in the kitchen

and cooking something for us.

So here is where you are going to show your skill.

My MasterChef experience has just been completely exhilarating,

emotionally draining.

It's been wow moments.

Wow. I have to say, this is one of the best desserts I've ever had.

Harry's competition has been really strong,

and he's got to keep the magic flowing.

The idea of being MasterChef champion,

I love the sound of it, that's for sure.

Now I've got a cook my socks off today.

I'm feeling excited. I just want to get in there.

My whole childhood was in Essex. I grew up here.

So, Essex girl through and through!

I've got a younger brother and a younger sister.

I'm the eldest.

We had a fantastic childhood.

We were always laughing and joking. Lots of funny memories.

Come on, Buster.

Sophie is a character.

She's just out there.

I think I'm in denial about the final!

She was always, like, a very funny and witty and crazy child.

My dad and my mum were both really into cooking,

so I used to cook quite a lot with my dad,

or at least I'd keep him company whilst he cooked.

I was about 13 when I gave up eating meat.

I was still eating fish and dairy at that point.

And then a couple of years later

I went completely plant based.

I started experimenting with my own food and my own cooking.

I think it was kind of a,

"Well, you're not going to eat meat now, you can sort yourself out!"

I think I was 18 or 19 when I first moved out,

and that's when I really started cooking a lot more.

You obviously want to win. Even the smallest things

that we do in life, you want to win everything, I think!

That's not true! Yeah, it is.

I basically cook for anybody that will eat my food.

Those people happen to be my best friend,

Mara, who I live with, and Charlie, my boyfriend.

Yeah!

So we lost my dad in 2017.

He passed away suddenly.

And obviously, that shattered our whole world.

The worst thing was having to go to the school and pick up my brother

and sister and tell them that their dad's passed away.

My sister definitely stepped in after my dad passed,

and I think it brought all three of us so much closer together.

Oh, that looks amazing. It does look good.

She's still managed to put a smile on everyone's faces.

Yeah, always made us laugh.Yeah. And gave us lots of happy memories,

which was lovely.

Is that Daddy? Yeah, it's Daddy.

It does look the spitting image of your brother, doesn't it? Yeah.

Losing my dad has made me definitely a lot stronger as a person.

Ah look, me and Dad.

Honestly, it's just made me appreciate

every second in life so much.

Because you just don't know when it's going to be your last.

Well, I'm very proud of Soph making it to the final three.

I'm not saying I didn't think she'd make it,

but the fact that she actually has, feel like a really proud brother.

Our dad was a huge MasterChef fan,

and this would be literally his dream come true.

Well, I know he'll be looking over her shoulder in the final,

and he'd be willing her to concentrate,

don't drop anything, and just enjoy the moment.

You got this, Sophie! Cheers! Good luck!

Good luck.Thanks, guys.

Hello! I'm back!

Sophie is plant based,

and she has become a master of culinary trickery.

It actually feels like a pork belly. Not only is it clever,

it tastes great.

I think it's a really pretty dish. Good on you, Sophie.

My style is very different.

I'm using probably a lot of things that people would see as a side

and I'm making it the centrepiece.

Absolutely spectacular.

Beautiful plant based food.

It's really, really tasty and I would definitely finish it.

She's not scared of meat or fish.

I wanted it to fall off the bone.

And it's fallen off the bone.

You don't eat meat, but you've cooked the short rib

absolutely perfectly.

Dynamite.

She just prefers to stick to her guns.

The fact there is not a single egg in that pudding

is absolutely fantastic.

I like to push boundaries, take risks.

I love the sense of confusion. I really like it.

For me, it may be your finest work.

Yes, she's done desserts in the restaurants.

It's starting to split. However, it may be her Achilles heel.

There's definitely been a few challenges

where I've kicked myself and I've thought,

"Oh, you could have done better there."

I believe in you. I really believe in you. Thank you.

But I think you just have to pick yourself up and keep going.

I can smell the Chinese takeaway.

If you're cooking the food you really believe in,

magic can be created.

THUNDER CRASHES

The gods!

I've learned how determined I can be.

I just feel like I've absolutely thrived

and just come into myself the whole competition.

Oh, guys, it looks great.

I've just put so much passion and love into everything

that I've done. Let's go!

Yes, Chef!

Concentration mode.

Perfectly cooked, perfect seasoning. I like it.

Well done, guys.Well done. What an amazing experience.

I'll never, ever forget this.

The trophy is so close!

I have dreamt about it.

You just don't know what can happen in that kitchen on the day.

You really don't.

These three are fantastic.

They've set their own benchmark, and the benchmark is really high.

What they've got to do now is go for it.

There's so much talent. Anybody could lift that trophy.

For the last time, welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.

The most important cook-off of the competition.

You, today, need to believe

in yourself and cook from your heart.

I wish you the very best of luck.

And all I look forward to is absolute deliciousness.

You need to show us through three amazing courses

what you've learned and who you are.

I have to say, I'm not jealous of what yous have got to do today,

but one thing I really am is excited to see what you're going to produce.

Three hours, three courses.

At the end of this, one champion.

Let's cook. Yay!

For me today, it's got to be about emotion.

This is about showing who they truly are

and who actually they've become along the way.

They've got to create food that is just superb,

delicious and exciting.

Reality's kicking in a little bit.

I just think I'm in a bit of a weird

state of denial about how big this really is,

and how much work I've actually got to do.

I haven't been able to do a timed three-hour cook

because I've had poorly children

and lots of school events and some family commitments.

And so for the first time,

we'll be doing them back-to-back as one.

And that worries me enormously.

So you've got an eight-year-old,

you've got a ten-year-old and you're in the final of MasterChef.

Yeah. How do you cope with that pressure?

Because I have the most supportive and incredible team.

They are just brilliant. And they're as excited for me doing this as I am

for when they do something that's important in their life.

For my starter, I am doing a smoked mackerel pate with

a beetroot and chilli crust and some roasted beetroot.

So I used to grow beetroot with my dad in the garden.

So I'm going back to the things that I loved in my childhood.

Smoked mackerel's got a big personality,

so she's got to use the beetroot to complement it,

to give the sweetness, because otherwise,

smoked mackerel can be a bit like a punch in the face.

It's so weird having the clock just staring down at me.

I feel like it's going, "You're running late.

"You're running late." Like, I know!

When I cooked in Athens,

there was the crust that I did on top of the cod,

and it just blew me away.

So I've taken that principle and created the beetroot

and chilli crust that's going on my mackerel pate.

It's a brilliant technique. I've totally fallen in love with it.

Will probably use it forever.

She's serving that with a cranberry and walnut cracker.

It needs to have a crack. It needs to be able to be crunchy.

That's the detail for me. When you think of beetroot,

smoked mackerel, walnuts, you think, wow!

Yeah, that's all classic.

You start throwing in chilli there and cranberries,

I start to get a little bit nervous.

What she needs to do is create balance.

You've had 25 minutes. 25 minutes gone.

Main course, I'm doing chicken

and mushrooms because before I met my husband,

I travelled a lot by myself. I was independent for a long,

long time. My husband doesn't eat mushrooms,

so mushrooms was always

a thing I loved before he came along.

So chicken was

the thing I would cook for people coming to my home.

She's taking the chicken and putting it in a water bath,

but it's a really nice way to make sure it's nice and moist -

as long as she understands the skill.

I've only ever used a water bath once

before when I exploded the bag when I was doing Heston's challenge.

POPPING Oh!

It did pop! Oh, no. That's a disaster.

So I've learnt quite a lot since then.

We want a moist chicken breast. Don't want rubbery,

don't want hard, and definitely don't want dry.

And then I am doing cabbage rolls with smoky pancetta.

They're inspired by what I did at the Dorchester.

She wants to blanch the cabbage.

Then she wants to stuff it

and then roll it and then cook it again.

That's going to take quite a long time.

The standards of a final are so high that they wake me up at 2:00

in the morning

wondering about things like my onion and pumpkin seed chutney.

"Should it be finer? Should it be thicker?

"I don't want to lose the consistency."

We've got chicken sauce

and we've got a sabayon. Flavours of sage and mushrooms.

Great. That's a lovely idea.

So a sabayon is a really delicious whipped-up egg yolk,

but it's all about aerating it.

If she cooks it for too long,

it will set and it will be just like a firm cooked egg kind of mousse.

Am I on track? I've really got no clue.

I'm just going as fast as I can on everything.

Dessert - it's a whisky and chocolate torte,

which are two of my husband's favourite things in the world.

Chocolate torte made with mousse. So a sort of lovely

soft, almost pillowish mixture in your mouth.

Peatiness coming from whisky, with a bit of sponge underneath.

This is the base for my, um, torte. It looks a good colour.

I'm happy with that.

Then we've got orange gel on the side, which is slightly sharp.

Peanut butter ice cream, which is a lovely idea,

but with orange going through it as well.

Why peanut butter and orange ice cream?

Because peanut butter is a pretty North American

thing, with my two little Canadian children,

and it's just a beautiful combination.

The peanut butter and the orange, for me,

sounds genius.

The acidity of the orange juice should be able to kind

of cut through that peanut butter and create a lovely balance.

As always, anything that has to set makes me very nervous.

The ice cream, the gel and my torte.

Throughout the competition, we've seen Claire be really,

really daring, and she likes to be different.

There's so much to do here. I just hope it's not too much.

Finalists, you have just two hours left.

One hour gone, two hours left.

It does feel very real now. It's one more cook.

It's never felt within touching distance,

and today really feels like I've got a chance of winning it.

Do you know what? I'm loving it. Just got to keep a level head.

Keep it calm. I'll be absolutely fine.

Harry, massive day, big day, enormous day?

Probably up there as one of the biggest days of my life, yeah.

My girlfriend Katie's always trying to say to me,

"Just try and enjoy it. Calm down." What are you going to cook for us?

I'm doing a bit of past, present and future.

So story of my life. So the past is going to be my starter,

which is a classic prawn cocktail. It was something that's

just always been in my life from a very early age,

and I just wanted to pay tribute to that.

I love Harry's inspiration. Flavours of a prawn cocktail, but reimagined.

The epitome of class, being served in this old-style champagne glass.

And I just wanted to do a modern take on it.

The idea is that you get the prawns nice and flat,

and then you pipe the prawn mousse into it.

He's going to roll the whole thing up, almost like a prawn sausage,

and then blanch it.

All the prawn shells, he's going to use to make an oil.

It's going to be the flavours of Marie Rose.

So we're going to get that sweet tomato,

the sharpness of Worcestershire sauce,

maybe a bit of spice that's going in there as well.

Whoa! Nice and hot. That's spicy.

# Spice up your life! #

That's going to be served with an avocado cream,

salmon roe and a crunchy salad.

The avocado cream is really important here.

I'm expecting it silky smooth.

You need to give the attention to detail to execute that well.

What's the story behind the main course?

So the main course is the present. Brill fillet that I'm going to do.

So, filleting flatfish is one of

my favourite things to do in the shop,

and it's food that I love to eat at the end of the day as well,

so I couldn't cook much more from the heart.

With fish, you should try and do it

in the least amount of cuts as possible.

You need to be very confident. You can't fillet

a fish slowly. A piece of brill - majestic piece of fish.

He's going to take that fish

and wrap it with yellow and green courgettes.

This is just quite a painstaking process, this element.

It's worth it for the presentation because it looks beautiful.

Then that's going to be poached.

I don't want translucent in the centre.

I want it to be cooked all the way through.

With that, we've got a little potato croissant.

Thinly sliced potatoes rolled up to look like

a very small croissant, and fried twice.

They just add a nice little bit of luxury.

They just look really nice on the plate.

I want to bite through that little crunchy,

crispy potato outside into a lovely soft centre.

And then we've got a burnt leek sauce.

He's got a lot of balancing to do here

and a lot of timings that have to be done just right.

If he burns the leeks too much, they will spoil the flavour.

Inspiration for the dessert is my future.

It came from walking past a patisserie shop in France,

and I thought,

"How on earth is it possible that someone can make something look

"that beautiful and taste that great?"

So it represents something that I'm striving to be.

So it's an apple-shaped dessert filled with

a white chocolate mousse and cinnamon-infused

apple compote with an almond shortbread.

Harry! It sounds amazing! But how are you going to do it all?

Uh, I'll find a way. It wouldn't be the final if I didn't push myself.

We are going to have, hopefully, a sphere

of white chocolate mousse covered in a green mirror glaze

so it looks like an apple,

but inside there will be an apple compote.

So this is my frozen apple compote,

which pops in the middle there,

and it's surrounded by white chocolate mousse.

There's a lot of technical things that he could get wrong here.

You want to have that lovely, light, airy mousse texture.

He has to get that set and frozen for him to get it out of the mould.

Then dip it into his mirror glaze,

and then that has to defrost in time for us to eat it.

Shortbread is a glorious biscuit.

If he cooks it too high, shortbread gets this kind

of burnt flavour when it only looks golden brown,

so it's a very delicate and technical biscuit.

He's taking on a massive challenge. As an amateur cook,

I think he's being very brave.

You are halfway, everybody. Halfway.

If you were to tell a young me, watching this show with my dad,

that I was going to be on it one day and competing in the finals,

I think he would be in floods of tears,

and he'd probably be standing at the sidelines trying to cheer me on.

"Go on, Soph!"

Sophie, congratulations.

You are our first-ever plant-based finalist in MasterChef.

That's amazing. Thank you. I didn't know that, so...

I've really stayed true

to my style of plant-based cooking and just really going for it,

taking risks and just being creative with it.

Your food's been quite exciting so far.

Thank you. But you've got to do three courses.

I started my journey with mushrooms and I want to finish on mushrooms.

They're one of my favourite things in the whole world.

I love them. And the whole menu, for me, is just inspired

by forest walks with my family.

So for my starter, I'm doing a pulled-mushroom croquette.

She's taking king oyster mushrooms.

She's frying them in plant-based butter.

The crust on the outside needs to be lovely and fine and thin.

A lot of plant-based cooking that I do uses mushroom

because you can get so many meaty textures out of them.

Leek confit - taking leeks, cooked them really slowly in some oil.

They shouldn't be greasy in any way at all.

Croquette served with a black garlic and truffle and plant-based mayonnaise.

Lovely and creamy and rich. I just hope she doesn't split it.

Black garlic - it's got such complex flavour.

Big personality. And the shaved truffle on top?

I feel like that could be a little bit of magic.

For my main course, I'm doing

hen-of-the-wood mushroom, tempura enoki mushroom with

a nettle and chestnut pesto.

Have you thought about presentation?

Had points where I've struggled with it in the past,

so I'm really wanting to prove

that to myself, that I could do a good job with that.

Hen of the wood - a really large-looking fungus.

And it actually does have the flavour and texture of

a piece of chicken if it's cooked properly.

We've got enoki mushrooms going through this dish.

Hopefully that will then give us

a nice bit of crispy texture in your mouth.

We've also got a plant-based creme fraiche and mushroom sauce.

Will those mushrooms have different flavours?

She's got to make sure she gets

that balance of the mushrooms to work perfectly together.

It's going to be served with chestnuts and nettles.

Nettles, slightly spinach-like.

Chestnuts, which are quite woody. She's going to turn that to a puree.

With that, we've got a stuffed

shallot which has got spelt inside it.

Slightly crunchy. Very, very nutty.

All of the elements have got big, bold flavours and textures.

She needs to get the balance right to bring that dish together.

For the dessert... Yeah. ..carrying on the mushroom theme,

I'm going to be doing a Black Forest-inspired mushroom.

So I'm hoping to make little mushrooms out of chocolate mousse.

Wow.

Trying to do a plant-based-inspired Black Forest gateau,

technically, there's a lot of difficult things for her to do.

She's got to be able to make a mousse, not using cream,

not using eggs.

So she's got to use aquafaba, the juice from chickpeas.

That's got to be of the lovely creamy texture.

That's one good thing about aquafaba, is you can't overwhip it.

Not like egg whites. I'm making, like, a cherry compote.

It's going to go inside of my mould.

And I'm going to be trying to mirror glaze them,

creating, like, a plant-based mirror glaze.

It's definitely fair

to say my dessert worries me the most.

There's a lot of timings, temperatures,

it's all very precise. Touch wood, it's all going to be fine!

The temperature of the glaze is vital.

Your mirror glaze is too hot. It's too hot?

It's too hot. If it's so hot when you put it on top,

it's going to melt off the chocolate and it'll all slide off.

Yeah, exactly.

She's got all the component parts made,

but she's still got to put it together.

And she wants it to look like a mushroom.

I just hope she's giving herself enough time.

I think you really have to go for it in the finals.

And that is exactly what I'm doing. The pressure is on.

30 minutes left. Just 30 minutes.

And one of you is going to be the champion.

I'm definitely worried about time now.

It's just I don't want to rush my presentation

because it would be a shame to do all this work

and then slap it on the plate with no care.

Whoa! My crackers are not working.

So it's the only thing that's gone proper wrong,

so I need to redo them.

Sophie's chocolate mousse hasn't set.

They're not frozen. So she can't cover it in the mirror glaze.

She has minutes left to kind

of leave it in the freezer as long as possible.

There's a lot to do,

so I'm just kind of running around like a mad hatter.

You've got less than 15 minutes, guys.

You really need to motor. There should be food on plates.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

The last thing for you to finish is now your mackerel pate,

and then you're good? Yeah, it's just ready to build.

OK.

What kind of apple are you going for?

Granny Smith. Had to be, didn't it?

Here we go. Now we're talking.

Just four minutes. You really need to push, guys.

Please, please, please.

Sophie's dessert right now is a bit of a problem.

The mirror glaze to make the mushrooms is not on yet.

And there's only minutes to go.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.

You've got 90 seconds, everybody. 90 seconds.

Please not 90 seconds.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm not going to make it.

I'm not going to make it. I'm not going to make it.

I've got to chop some peanuts at the rate of knots. Ready?

That's it, guys. That's it!

Time is up.

All done. OK. I'm done. I'm away.

Right, Claire, come on up.

Hello.

I think the presentation is really lovely.

NARRATOR: Claire's starter is inspired by gardening

with her father.

Roasted beetroot in a balsamic glaze,

topped with smoked mackerel pate

and a burnt beetroot and chilli crust,

served with a walnut and cranberry cracker.

Your smoked mackerel pate is silky smooth.

You've mellowed the smoked mackerel flavour enough

so that it is high-fiving the beetroot on the bottom.

They're like best pals. It's really nice.

Your beetroot is perfectly cooked.

This little cracker - I could nibble on this all day long.

It's got a lovely balance of sweet and salty in there.

A bit of cranberries and obviously the walnuts.

Everything about this dish

is, like, chic and gorgeous and delicious.

You should be very proud. Thank you very much.

I love that piece of beetroot. Rich and woody.

The crust across the top...

..it hasn't quite worked because it hasn't melted enough.

Yeah. But for somebody

who didn't have a starter on the plate with two minutes to go...

..I'm really pleased. And I'm really enjoying eating it.

Good.

JOHN CHUCKLES

NARRATOR: Claire's main is roasted chicken breast served

with chestnut and smoked pancetta cabbage rolls,

mushroom and sage sabayon,

miso baby king oyster mushrooms,

onion and chestnut chutney,

chicken skin and a chicken sauce.

The chicken is perfectly cooked, still moist.

Really, really nice. Your cabbage is perfectly blanched.

You've got your lovely pancetta in there.

The chestnut is a really important flavour in there,

and it's lovely. Your onion chutney is really delicious!

It packs a punch!

My one critique would be your sabayon.

It should be silky smooth,

but it's got the texture of scrambled eggs.

Your chicken skin is slightly salty, giving that flavour,

almost like chicken-flavoured crisps.

Your sauce is fantastic, sharp with white wine in the background.

If you didn't use the word sabayon and you said puree, you'd be OK.

But it's rich with smokiness coming from mustard and that's wonderful.

A really delicious plate of food.

NARRATOR: Claire's dessert is an homage to her family's favourite flavours.

A dark chocolate and whisky torte topped

with peanuts on a sponge cake base,

served with orange gel...

..and a peanut butter and orange ice cream.

ANNA: The texture of the chocolate torte is lovely.

It's silky smooth and it's got that shine.

I also think

that the peaty whisky has got a big personality,

and I think you've got the balance perfect in there.

The orange gel, I think, could have had a bit more,

maybe orange zest in there, but just a little bit more punch.

That ice cream, it's definitely peanut ice cream.

But the orange is elevating the peanut to be more sophisticated.

What a revelation. Thank you so much.

What a joy.

The torte... I love your soft sponge underneath.

Sweet, but also slightly biscuity.

And then this grown-up chocolate mousse with

so much peaty whisky in there,

it's almost smoky alongside the sweet chocolate.

I think that the flavours are fantastic.

All about you. Slightly dangerous, slightly quirky,

full of fun. A really lovely, joyous, grown-up dessert.

The dishes that you've given us today...

..lots of passion, lots of flair. But really, most importantly,

lots of you. And that's what good cookery is all about.

It's been a joy. Thank you for every moment.

Thank you.

Just a sloppy mess. I'm so exhausted.

I'm feeling so elated.

It's definitely done!

THEY LAUGH

I came in to try and find...

me, and...

..yeah, and I found her. And that's sort of who I am.

It's been flipping marvellous.

SHE LAUGHS

Right, Sophie, come on up.

Gosh. I think that walk feels longer every single time.

NARRATOR: Inspired by walks in the woods with her family,

Sophie's dishes are an ode to mushrooms.

This represents you.

Every single thing here in front of us is plant based.

You love a mushroom. I think you've done a great job.

Thank you.

Her starter is a pulled-mushroom croquette

filled with king oyster and chestnut mushrooms,

topped with garlic

and truffle soy mayonnaise and shaved truffle,

served on a leek nest with a side of confit leek.

I think it's really pretty as a plate of food,

but it packs a punch. Lovely, crispy outside of that croquette.

Inside, a rich

beefiness that's coming from those mushrooms.

The black garlic mayonnaise giving smokiness,

sweetness, sharpness, sourness.

I think it's a great balance of flavours.

I think the textures are fantastic. I've got to say, I really like it.

The leek is melt-in-your-mouth delicious,

and the texture of that crispy leek with

the soft leek is really nice to see

the same vegetable used in two different ways.

You get the feeling of this kind of woodland vibe that you said

you were trying to create.

A fantastic starter.

Really good.Thank you so much.

NARRATOR: For her main,

Sophie has served pan-fried hen-of-the-wood mushrooms

with tempura enoki mushrooms spiced with cayenne, on a chestnut

and nettle pesto and chestnut puree...

..served with shallots stuffed with spelt,

and a mushroom and oat creme fraiche sauce.

Your hen-of-the-woods mushroom is absolutely,

definitely cooked.

The nettle pesto has got a nice bit of kick to it.

The chestnut has got a bit of

a coarse texture, sweetness to it.

It's probably a little bit small.

It's leaning towards, really, a starter size,

but really good flavours and very ambitious.

The hen of the wood does have

a slight, almost chicken-skin flavour to it.

You've got sharp chilli heat from cayenne pepper around

the outside of those enoki mushrooms.

I love that autumnal flavour of the spelt.

It's really nutty.

And the sauce, I think, is wonderful.

Slightly sharp with that creme fraiche,

the richness of the mushrooms as well.

Where does your invention stop?

NARRATOR: Sophie's dessert is a Black Forest-inspired mushroom -

a dark chocolate cremeux stem coated in white chocolate with

a cherry compote encased in chocolate mousse

and a cherry glaze cap,

served with a dark chocolate soil.

There was a little bit right towards

the end where I thought the mushroom

wasn't going to make it. You and me both.

THEY LAUGH

Oh!!!

I wasn't expecting that.

I love the fact you've got this rich,

plant-based chocolate mousse with

the cherries which you've cooked down,

so they go almost jam-like. It's sweet,

but slightly sharp.

Then the cremeux at the bottom of your stalk,

which is like a mushroom.

More dense than actually the top of the mushroom,

which I think is really, really clever.

Great work, great flavours. It makes me feel very,

very happy indeed. The mousse is delicious.

It's airy. It's light.

Love the crack of the outside

because the shell is crunchy.

chocolate crumb, I think it's a little bit overcooked.

But I love the texture of it.

I love that there is a story from the starter to the dessert.

The love of mushrooms is strong. Oh, thank you, guys.

Sophie, I've got to say to you that you absolutely deserve to be

in the final three.

Every single day you walk in here,

that beaming smile of yours, loving every single minute of it.

And it's showing in the food.

Thank you very much

for all you've done through the competition.

Thank you so much. Honestly,

it's been an absolute privilege. Thank you for...

..for many mushrooms. You're very welcome.

Thanks.

This experience has definitely been in honour of my father.

I think he'd be really proud of me.

It's kind of brought us closer together in a weird way.

Even though he's not here, I feel closer to him.

So, yeah, I'm feeling so, so happy

and grateful and elated and all of the good feelings.

All right, Harry, up you come.

NARRATOR: Harry has called his final menu

Past, Present and Future.

It looks absolutely fantastic.

Thank you.

It's a lot of work. HARRY LAUGHS

So I hope it tastes good.

His starter reflects his past.

Inspired by a prawn cocktail,

he's served a ballotine of prawn

and dill mousse wrapped in fresh prawn,

topped with avocado cream,

cucumber and salmon roe on a bed of lettuce and a prawn-head

Marie Rose oil.

The prawns are lovely and sweet,

the mousse itself really lovely and fine.

A little slight bit

of aniseed dill running through the whole thing.

Little bits of crunchy iceberg lettuce

sitting underneath there, and the flavours of Marie Rose.

And then a real zing of spice because you put cayenne pepper

and paprika across the top. It's pretty awesome.

The avocado is lovely. It's creamy, it's silky, it's smooth.

The prawn oil and that Marie Rose is superb.

For me, it's perfectly balanced because the prawns are so sweet.

So that spiciness is really something that enhances it.

Sometimes when something is such a classic,

people messing around with it, it's hard to kind of please people.

But I think you were really brave and you've pulled it off.

I think you did a really great job. Thank you.

NARRATOR: Representing his present day as a fishmonger,

Harry has served poached brill wrapped in courgette...

..topped with potato croissant and a sauce vierge,

served with braised fennel and a burnt leek sauce.

ANNA: I think the presentation is fantastic.

The fish is perfectly cooked,

like I would expect it in a professional kitchen.

The layering of your yellow courgette,

green courgette, they're lovely and thin.

The little crispy potato croissants were a stroke of genius.

I thought it really showed that you were pushing yourself to

the maximum to kind of give a little elegant,

cute little potato injection onto the plate.

So I think it was really gorgeous.

There's a lot of detail that has gone on here,

and you should be...you should be very proud.

Thank you very much.

The sauce vierge - delicious. Rich tomatoes.

Basil running through the whole thing.

The fennel, which is beautifully cooked and lovely and soft,

gives the fish an extra bit of sweetness.

Your burnt leek sauce, it has a sweetness of leek.

I like that salty, buttery, caramel richness.

I'd eat the whole thing. I'd pay for it.

I'd be very excited. It's a great, great dish.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

NARRATOR: For the vision of his future,

Harry has served a spiced apple dessert.

Oh, Harry.

That's smile material.

An apple and cinnamon jelly encased

in an apple and white chocolate mousse with

a white chocolate cocoa butter mirror glaze,

served on an almond shortbread biscuit.

It's very, very technically challenging.

And it's delicious. Great.

Lovely sort of sweet, almost mellow chocolate.

Like sort of a little vanilla milkshake mixed together

with cinnamon and apples. Like an apple pie.

The mousse that's in there, I love that texture.

It's smooth. Little bits of jelly. Lovely and velvety.

If that's the future,

the future is really bright.

Your shortbread is perfect.

As I'm eating the mousse, I am

getting this beautiful cinnamon flavour.

But then also kind of crunchy, acidic texture of the apple.

I have chefs in my kitchen

I would be shocked if some of them would be able to do this.

I think it's really, really good.

All you've ever done is strive for perfection.

I don't know what's going on

in that heart and head of yours right now,

but you're obviously here to prove something to yourself.

And whatever that is, you've done it.

I didn't know I had it in me, to be honest,

and I'm so happy that I did

because I feel really proud of myself.

Very overwhelmed.

Yeah, I feel like I've just been holding

in a lot of emotion over the last few weeks,

and it all came pouring out.

Oh, God. SOPHIE:Was that emotional?

Just a touch.

I feel really content and just trying to be present

and live in this moment right now, because it will be all...

..over all too quickly. Um, so, yeah, I'm happy.

I think it's fair to say that was

an absolutely incredible and fantastic final.

What these three amateur

cooks delivered was borderline professional cookery.

Well, that was fun. That was fun.

Yeah. We should all be really, really proud of ourselves.

I'm quite emotional now.

We've got to make a decision.

Claire loves adventure.

And today I felt she came in here with real confidence.

And she did it for herself.

You could feel her personality was on the plate.

That's glorious.

That's what food is all about.

Sophie celebrated everything she loves about mushrooms.

I think she did an amazing job.

The deliciousness that comes from passion

and love is something that cannot be cooked by numbers.

Harry stepped up today. The determination, the skill,

the style. Three courses of absolute magic.

There are restaurants across the country

trying to do food like that and not succeeding.

For an amateur cook, I mean, I've never seen anything like that.

There are three extraordinary cooks.

They all deserve to be here in the final.

So the question is, then, who is our champion?

I'd be elated if I won. Of course I would.

The reason we've come is to do the best we possibly can.

And I have a shot at getting the trophy.

It would be utterly wonderful.

I was a blubbering mess before, and so if I win, I don't

think I'll be holding it together all too well, to be honest with you.

That's it. I've done all I can do, so...

HE INHALES

..we'll see.

I got to experience the whole thing from the beginning to the end.

Because of that, I feel like a winner.

The fate of the trophy is down to the judges now,

and we just have to let them make that decision.

Wow. I mean, what a final.

Nine incredible plates of food.

All three of you can go home feeling like you're a winner because you

all represented yourselves so well.

Thank you for a incredible competition.

We have only one trophy to give.

Only one of you can be our champion.

Our MasterChef champion 2025 is...

..Harry.

CHEERING

# Now watch me rise up and leave

# All the ashes you made out of me

# When you said that we were wrong, life goes on

# Just look at how long I've agreed... #

CLAIRE:So deserved. So massively deserved.

SOPHIE:It has been an honour to cook alongside you. Thank you so much.

CLAIRE:Huge congratulations. HARRY:Incredible.

Claire, Sophie, incredible. Absolutely amazing competition.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Well done, Harry.

Thank you.

# And given the chance again

# I'd do it all the same... #

HE LAUGHS

Soph! Oh!

Well done. I'm so happy for Harry.

He deserves that so much.

Honestly, this experience has just been so fantastic.

I will never, ever forget it.

I have learned so much about myself,

and I'm going to harness that and see where this journey takes me.

Because this isn't the end for me. This is the beginning.

What a fun final. I am really proud of myself,

and I will look back on

the whole of MasterChef with nothing but pride.

I feel very lucky to have had this entire experience.

It's pretty special.

We'd like to give you this.

Thank you very much. That's for you. You're the champion.

I'm struggling for words.

Champion isn't something I've ever called myself before.

I'm a champion. LAUGHTER

Yes!

I guess I can start celebrating now. I, um...

Yeah, I'm just so grateful.

Throughout the competition, Harry's been determined.

He has strived for perfection.

And his food will stay with me for a very, very long time.

Harry, today, cooked food

that no amateur cook should be able to do.

That's a magical gift.

And Harry has it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Oh, yeah!

Yeah! Oh! Thank you so much.

It ranks up there, to be honest,

as one of the happiest days. It's been incredible.

I really cherish the memories. You can't put it into words,

what we've had the opportunity to do.

And to top it off with the trophy is...

..is everything I ever dreamed of.

# Away

# Away

# Away

# Now watch me rise up and leave

# All the ashes you made out of me

# When you said that we were wrong, life goes on

# Just look at how long I've agreed... #

# Just look at how long I've agreed... #

# Just look at how long I've agreed... #