Presenter Angellica Bell and former tennis star Henri Leconte have been propelled to the Celebrity MasterChef semi-final after impressing the judges with their cooking skills.

They served up their best attempts to former stars and contest champions Adrian Edmondson, Emma Kennedy and Phil Vickery in Friday night’s episode – the third in this year’s series.

Leconte served up a perfect lamb dish, while Bell’s strawberry and basil cheesecake was described as being “like air”.

Bell, who made it clear that she wanted to stay in the “fun” competition said that her new semi-finalist title was like “music to my ears”.

Their success knocked presenter Julia Somerville and comedian Vic Reeves out of the competition in just its first week.

The competition will continue next week with a fresh host of stars battling it out in the kitchen under the supervision of Gregg Wallace and John Torode, including UK Olympic swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, singer Rachel Stevens, actor Tyger Drew-Honey, and presenters Debbie McGee and Dev Griffin.

MasterChef continues on BBC 1 at 8pm on Wednesday.