CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF UK WINNER 2024

Vito Coppola has been awarded the title of Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2024, becoming the 19th person to lift the highly prized trophy on BBC One’s celebrity cooking competition. Cooking his way ahead of 19 other celebrities, Vito claimed victory after six increasingly intense weeks of cook-offs and culinary tests, ending in a thrilling challenge in the MasterChef kitchen against his fellow finalists, TV and radio presenter, Craig Doyle and actor Rochenda Sandall. Vito was awarded the Celebrity MasterChef title by MasterChef judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

Vito’s winning menu

With the Final Three confirmed, the penultimate challenge was the toughest and most daunting of the competition - Chef’s Table. This year’s exclusive event was hosted by one of the country’s most innovative chefs, Adam Smith at Michelin-starred restaurant, Woven, where the finalists had to deliver food of an exceptional standard to impress a table of six gastronomic trailblazers including Aktar Islam (two Michelin-starred Opheem), Anna Haugh (Myrtle), and Frederick Forster (190 Queen’s Gate).

Vito, alongside Craig and Rochenda, had two hours to put on their Ultimate Dinner Party Menu and produce the best food they have ever cooked. Their two courses needed to exceed everything they had offered front of the judges before this crucial moment.

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 REACTING TO HIS WIN

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.”

John Torode says: “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.” While Gregg Wallace added: “He’s in love with creativity. He is something quite special.”

“One day, my family and I went to Positano and we had this Scialatielli Allo Scoglio, just eating in front of the sea. It was one of the best days ever, so I want to bring that day to MasterChef. The dessert is Babà, which is like my mum and my Nonna used to make for me on Sunday.”

"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.”

Previous Celebrity MasterChef UK Winners

Vito follows in the footsteps of previous winners: Wynne Evans, Lisa Snowdon, Kadeena Cox MBE, Riyadh Khalaf, Greg Rutherford, John Partridge, Angellica Bell, Alexis Conran, Kimberly Wyatt, Sophie Thompson, Ade Edmondson, Emma Kennedy, Phil Vickery, Lisa Faulkner, Jayne Middlemiss, Liz McClarnon, Nadia Sawalha and Matt Dawson.

Last year, Opera singer and broadcaster Wynne Evans was been crowned the 2024 Celebrity MasterChef UK Champion, becoming the 18th person to claim the coveted title on BBC One’s celebrity cooking competition. In the final episode, Wynne, alongside finalists Amy and Luca, had two hours to present a flawless three-course meal, cooked to the very highest standards to impress the judges.

Images: BBC/Shine TV. The Celebrity MasterChef series is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer.