MasterChef dish 'celebrating' Jack the Ripper branded tasteless

What did you miss?

A MasterChef dish themed around Jack the Ripper has been branded "tasteless" by viewers.

Six contestants remain in the semi-final of the BBC cooking competition and were challenged to create a theatrical dish to impress the judges. Circus performer contestant Chris breathed fire live in the MasterChef kitchen as part of his food theatre - which had a Jack the Ripper theme. The unidentified serial killer attacked women on the streets of Victorian East London in 1888.

Chris served up a dish of finely diced raw beef tartare served on roasted bone marrow which judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace loved. But it left a bitter taste in the mouths of some viewers.

What, how, and why?

For the next round of the MasterChef 2024 semi-final the contestants had to serve up a dish of food theatre. While Louise, Mary, and Abi all served illusion dishes, that looked like one thing made out of different ingredients, professional fire breather Chris served a detective themed meal. His dish of beef tartare with roasted bone marrow and a gin and tonic gel was served in a locked box.

He told Torode and Wallace: "You are detectives and you have to guess my identity." He finely chopped raw meat. Chris — whose job title is given as a 'fire breathing pig' — served the dish wearing a cape and breathed fire for the judges in the dark and they then had to use the code shown in UV on the box to unlock the food inside. He told them: "You are now detectives and you have to work out who I am by the clues inside the box."

Read more: MasterChef

• MasterChef 2024 semi-finals - who is still in the contest? (Yahoo UK, 7 min read)

• MasterChef fans delighted by return of comeback contestant with cheeky revelation (Liverpool Echo, 3 min read)

• MasterChef viewers complain about 'least favourite' part of series (Yahoo UK, 3 min read)

Torode exclaimed: "Woah mate! This looks pretty cool." Wallace quickly put together the clues of Victoriana and Whitechapel and said: "I think he's Jack the Ripper." Torode told Chris: "This is in your face, really good tasty food." Wallace agreed: "You took us back to Victorian East London but you brought us right up to date with really modern, very tasty food."

Viewers found the murderer theme distasteful.

One wrote on social media platform X: "Apparently it's 'really tasty food' but there's a guy on #Masterchef who has just done some kind of cabaret/meal event on the theme of Jack the Ripper (steak tartare) which is frankly pretty tasteless."

Another said: "How delightful to see @MasterChefUK celebrating the murder and dismemberment of women. #BadTaste in so many different forms. Worst episode I have ever seen. Who on earth at @BBCOne thought this was a good idea? #Masterchef."

One viewer commented: "Can't beat a lovely bit of nosh themed on a man who committed some of the most heinous acts of assault and murder of women in British history #masterchef."

Another observed: "#masterchef Celebrating Jack the Ripper? Have I misunderstood?"

And another shared: "Did that just happen? A man on #masterchef just served beef tartare on a bone as part of a celebration of Jack the Ripper dish? Murdered women’s innards, so creative. What?"

What else happened on MasterChef?

Torode and Wallace became surgeons performing a heart operation for George's theatrical dish.

The doctor served duck breast made to look like lungs in a potato rib cage with a beef heart. Torode and Wallace had to don scrubs and inject sauce into their food as if they were preforming heart surgery.

Torode exclaimed: "It's haemorrhaging, it's haemorrhaging!" But he added: "However that blackberry sauce - you've used too many blood thinners. It's too thin."

Wallace said: "This is more than mildly alarming!" And vet Brin served a dog theme dessert which was served with dog ear headbands for Wallace and Torode to wear while they ate.

While George's dish may have been theatrical, his cooking let him down and he was sent home at the end of the round.

The remaining five contestants went on to cook a Nordic-style outdoor banquet on open fire in the forest of Buckinghamshire for guests including adventurer Ray Mears.

Chris, Louise, Mary, Brin and Abi will compete in the next round to make it through to finals week.

MasterChef continues on BBC One at 9pm on Friday.