The contestant was forced to stop and take a deep breath as his nerves took over.
The Celebrity MasterChef 2025 final five (Image: BBC)
A Celebrity MasterChef challenge was momentarily paused as Alfie Boe began to panic.
The opera singer has made it all the way to the final week of the BBC competition, which is hosted by John Torode and Grace Dent, who has replaced Gregg Wallace.
Going up against Ginger Johnson, Jamie Lomas, Dawn O’Porter and Alun Wyn Jones, Alfie took on the task of making a part of an afternoon tea.
Under the eyes of pastry chef Cherish Finden, the stars were warned “it is not going to be easy”.
And even before he stepped into the kitchen, Alfie admitted: “I shake a lot when I get nervous and stressed, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it together. Hopefully I’m just in charge of brewing the tea.”
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He later said: “This is horrible, the pressure I’m feeling, for crying out loud.”
As Cherish told him, “You look nervous,” Alfie replied: “I am nervous.”
“You need to hold your nerve today,” she added.
Alfie was tasked with creating garlic butter prawns with pickled cucumber served inside a charcoal bun. However, as he was serving it up, he was forced to pause and control his nerves.
Trying to cut tiny pieces of cucumber and mango into perfectly-sized cubes, he said: “It’s ridiculous, I’ve had professors scream at me if I’m not singing something right, I don’t want to let her down.”
Alfie sparked concern as he panicked in the kitchen (Image: BBC)
“This is really hard, the accuracy is ridiculous,” he later repeated, measuring dough segments into 15gram pieces. “I’m trying my best, I’m stressed, I’m really stressed.”
Once he was trying to construct his prawn buns, Alfie reminded himself to calm down and breathe when Cherish stepped in.
She admitted: “I’m actually very worried about Alfie. He is shaking.”
Alfie was meanwhile heard saying: “I’m struggling, I’m really struggling, I can’t do this.”
Cherish told him: “I think you need to take a deep breath, and keep your nerve.”
Alfie admitted he was struggling (Image: BBC)
“Stop,” she ordered him. “I want you to take a deep breath and calm down yourself.” Giving him a hug, she added: “Are you ok?”
“This is why I’m a singer,” he laughed. “It’s a little bit stressful today,” he later added, with the camera pointing out his shaking hands.
At one point, he broke some of the garnish he had been moulding, and was left with his head in his hands as Cherish warned: “Be careful!”
He told the camera: “That was another level, ridiculously hard. I couldn’t do this particular side of the job.”
Grace was full of praise meanwhile, saying: “I know that Alfie went to hell and back but it was worth it.”
Ahead of starring in this series, Alfie shared: “I wanted to rise to the challenge of the Celebrity MasterChef competition. But also, when I got here, I realised it’s not all about winning the show. It’s about learning, it’s about picking up tips, and being strong on timings – that element of the competition is tough.”
Celebrity MasterChef is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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