Who Will Win Cooking With The Stars?

The Cooking With The Stars final is nearly upon us after a tense semi-final whittled the celebrities down to a top three.  

There's a new favourite in the kitchen, and on betting sites, following Tuesday night's semi, during which comedian Katherine Ryan, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds, TV presenter Carol Vorderman and former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Pasha Kovalev battled it out for a place in next week's grand final.  

Sadly for Katherine, it was a cook too far and she exited the competition at the semi-final stage, leaving Pasha, Carol and Ellie to battle it out for the coveted Golden Frying Pan prize.   

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Carol Goes Past(a) Pasha  

The Cooking With The Stars fixture computer served up a tasty clash between Carol and Pasha to kick off Tuesday night's semi-final.  

All four celebrities were tasked with making dishes from their favourite destinations around the world, and former Countdown co-host Carol opted for an Italian-inspired prawn and tomato pasta.  

After impressing the judges, who voted 4-2 in her favour, she became the first star to advance to the grand final. 

Cooking With The Stars Winner Odds 

It came as Pasha had a couple of issues with his Sri Lankan potato curry, which was served with coconut rice.  

While his effort was praised by pro chef Jack Stein as being a "semi-final worthy" dish, some of the panellists criticised his potato cooking, insisting Pasha's spuds were overcooked and had turned to "mush". 

Following her semi-final win, Carol is now 4/6 favourite on betting apps, from 11/10, to win the contest, and she has leapfrogged Pasha in the market.  

Ellie's Whitewash Win  

Ellie took on Katherine in the other semi-final showdown.  

The swimmer cooked up a tantalising Thai coconut curry noodle soup with handmade egg noodles.  

While she didn't manage to get her jammy egg on top of the dish after they kept going wrong, her efforts were widely praised by the panellists.  

Rosemary said she couldn't fault Ellie's broth, but she would have liked to have seen an egg on top. 

Despite the issue, Ellie recorded a 4-0 whitewash victory over Katherine and is now 15/8 third favourite on specials betting sites, from 2/1 last week.  

Katherine's chicken thigh tacos with crispy chicken skin and pico de gallo attracted plenty of positive comments, but they weren't enough to put her into the final.  

In a risky tactic, she deviated from her mentor Jack's tortilla recipe and learned how to make them online instead.  

Despite this, Katherine's tortillas were described as a "triumph", and following the feedback, she joked Jack's colleagues had "roasted" him.  

However, one criticism about her dish was she didn't put enough spice on the chicken.  

Pasha's Pommes Progression    

Following Pasha and Katherine's losses, they faced each other in the cook-off.  

Such is the quality the pair possess, this could have easily been the line-up in next week's grand final. 

They were tasked with making a vegan tarte aux pommes, which is basically a fancy apple tart.  

After a judges blind vote, Jack inadvertently voted out Katherine, his own contestant, and Pasha went through to final with the most votes.  

Despite advancing, Pasha has drifted slightly on new betting sites. 

He is now 11/8, from Evens favourite, to win the Golden Frying Pan, but it is a tight final to call.  

What's more, it's not yet confirmed whether Cooking With the Stars will return for a fifth series.  

It's 13/8 for ITV to serve up another helping of the star-studded series, and 8/13 for the show to be well done after next week's grand finale.