Celebrity MasterChef winner crowned after cooking 1970s dinner party menu

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Ginger Johnson has been crowned the champion of Celebrity MasterChef 2025 after she cooked a 1970s dinner party-themed menu.

The star, who won series five of Drag Race in 2023, won the BBC One cooking competition with a menu consisting of a Bloody Mary prawn cocktail, duck a l’orange and flaming baked Alaska.

Speaking after the win, Johnson, whose real name is Donald Marshall, said: “I cannot believe this, I’m so shocked. I really thought I was going to come here and have a laugh.

“I can’t believe this is the end result of the competition. It’s absolutely crazy, I can’t wait to tell my mum and dad. I’ve actually learned a real life skill.”

In the final cook-off, Johnson beat out competition from former rugby player Alun Wyn Jones, and author and broadcaster, Dawn O’Porter, to be crowned the 20th winner of the show’s celebrity version.

Speaking about Johnson’s cooking, judge John Torode said: “With all the presentation, all the fun, the laughs, her food tastes delicious and she’s an extraordinary cook. For me, that’s why she is our champion.”

Fellow judge Grace Dent, who was presenting her first full series of the programme, said: “Throughout this entire competition Ginger has delivered these intriguing, inventive, exciting, imaginative, difficult feats. What she’s done is something really impressive.”

Johnson said her menu was inspired by her love of 1970s art, culture, fashion and music, and said she wanted to make the “most fun, exciting, humorous food”.

After tasting the menu, Dent told Johnson: “You’ve always put on a show and made us laugh, but at the root of it there is a serious cook.

“There’s never been a point when you haven’t tried to take things and twist them to another level to impress us and excite us.”

Johnson added: “Being part of this competition has pushed me to be adventurous – trying to bring the creativity that I find in the rest of my life into food. I’ve caught the bug for the food and the competition.”

Dent replaced former presenter Gregg Wallace after he was sacked following a series of misconduct allegations relating to his time on the show.

Torode appeared in the series, which was filmed earlier this year, before he was also sacked following an allegation of using racist language, which was upheld as part of a report into claims of misconduct on the show.

The Australian chef will be replaced by Irish chef Anna Haugh from the show’s next series, MasterChef: The Professionals.

Previous winners of the show have included Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Vito Coppola, opera singer Wynne Evans and Pussycat Dolls singer Kimberly Wyatt.