A new spin on the popular reality cooking show is set to debut this season as Britain's Most Psychedelic Chef hits the air. Competitors will be expected to prepare a wide range of gourmet cuisine to the highest standards in rarified environments using only the finest ingredients and most sophisticated equipment while high, or, in later, more challenging rounds, completely tripping their balls off on acid.
Gregg Wallace explains. "We're always talking about finding new flavours, about pushing the boat out. I think we've just about tried everything that can be done with conventional igredients, so we're adding a few new elements to the mix. We're looking forward to such delights as the Steak & Magic Mushroom Pie, the LSD BLT and braised deer nostrils served with creamed leeks, lemon sauce, lightly garnished with crack. We've already seen some levitating brownies, they'll be big at parties this year."
There have been quite a few problems with contestants getting hungry and eating their ingredients and occasionally each other, plus the judging has been known to get "interesting" once a few entrants decided to "spread the love". Wallace comments "One round of judging went on for three days and at the end of it instead of eliminating anyone we decided that music is good. The criteria are different this time- after a few dishes taste buds stop functioning as per normal and you have to judge the quality of a dish by things how large your hands seem, whether you can hear colours, incidents of time travel, that sort of thing."
But there is another take on the concept. "Get a load of fit young people, dope 'em up, give 'em some chocolate sauce, don't say anything when they start pouring it on each other. It's hit telly innit?" said the BBC Director of Programming as we caught him by chance having a smoke in the stairwell.
