The judges were mixed on this dish. Oliver felt there was a missing element, something to balance the venison, but Prue argued that the beetroot did that. Joy approved. “This is a straightforward good eat that Churchill would have appreciated...I’d be delighted if presented with this at the banquet."

Tom’s "Homing Pigeon” followed, and Tom felt a lot of pressure to repeat his top score. The dish consisted of potato, cabbage, baby leeks, turnips and carrots, topped with fried ceps, then pigeon breast, pigeon hearts, pigeon consommé and a pigeon leg carrying a hidden message. The dish didn’t let the judges down, with audible mmm’s and aah’s as the judges bit into the crispy pigeon leg. "Perfectly cooked,” said Matthew of the entire dish. Joy, who’d never had pigeon, was impressed and agreed it was “very tasty”.

Finally, dessert. Adam was up first but was struggling with the same problems he had during the week: the kitchen was too warm, delaying his ice cream from setting. So Tom volunteered to go first giving Adam a bit more time.

Tom’s dessert, “Winston Churchill Treat Box”, consisted of foods he imagined would be Churchill’s favourite things: chocolate custard, chocolate soil, chocolate crisps, malted chocolate biscuit with whiskey caramel and beer ice cream, all served in cigar boxes. “A marvellous thought and typically British,” said Joy. “There is LOTS of booze in it,” said Prue, though not necessarily with disapproval. “This is my kind of pudding,” said Oliver. “I take my hat off to him,” said Matthew who pointed out how improved this dish must have been if it had scored only a 6 during the week. “I’m not really a pudding person but this is right up my street,” said Joy.

Adam’s dessert, “Logan’s Legacy” an homage to American allies, came next: chocolate orange bars, orange jellies, evaporated milk sorbet and milk and orange granita. The dish barely benefited from the extra time, with the sorbet cream floating off the sides of the plates. Still, the flavours were right. “The quality of the chocolate is quite terrific,” said Oliver. “It goes beautifully with the orange jellies,” said Matthew. The sorbet “sauce” was the only let-down. “Spillage is obviously a result of the kitchen,” said Oliver forgivingly. And although Prue found this evaporated milk element “horrible”, not all judges agreed. “I have to fundamentally disagree,” said Matthew, “I’m an evap man.”

Decision time and you could sense that both chefs were very close. Even with their shortcomings, all of the dishes were pretty incredible and the judges agreed, awarding amazingly high scores including four tens. In fact, it was so close that when the judges added up the scores, both chefs scored the same. This was the first time in Great British Menu history that the result was a draw, leaving it up to the judges to pick a winner, a task that proved impossible. In the end, the judges agreed that both chefs deserved a shot at the banquet, and so both would go through to the final round. Congratulations Tom and Adam! Here’s to raising the bar for the GBM National Final - see you there!