The first of two dishes to honour this week’s guest judge, Ajay’s ‘Row Hard or Row Home’ is a deep-fried rice flour boat containing sago-crusted potato croquettes with crispy kale, tamarind chutney, apple matchsticks, pomegranate seeds and green herb chutney. Having accidentally set fire to his first batch of boats, Ajay is not in a good place. ‘You cannot do this to yourself on every dish,’ warns Andi, urging him to be better organised. Nisha says she’s hunting for the tamarind chutney. Ajay’s forgotten to put it on. Tom doesn’t like the bouncy serving board – ‘Like trying to eat a packet of crisps off a trampoline.’ Katherine just thinks it’s all ‘very lovely.’

Kevin’s starter is a fusion of Ancient Greece and Scotland – the laurel leaf meets the thistle. Celeriac stuffed with mushroom and black truffle is topped with a thistle-shaped artichoke and served with Jerusalem artichoke velouté and a cep-flavoured laurel leaf tuile. The mood of the fractious chefs is echoed in Tom’s assessment of the ingredients – ‘It feels like they’re having a bit of a fight.’ Ed thinks it’s ‘insipid’ and though Katherine and Nisha are a little more positive, they agree it’s essentially ‘a delicious lumpy soup.’ 

Inspired by Andy Murray, Ajay’s ‘Game, Set, Catch’ is butter-poached lobster in a coconut and shallot broth. Tom gets halibut instead. It’s served with cumin-spiced potatoes, carrot chutney, coconut chutney and a fishnet tuile. Ajay decides to leave off a dosa crepe that previously accompanied the dish, but Nisha would probably have welcomed it. ‘I’m wanting something to dip into the chutneys,’ she says. All agree the lobster and halibut are ‘cooked beautifully’ but Katherine is less convinced by the link to the brief, and Nisha agrees. ‘A themed plate is not enough,’ she asserts.

The iconic running scene from the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ inspires Kevin’s fish course, as it was filmed on the beach in St Andrew’s Bay. Using a local catch of sole, he layers it with scallop and dill mousse, then serves on wilted spinach with black garlic and pickled walnut purée, moules mariniere sauce and stuffed and panko-crusted mussels. Tom looks saddened by his alternative plate of monkfish, cod cheek and miso sauce. ‘It’s hugely complicated in terms of flavours, but then feels really bland,’ he sighs. The others are similarly unimpressed. Katherine says it’s not ‘particularly memorable’ and Ed complains the mousse is ‘gritty.’ As the tide comes in on Kevin’s beach scene, Nisha concludes ‘this was all a bit of a wash out really.’

‘Row Katherine Roe’ is the second dish to pay tribute to the guest judge, as Kevin cooks venison in a water bath, then caramelises it in butter. He serves it with a slab of venison haggis, cavolo nero, sautéed girolles, celeriac purée, potato boulangère and a whisky and green peppercorn sauce. ‘I already love this course – I don’t care what it tastes like,’ jokes Katherine. Tom says the haggis is ‘brilliant’ and ‘the absolute highlight of the dish’ but he’s disappointed by how cold most of the elements are. Nisha says, ‘it would be great in a posh restaurant’ but, in terms of being banquet-worthy, ‘it’s just not there for me.’

As the two chefs take a break from rubbing each other up the wrong way, Ajay turns his attention to rubbing a leg of lamb, which he does with Greek yoghurt, garlic, ginger and no less than eighteen spices. Roasted alongside honey-glazed root vegetables, it’s accompanied by berry pilau rice, pomegranate raita, apple and mint chutney and a rogan josh jus. ‘Fantastic’ is Tom’s assessment of the lamb, but Ed is less enamoured by the pairing of rice and potatoes. ‘It makes me feel weird,’ he confesses. Nisha agrees ‘it’s wrong’ but she argues ‘it’s still a great potential banquet dish.’

On to pre-desserts and Ajay’s is a mango kulfi with fresh mango and basil seeds, whilst Kevin’s is a medley of blackcurrants and blackberries, served as a salad, cremeux and sorbet, and finished with a champagne foam. ‘I’m really not up for bits of cardboard being stuck on a plate with Blu-Tack,’ complains Tom of Ajay’s border of cyclists. ‘This one looks like it’s Chris Hoy with his blue willy out,’ he adds. Equally tacky presentation aside, Kevin wins three-one on flavour.

Swapping his out-of-season peach dessert for pear, Kevin continues to honour rugby sevens Olympian Lisa Thomson with a rugby ball of almond mousse, poached pear, pear cremeux and an almond and ginger crumb. But then Kevin forgets to put the crumb on. ‘It should still taste nice,’ he says hopefully. It does, but Tom isn’t happy that ‘the chefs are forgetting stuff.’ ‘I imagine that when we meet the chefs later, one of them will have forgotten to put his trousers on,’ quips Ed.

Inspired by Paralympic archery champion, Nathan McQueen, Ajay’s dessert is chocolate cremeux, white chocolate bonbons, caramelised white chocolate, cherry gel and hazelnut crumb, served with a refreshing mint and raspberry sorbet. Nisha isn’t keen on the presentation, but Tom concludes, ‘Flavour-wise for me, this has been the highlight of the day.’

As Andi announces Ajay as the winner, the judges add their notes of realism. It’s been a relatively low-scoring heat and Ajay will need to do ‘more work’ to prepare for finals week. In the meantime, Kevin toasts his rival chef’s success with a glass of leftover whisky. Pass the bottle Kevin… we all need a drink after this week!