‘Loosely based on a cawl, or Welsh stew’ is how Corrin describes his weightlifting-inspired starter, full of fresh veg and ancient grains. Into kettlebell weight bowls go leek and miso purée, charred leek, silken tofu, caramelised spelt, warm leek dashi broth and chive oil. Colin says he’s a fan, but feels he’s been ‘tasting a little bit too much of the leek family.’ Ed thinks the grains have a ‘slightly unpleasant texture,’ but Tom disagrees. ‘I thought the chew on the grains was fantastic,’ he says.

‘Arigato Tokyo, Bonjour Paris’ is Larkin’s celebration of the handover of the Olympics and Paralympics. It’s a little zen garden of omakase-style sushi – a crispy maki roll of salmon and avocado, tuna nigiri with wasabi, salmon nigiri with yuzu, tuna and wakame gunkan, and a salad of salmon trim and flying fish roe in a sesame, soy and honey dressing. ‘Sushi on the Great British Menu,’ cheers Nisha in anticipation, adding ‘I’m really excited about this.’ However, she’s ultimately disappointed. ‘There is no link to the brief,’ she admits, as the judges fail to find any trace of Paris in the tasty food. ‘You want French-Japanese fusion,’ suggests Colin, and it’s just not there.

‘I’m a little bit nervous actually,’ confesses Corrin, as he realises he’s about to serve his ‘Ode to Colin Jackson’ to the man himself. His version of a Caribbean favourite – saltfish and callaloo, has salted mackerel warmed through in miso butter, spiced callaloo purée made from Swiss chard, barbecued and raw sweetcorn, puffed wild rice and a dressing of soy and roasted mackerel bones. ‘I think this may be one of those rare occasions where I’m let down by the presentation, but the flavours are doing enough,’ admits Ed. Colin loves it too, but Nisha isn’t quite as tolerant. ‘I love that it’s about you, because we love you,’ she says to Colin, ‘but that is not enough.’ Tom reflects on his fellow judges’ opinions and simply adds, admiringly, ‘I’ve not had a combination that comes together like that in a long, long time.’

For his main course, ‘The Shoot’, Corrin serves barbecued French Anjou pigeon crown, beetroot and vanilla purée, roasted beetroot, pickled lettuce and a pigeon, soy and chocolate sauce. After no less than four unsuccessful attempts, he’s finally happy with the pastry for his accompanying tartlets of pigeon offal and beetroot. Nisha and Colin love it too, but Tom isn’t so sure. ‘I think the pastry is nice, but I think it’s the wrong type of pastry… it just explodes and crumbles,’ he says. Ed ventures that it’s part of the theme – ‘it’s like someone’s taken a shotgun to it.’

‘The Cauldron’ sees Larkin rework a hugely popular dish from his last appearance on GBM – the hotpot. Thin slices of Welsh sirloin are dropped into the bubbling broth of beef dripping, chicken stock, bean curd, spring onion, Sichuan pepper, liquorice and chilli, along with noodles, mushrooms and chrysanthemum leaves. Cumin-rubbed and barbecued lamb cutlets accompany, alongside sauces of fermented chive, fermented tofu and more chilli. ‘Mega!’ is Tom’s appreciative assessment of the blazing presentation, but the food itself gets a lukewarm response. ‘I’m not getting the pop of Sichuan that I want,’ bemoans Nisha. Ed agrees that it may be ‘slightly one-dimensional in the flavour’ but he loves it anyway. ‘I just don’t think that it’s quite as exciting as it looks,’ concludes Tom.

‘I think that’s just gorgeous!’ beams Nisha, as she tucks in to Corrin’s pre-dessert of a little buckwheat cone of soya bean ice cream and shiso meringue. ‘There’s no shiso in the meringue,’ complains Tom. Ed prefers Larkin’s cube of torched marshmallow with a blob of yuzu curd and an apple blossom petal, but Nisha thinks it tastes a bit ‘fishy.’ Colin grimaces and says diplomatically, ‘it was not as enjoyable as the first one, for me, personally.’

On to dessert and Corrin’s miso treacle tart is proving popular even before it arrives in the judging chamber. ‘I’d order this on a menu,’ says Ed, and Nisha agrees that ‘it sounds so good.’ Given his previous pastry problems, it’s fortuitous that Corrin has swapped the traditional shortcrust for a caramelised milk crumb, serving it with a yoghurt and honey ice cream. ‘I love this!’ smiles Tom, adding ‘it’s so simple… and it’s delicious.’ Colin agrees that ‘it’s created magic in the mouth.’

Larkin’s dessert is a bao bun of salted duck egg custard served with chilled herbal tea. It’s meant to resemble a shot-put shot, but, having ditched the charcoal colouring that caused problems with the dough’s texture, it now looks like… well, as Tom says, ‘…it is perfectly lovely to eat… but it is still just a bao bun.’

In the end, Corrin gets both the appraisal and approval of the judges and secures a place in finals week. He says he’s ‘got goosebumps’, he says he’s ‘over the moon.’ He still looks very, very cool.