Another 60 contestants will battle it out with their utensils over the space of eight gruelling weeks, as judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace search for the UK’s best amateur cook.

The competition begins with five weeks of heats featuring two brand new challenges. The contestants will need to bring ingredients from home to cook their Signature Dish in the first round, with the best two heading straight through to the third.

The other four will then take part in a Three Ingredients Challenge, creating dishes that must include all three of the ingredients included in a mystery box. Two will be sent home while the remaining four attempt to impress the judges and previous MasterChef winners and finalists with their own two-course menu.

The quarter finals will see the best cooks come face to face with some of the country’s top food critics, including Jay Rayner, Grace Dent, William Sitwell, Tom Parker Bowles and Jimi Famurewa.

High-stakes cook offs in knockout week will whittle the strongest 16 chefs down to 10, who will be divided into two groups of five to enjoy (or suffer) work experience in a professional kitchen for the first time. The featured kitchens are East London’s DaTerra and Manchester’s Wood (under 2015 Champion Simon Wood’s stewardship).

The semi-finals involve a Trafalgar Night dinner on the HMS Diamond for over 100 guests, recreations of Michelin-starred guest chef Tom Kitchin’s exquisite dishes, and the infamous Critic’s Table.

The four finalists will then have to broaden their gastronomic horizons in a series of challenges, recreating dishes on the island of Mauritius and those of Barcelona native Albert Adria, the world’s best pastry chef.

Only three will reach the grand final, where the most important meal of their lives awaits them.

MasterChef starts on Monday 24 February at 9.00pm on BBC One, followed by a further two episodes on Wednesday 26 and Friday 28, at 9pm.