This week's seven best home cooks from the first rounds return to test their culinary wits and try to prove to judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace that they have the potential to be MasterChef Champion 2023.

The contestants face two more challenges designed to gauge both their creativity and culinary repertoire. The first is their most difficult test so far – cooking a dish to a brief set by one of the country's toughest food critics, Grace Dent. Grace has asked them to put their finest plates forward by cooking the ultimate pot luck supper dish.

The pressure is on to impress, because at the end of this test only the best cooks will remain in the competition.

Then, the remaining cooks face one more challenge to earn a place in this week's quarter-final – cooking a dish using spice. With just four places up for grabs, who can handle the pressure and show they have what it takes to progress further in the competition and take another step closer to being crowned MasterChef Champion 2023?

After five weeks of fierce competition in the heats, the amateur cooks have been whittled down to just 14 to kick off Knockout Week. All of them have just one goal – to lift the coveted MasterChef trophy. Only the best can become semi-finalists at the end of this week. Over the next two nights, the heat intensifies as the remaining 14 contestants are split into two groups.

The first group of seven returns to compete for the chance to experience the pressure of a professional kitchen for the first time. They must cook a dish that they would have on the menu of their own restaurant, pop-up or feature in their cookbook. Gregg is away, so guest judge Anna Haugh joins John in the MasterChef kitchen to decide which five contestants will go on to cook at a restaurant and which two will be going home.

The remaining five contestants then head to London's Kings Cross, where they will be working at Decimo under Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, a chef with two Michelin-starred sites in his home town of Bristol that specialise in a combination of Spanish and Mexican cuisine.

During a busy lunch service, the five amateurs will be entirely responsible for serving the restaurant's menu to paying customers. Who will buckle under the intense pressure as they cook in a demanding and totally new environment?

In a competition where only the food matters, these amateurs will need to stand out to survive – taking another precious step towards being crowned MasterChef Champion 2023.