Fans of the BBC hit show Celebrity MasterChef will see Blists Hill Victorian Town during the show’s the semi-final on Thursday 16 July.

The celebrity semi-finalists leave their familiar kitchens behind in the studios and travel back in time to 1900 to create a Victorian lunch for 70 of the Town’s volunteers and staff.

The programme was filmed earlier in the year at Blists Hill Victorian Town, where life at the turn of the last century is demonstrated by the costumed clad townsfolk. In order to welcome the filming, two special marquees were constructed on the Town’s Green and fitted out with kitchen equipment. To get the semi-finalists into the spirit of the day, they arrived in style on a horse and cart and explored the historic streets, cottages and shops.

The eight celebrities hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s champion Sophie Thompson, are: actor Scott Maslen; actor and presenter Sheree Murphy; soul singer and presenter Mica Paris; Pussycat Doll and television personality Kimberly Wyatt; singer (The Wanted) Tom Parker; singer songwriter Chesney Hawkes; TV presenter (and one half of the presenter duo ‘Sam and Mark’) Sam Nixon and TV presenter, personality and singer Rylan Clark.

Paul Gossage, Director of Marketing & PR explains: “It’s not every day that I receive a phone call asking if I want eight celebrities to cook lunch for our volunteers, and I quickly realised that this was a wonderful opportunity for the Museum. A few weeks later we were given the good news that the production company wanted to film here, and the actual day of the filming was great fun with a wonderful atmosphere around the town.

“The 70 volunteers who were treated to the specially prepared lunch thoroughly enjoyed their meal and seeing behind the scenes of MasterChef. Fans will have to watch the show to find out what was on the menu and which dishes proved to be the most popular.”

This episode of MasterChef is on BBC One on Thursday, 16 July at 9pm.