Great British Menu 2024 finale: Former Yorkshire Olympian athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill to appear on BBC cooking show celebrating British athletes competing in Paris 2024 games

The winning chefs are preparing a Team GB Banquet for some of Britain’s greatest Olympians and Paralympians to wish them the best of luck for the Paris 2024 Games.

Great British Menu will reach its finale on Friday, March 22, 2024 with the winning chefs’ most ambitious Banquet to date, which will be held in Paris, home of the Olympics 2024.

The finale will be hosted by the British Ambassador to France at the 18th century British Embassy Residence in Paris.

There will be 70 guests at the Banquet and their complex dishes will have themes around the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will need to be delivered in record time as the athletes are on a tight schedule with a return day trip from St Pancras to Paris.

The finale banquet will be attended by past and present Olympians and Paralympians including Dame Katherine Grainger, Colin Jackson OBE, Sheffield retired athlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Ellie Simmonds OBE, Dame Mary Peters (1972 Champion pentathlete), defending modern pentathlete champion Joe Choong MBE, wheelchair rugby champion Stuart Robinson MBE, and a representative of the newest sport to be inaugurated at the Olympics this summer, Breaking star, B-Boy Karam.

There are also athletes from a wide range of sports including taekwondo, hockey, rugby sevens, badminton, sailing, rowing, gymnastics, archery, para-archery, para-high jump, para-cycling.

Great British Menu presenter, Andi Oliver, said: “We’re kicking off the banquet actually on the Eurostar to get it all completed in time, with a canape being served on the train and the clock isn’t going to stop ticking at the British Embassy Residence either, as our guests need to catch the train home at the end of the day and the chefs have a four course feast to serve them!

“But I’m incredibly proud of each chef for getting to the final and don’t doubt that we have an exceptional banquet this year to share with the Ambassador and all her Team GB guests. The Ambassador and her team made us feel so welcome, it really is an exceptional finale to our series.”

Michelin starred chef and head judge on the show, Tom Kerridge, said: “If our winning chefs can pull this one off, they really are superstars.

“They’ll have to show their British dishes can hold their own in Paris, the home of classical fine dining and cooking in the kitchen at the British Embassy Residence is a huge honour for any professional chef, I’m a little bit envious of that.”

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The British Ambassador to France, Dame Menna Rawlings, said: “As Ambassador, it’s my job to promote the UK in France, so I was delighted to host the Great British Menu banquet at the British Residence in Paris.

“It was a fantastic celebration of great British cuisine, thanks to the four winning chefs. Even our French guests were impressed – praise indeed from a nation of food-lovers! And it was an honour to meet some inspiring Team GB and Paralympic GB athletes past and present, ahead of the Paris Games this summer.

“The Great British Menu banquet was inspiring and impressive. I’m honoured to have been part of it. Congratulations to all the winning chefs, and onwards to the Olympics and Paralympics!”

The Great British Menu Banquet episode will air on BBC Two at 7pm on Friday, March 22, 2024 and all episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.