Ballymahon's Maura Higgins appearing in new series of 'Cooking With The Stars'

Maura Higgins, the former Love Island contestant from Ballymahon, is one of eight celebrities starring in a new series of Cooking With The Stars which gets underway on Virgin Media One tonight (Tuesday) at 9pm.

Hosted by Emma Willis and Tom Allen, Cooking With The Stars sees each of the contestants being paired with a professional chef who will mentor, teach and take them from passionate amateurs to restaurant-level chefs.

The local woman will be mentored by Jack Stein, chef director across the Rick Stein restaurant group.

The other contestants in the series are: dancer and TV personality Anton Du Beke (mentored by Rosemary Shrager), Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes (mentored by Ronnie Murray), This Morning's Josie Gibson (mentored by Tony Singh MBE), Chaser Anne Hegerty (mentored by Jean-Christophe Novelli), TV expert Dr Ranj Singh (mentored by Clodagh McKenna), comedian Joe Wilkinson (mentored by Judy Joo) and DJ Woody Cook (mentored by Mike Reid).

Through a series of cooking battles, the celebrities will be trained by their mentor chefs to produce delicious dishes that will be judged by the remaining professionals.

'British dishes' is the theme for the first show in the series. The bottom two in each cooking battle will fight for their place, creating a dish without any help from their mentor. The result of this cook-off will be decided by a blind tasting judgement from the professional chefs.

Cooking With The Stars airs every Tuesday from 9pm on Virgin Media One and Virgin Media Player.