James Martin has revealed how he met his match – with a cayenne pepper meal.

The TV chef, who is a judge on new BBC One cookery competition The Box, admitted taking a mouthful of a dish made by a contestant left him and fellow judge Rosemary Shrager nursing their lips.

“I had one of the hottest dishes I’ve ever eaten,” he recalled to TV Times. “Someone used raw cayenne pepper – Rosemary had a mouthful and nearly choked! We called it The Defibrillator.”

The show sees amateur home cooks creating a dish from an unseen box of ingredients, which has been assembled by celebrity guests such as Mary Berry, Prue Leith and Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood.

Mary Berry is a celebrity guest on The Box (BBC/Shine TV)
Mary Berry is a celebrity guest on The Box (BBC/Shine TV)

“Mary Berry loved it because it’s so different, as did Fay Ripley, Ainsley Harriott and actresses like Helen George and Jessie Wallace, who are all big foodies. They’re fantastic!” he said.

“Unbeknown to the contestants, they watch them cooking with their chosen ingredients. Rosemary was shouting at the TV monitor over what they were doing with hers.”

But there were also some pleasant surprises.

“The best dish was by a big burly northern lad who’s more used to cooking meat and veg. He created some tapas out of chickpeas, which were delicious. I’ve never done anything like that,” James said.

The Box airs at 4pm on BBC One from May 25.