Shropshire chef Jane Bennett missed out on the chance to cook at a star-studded celebrity banquet when she fell at the final hurdle of a TV challenge.

Millions of viewers last night saw Jane, from Shrewsbury, go head-to-head with Lancashire mum Justine Forrest for the right to prepare a three-course meal at the home of notorious food critic Michael Winner.

Guests included Sir Roger Moore, The One Show’s Christine Bleakley and Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh.

But despite going into the challenge as the clear favourite, Jane was told by the notoriously straight-talking critic that she “collapsed” under the pressure.

The challenge marked the culmination of the ITV series Michael Winner’s Dining Stars, which saw the film director-turned-critic visit the homes of ordinary people across the UK as a guest at their dinner parties, before delivering his sometimes stinging verdict on their food and hospitality.

Jane, who teaches at the Brompton Cookery School in Atcham, was the only person to achieve a two-star trophy for her home banquet during Winner’s tour, and for last night’s head-to-head challenge in a clifftop fort on the Cornish coast, she prepared pea soup, cottage pie, and bread and butter pudding with a whisky-infused ice cream.

But the meal didn’t go down well with an assembled panel of guests, who criticised the soup for being too cold, left much of their main course uneaten, and felt there was a lack of butter in the dessert.

Jane described the experience as “definitely the toughest cooking day of my life”, and acknowledged that she hadn’t performed to her potential in the Cornish cook-off.

But she said: “I was the first to get two stars, so that shows I can do it, and that is a lot to be proud of.”

Michael Winner admitted that he had been expecting Jane to triumph over Justine in the cook-off, but said: “Jane just collapsed in Cornwall”.

He added: “Neither of you did nearly as well as I was hoping for – I’m not a happy bunny.”

Reflecting on her defeat, Jane said the day had shown her “it is not as easy as I thought it was”.

But she insisted it had been an amazing experience.