She took the country by storm playing sick mum Lola Pearce on EastEnders and now Danielle Harold is hoping to win over viewers in a completely different way when she appears on the latest series of BBC's Celebrity MasterChef . The actress, 32, from Lewisham, is one of a fresh batch of 20 celebs competing in the show's 19th season, which started earlier this week. Judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace are joined by a star-studded line-up ready to prove they have what it takes to be crowned Celebrity MasterChef Champion 2024.
Other contestants include reality TV stars Charlotte Crosby and Chloe Burrows, TV personality Christine McGuinness , The Traitors star Diane Carson, TV and radio presenter Craig Doyle. As for Danielle, what many viewers won't realise is that she has a unique link to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. But could that give her an advantage in the famous kitchen? For long before she was on EastEnders, Danielle featured in Jamie's Dream School - a Channel 4 show that aired in 2011 where the the chef helped 20 teenagers get back on track who have failed at school.
She had been trying to get into acting for some time. "I didn't know how to get into it. I used to constantly apply and didn't get anything," she told Marvin Humes in 2023.
But the show helped her find her path onto the telly. "I saw an advert for Jamie Oliver's Dream School. I was like, 'What's that?' One of the things on there was drama.
I applied, the phone rang and it was Jamie Oliver ringing my house number." Danielle won a scholarship and with the money made a show reel, which helped her get an agent. But that was still no guarantee of success.
"She was like...
'I can't take you on my books'...
three days after she called me up and said, 'I just so happen to have an audition drop on my table and I've got nobody on my books that fits, they want a young blonde girl." And the rest, as they say is history, with Harold going on to win the National Television Award for Outstanding Serial Drama Performance, and The British Soap Award for Best Leading Performer. While Harold's culinary skills remain to be seen, she sure seems to be able to go from underdog to champion - can she do the same in the kitchen? Celebrity Masterchef continues on Tuesday, August 20 at 8pm.
