CHANNEL Four has finally revealed what celebrities including Gary Barlow, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross have been up to on Southend Pier for Jamie Oliver’s new show.

Tune in to Jamie and Jimmy’s Food Fight Club, much of which was filmed in the former Pier Head Cafe on Southend Pier over the past few months, from next Thursday to see Hollywood A-lister Ms Paltrow stuffing her cheeks with marshmallows, camp funnyman Mr Carr playing “fig roll roulette” and an Essex cheese complete with spray tan and a vajazzle.

Jamie, who was brought up in Clavering and claims to have been conceived under the pier, said: “When we were nippers, British food was all pop tarts, boil in the bag and carveries.

“But since then we’ve undergone a food revolution and it's time the world woke up to the fact that our grub deserves its place on the world stage.”

The Naked Chef and farmer friend Jimmy Doherty will pitch the best of British food against its French, German, Belgian and Italian equivalents in the four-part series.

But the show also features their celebrity friends helping cook up a storm – and get messy – in the redecorated Southend cafe.

In the first episode Mr Carr shows the boys how to play “fig roll roulette”, in which one biscuit contains a Dorset Naga chilli pepper, which is 400 times stronger than Tabasco sauce.

Jamie and Jimmy also make an Essex goats cheese, complete with spray tan and vajazzle-style decoration using saffron and chilli, to compete against French fromage.

Ms Paltrow, who tried Adventure Island rollercoaster Rage when she was in town, demonstrates her own food fight challenge, entitled “chubby bunnies” in the second show.

She challenges Jamie and Jimmy to stuff their cheeks with as many marshmallows as possible while still being able to say “chubby bunnies”.

The Echo revealed last month that Take That singer Gary Barlow got covered in chips and milkshake after Jamie and Jimmy – dressed as Smurfs – took him on Rage for the show.

Jonathan Ross was also due to be filmed on the ride, but rolled up in his black limousine two hours late for filming.