So the non-amateur version of one of our favourite culinary shows came back to our screens as Gregg Wallace, Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti reprised their roles as judges.

It was the first round of heats at Masterchef: The Professionals where six chefs were tested on their basic skills.

Masterchef Professionals
Contestants Bobby, Sam, Lewis, Mark, Rebecca and Aaron (Shine TV/BBC)

The first three were told to create French dessert iles flottantes (floating island) in 15 minutes, while the remaining contestants were asked to cook a blue steak with a green peppercorn sauce, before being pitted against one another to cook a signature dish in the final challenge.

Here’s what went through people’s minds as they watched the first episode of the show.

1. Masterchef is back. Life can’t get much better than this!

2. Unlimited licence to turn into food critics. Bring it on!

3. While of course taking stock of our own cooking skills and comprehending the irony.

4. There’s also that occasional feeling of disbelief. And this time it it was floating islands that got both contestants and Twitter stumped.

To be fair, the contestants were asked to make the dish in 15 minutes but Michel Roux Jr’s version on BBC Recipes takes 30 minutes prep time and another 10-30 minutes to took.

5. That feeling of stress you can’t ignore while watching six chefs cook their hearts out. It doesn’t always make relaxing viewing.

6. Masterchef also made some of us feel a bit festive.

7. And some of us felt pretty hungry.

8. But we lost our appetites when the chefs were serving up blue steak in the skills challenge.

9. Thankfully there were loads of amusing facial expressions to keep us suitably entertained.

10. We couldn’t help wonder: “Has Marcus taken a chill pill?”

11. Some of us couldn’t quite believe pearl barley had different textures.

12. It wasn’t just barley people were talking about. Sam cooked cauliflower three ways as part of his dish.

After an hour of watching the chefs cook at top speed and under immense pressure, three of them went through to the quarter finals.

“Who is likely to eradicate the mistakes going into the next round?” Gregg asked the all-important question as the judges deliberated on their top three.

In the end Bobby, Sam and Mark went through while Aaron, Rebecca and Lewis were given the boot.