James Martin’s Christmas Day viewers were left feeling baffled by the ITV show’s ‘unusual’ ending.
The chef, 51, was joined by guests Hannah Waddingham, Denise Van Outen, and the pianist and composer Alexis Ffrench for the festive culinary extravaganza on December 25.
They sampled a range of Christmas recipes, including prawn cocktail, roast chicken, and salmon mousse, whipped up by James, as well as dishes from chefs Galton Blackiston and Paul Ainsworth.
Meanwhile, First Dates star Merlin Griffiths, 48, brought even more festive cheer and provided the fizz – a very seasonal mulled cider – as they celebrated the big day.
To round off their Yuletide fun, the gang headed to Hampshire pub The Wonston Arms, where James and his band saw out the evening with a song choice that raised a few eyebrows.
Eschewing the likes of this year’s Christmas number one, Wham’s Last Christmas or other Noel hits such as The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, they belted out The Rolling Stones’ tune Sympathy For The Devil.
The 1968 song sees Mick Jagger singing from the perspective of the devil who boasts of his role in each of several historical atrocities and repeatedly asks the listener to ‘guess my name.’
On X, viewers were baffled by the unusual choice for Christmas Day, with Tom Lagden writing sarcastically: ‘#jamesmartin Sympathy For The Devil, very Christmassy.’
Echoing his sentiment, Katherine Heffe added: ‘Sympathy for the Devil is a lovely festive song for James Martin to cover for his Christmas special.’
Andy Pren also said: ‘I’m having a fever dream in which James Martin is on TV on Christmas Day jamming along to Sympathy With The Devil…’
Meanwhile, Kev complained the song ‘nearly ruined Christmas’.
The special, which was pre-recorded, comes a month after Saturday Kitchen star James announced he was taking a break earlier this month, after revealing in July that he had been diagnosed with facial cancer.
James who also appears on This Morning, underwent surgery in 2018 after the diagnosis, before it returned on ‘several occasions’ for which he has ‘regular treatments’, and recently said he will be taking a break but will ‘be back fighting’ in a few months.
James Martin’s Christmas Day is available to stream on ITVX.
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