Ainsley Harriot’s never been a stranger to hyperbole. As narrator of Country Show Cook Off - BBC2, 6.30pm, Tuesday - exaggeration is his best friend. He introduced stars of the show Theo Randall and Rachel Allen as the nation’s “best-loved” chefs. Then he claimed they were about to take part in one of the steepest competitions in cookery.

The herculean challenge in question? The Scottish Women’s Rural Institute’s chocolate sponge competition at the Atholl & Breadalbane Agricultural Show, no less. Their offerings - chocolate tortes flavoured with whisky in Rachel’s case and coffee in Theo’s - didn’t do it for the judges. They wouldn’t even taste Theo’s. “It’s not even a sponge,”sniffed one, pushing it around as if it had been scraped off the floor of a livestock pen.

The hilarity of the judges aside, Rachel and Theo possessed the screen presence of hat stands, and the show’s tried and tested formula of sticking a couple of nobodies in a vintage van and sending them on a trip to ‘discover’ foodie treasures was frankly tired. Ainsley’s narration also grated, though nowhere near as much off-screen as on.

No. The real stars of the show were the good ladies of the SWRI. The ‘enigmatic’ Mary Buchanan, a SWRI veteran of 25 years and winner of this year’s sponge bake-off, wouldn’t even appear on screen, so it was down to second-placed Bridget to put the boot in. She did it with style, explaining slowly and loudly to the so-called chefs what a sponge was. The SWRI should have a programme all to itself.