Josh Eggleton, last year's college winner of the Gordon Ramsay Scholar competition, is on course to pull off a unique double and win this year's main prize, having made it through to the 2004 semi-finals.
If Eggleton, who heads up the kitchen at the Olive Shed in Bristol, is on form in the semis, he and five others could win through to the final in September at London's Restaurant Show.
Already there are Jane Mulholland of the Tallaght Institute of Technology in Dublin, who won the 2004 college title, and Mark Sycamore of the Blanket Bay Resort in Glenorchy on New Zealand's South Island, the winner of the scholarship's inaugural overseas heat.
Also in the semi-final shake-up are James Barber of the New Angel, Dartmouth, Devon, and Marcus Eaves, of Hibiscus in Ludlow, Shropshire - both finalists in 2003. The semi-finals take place next week on 25 and 26 August at the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies.
To see the full semi-final list, log on to www.caterer-online.com/news.