The 45-year-old chef challenged his Michelin-starred guest Jun Tanaka to answer tennis-related questions from Judy Murray whilst facing the ominous task of batting away high-speed tennis balls being fired at them by a machine.
The ITV show took a manic turn as Jun went first, dashing about James’ back garden frantically trying to protect himself from the flying objects as Judy, 58, tested his knowledge of the sport.
Jun managed to answer a fairly modest two questions correctly, and hit 18 balls away.
With 20 to beat, James took his turn in the firing line, swinging wildly at the tennis balls and shouting out the answers simultaneously.
However, failing to divert several shots, he took a few hits as the balls bounced off his chest and shoulders.
“That properly hurts,” he exclaimed, before collapsing onto the grass clutching his arms to him.
“They should have padded jackets!” Judy laughed, as James called out from the floor: “Injury!”
He appeared to be fine though, getting back to his feet to hear the verdict as Judy read out the results.
“Well, you only got one questions correct, so that was really very poor,” she said. “However, you did surprisingly manage to return 26 serves!”
As James cheered loudly, running around and celebrating his victory, she added: “For James Martin, a total of 27 points which smashes Jun into the ground.”
Saturday Morning With James Martin continues next Saturday at 9.25am on ITV.