diff --git a/backend/pipeline/stages.py b/backend/pipeline/stages.py
index db9d62f..e148cd6 100644
--- a/backend/pipeline/stages.py
+++ b/backend/pipeline/stages.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from collections import defaultdict
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import yaml
-from celery import chain as celery_chain
+
 from pydantic import ValidationError
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine, func, select
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session, sessionmaker
@@ -1745,18 +1745,12 @@ def run_pipeline(video_id: str, trigger: str = "manual") -> str:
         video_id, stages_to_run, resume_from_idx,
     )
 
-    # Build the Celery chain — first stage gets video_id as arg,
-    # subsequent stages receive it from the previous stage's return value
-    celery_sigs = []
-    for i, stage_name in enumerate(stages_to_run):
-        task_func = _STAGE_TASKS[stage_name]
-        if i == 0:
-            celery_sigs.append(task_func.s(video_id, run_id=run_id))
-        else:
-            celery_sigs.append(task_func.s(run_id=run_id))
-
-    if celery_sigs:
-        # Mark as processing before dispatching
+    # Run stages inline (synchronously) so each video completes fully
+    # before the worker picks up the next queued video.
+    # This replaces the previous celery_chain dispatch which caused
+    # interleaved execution when multiple videos were queued.
+    if stages_to_run:
+        # Mark as processing before starting
         session = _get_sync_session()
         try:
             video = session.execute(
@@ -1767,12 +1761,26 @@ def run_pipeline(video_id: str, trigger: str = "manual") -> str:
         finally:
             session.close()
 
-        pipeline = celery_chain(*celery_sigs)
-        error_cb = mark_pipeline_error.s(video_id, run_id=run_id)
-        pipeline.apply_async(link_error=error_cb)
         logger.info(
-            "run_pipeline: dispatched %d stages for video_id=%s (run_id=%s, starting at %s)",
-            len(celery_sigs), video_id, run_id, stages_to_run[0],
+            "run_pipeline: executing %d stages inline for video_id=%s (run_id=%s, starting at %s)",
+            len(stages_to_run), video_id, run_id, stages_to_run[0],
         )
 
+        try:
+            for stage_name in stages_to_run:
+                task_func = _STAGE_TASKS[stage_name]
+                # Call the task directly — runs synchronously in this worker
+                # process. bind=True tasks receive the task instance as self
+                # automatically when called this way.
+                task_func(video_id, run_id=run_id)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.error(
+                "run_pipeline: stage %s failed for video_id=%s: %s",
+                stage_name, video_id, exc,
+            )
+            _set_error_status(video_id, stage_name, exc)
+            if run_id:
+                _finish_run(run_id, "error", error_stage=stage_name)
+            raise
+
     return video_id