The original and the best. Discerning judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace are back to put more undiscovered amateur chefs through a series of increasingly difficult tasks in this iconic show. Don’t miss the ultimate culinary competition. Twelve contestants, picked from thousands of hopeful amateurs, will face 3 high pressure tests to see who has the passion, the skill and the creativity to make it to the quarter finals.
One of the many things I love about the real Masterchef (by which I mean the UK show, which has a title and not much else in common with our breezier, sleazier version) is that the synopsis is almost the same for each episode. Each episode has the blurb above; the quarter-finals – held after four “heats” – have their own generic blurb. That’s because the show is about cooking. And food. Not personalities, journeys and back-stories. Sure, we are introduced briefly to contestants to hear about where they developed their love for food and where they would like this to take them, but with six contestants per heat [the scheduling has changed this season, with two heats shown in an hour-long episode] this is not about making a connection with a particular “character”.
I’ve written about Masterchef before, over on Reality Ravings, so I won’t bang on too much about it here, except to note a couple of very pleasing changes. The first quarter-final elimination is no longer a “name the ingredient” test, but a 15 minute skill test, which seems much fairer. The initial skills test was a highlight of the most recent Professionals – I only wish Monica had been brought in for this section. The other change, which I think was also pioneered in Professionals, is that Gregg and John have been a lot more flexible with eliminations and finals places. Some heats have a number of strong cooks to choose between, whilst others are a case of identifying the least-bad. Rather than grade on the curve, the judges have – on two occasions – put two cooks through to the quarter finals. In a recent episode, rather than cull three from the first test, they could only identify two Masterchef level cooks, so culled the other four. I’ve always had confidence that the contestants can cook – these changes just strengthen that perception.
The real Masterchef is the perfect balance of food TV and competitive TV. I’d love a local version…
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Masterchef is on Lifestyle Food. First-run episodes are (I think – the guide is ridiculously difficult to navigate) on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7.30. They are repeated throughout the week and in “marathons” each weekend.
Note: the Lifestyle Food website has links through to the BBC site for recipes – be wary of spoilers, since the show has finished over there!
[...] For people who are missing Masterchef Australia, the UK version has started, and if you are wondering what is is about Injera has the precis on her blog. [...]
I’ve been watching the UK Masterchef and have done so for the last 5 years or so.
Its funny, how everyone criticised our Masterchef for the focus on the crying and how the UK version was far more highbrow.
Well, they couldn”t be more wrong.
There is blubbering in almost every episode on the UK version. I’d sort of forgotten about it from previous years but watching it again now and with the Oz MC not that long finished, its really noticeable.
And I have to say that the Oz format is far superior.
Don’t get me wrong. I was (and am) a big fan of Masterchef UK but IMO it is now the little brother of our version.
Thanks for visiting, Paul!
I guess I see the UK and Australian versions as two completely different shows. One is focussed on entertainment (and there’s nothing wrong with that) and the other is – whilst trying to amp it up a bit – is still connected to its roots from the old Loyd days. I love both food TV and reality TV, so I guess I prefer the UK as “food TV” and the Australian as “reality TV”. If the local version had been called, say, “So you think you can cook!” I’d be fighting it out for uber-fan status!