Uh oh. Channel TEN has confirmed it is preparing a 10 part celebrity version of MasterChef.
“It’s a definite starter and you’ll see it this year,” a source told the Sunday Telegraph. “We’re not far along on the contestants, so nothing I can tell you about them yet.”
This is a risky move given the show is still firming its brand in Australia.
Seems some networks can’t resist over-cooking their formats. The word “celebrity” is usually attached to a format when it is struggling, hardly the case for TEN’s new reality series.
Source: Sunday Telegraph
Smart idea but Id rather just keep it to one Masterchef program, people will lose interest quicker, even if its only for 2 weeks. Nines version will be a failure – no one does reality TV like TEN does.
Ooohhh, that’s not good and any Australian show with our so called “celebs” is just cringe worthy.
Given that this won’t have any of the difficulties attached to other celebrity spin-offs like Big Brother (no celeb showers!) or Friday Night Games (should’ve been done with regular folks like a game show – celebs too concerned about losing face – same goes for Hole in the Wall) or The Apprentice (uh what are they competing for?) then it probably will do well.
I think this show will succeed. It will be either 1 ep per week over 10 weeks or 2 eps over 5 weeks. I dont think its overkill and the UK does a version of this also and has been working for years. I knocked this version of the show when TEN changed the whole format but i love this show now except for the Thursday eliminations which need to be replaced with a cook off for their life where they can use whatever they want and not out of that stupid pantry!
Who knows it might be fun to see Celebs fall on their feet in the kitchen
Good thing they’re only making 10 parts to the Celebrity version, might be dodgy if they make it go on for months. Good luck to the show, people thought MasterChef Australia would be a fail but it’s doing so well now so Celebrity version might be good. I hope the original version doesn’t get affected if the Celebrity doesn’t go well.
Hmm.. On second thought from my first comment, this series could work as a one-off thing done for charity or something like that.
If they have it with the celebrity chefs from each week I reckon that would be something good to watch, but if it was random D-Grade celebs then it’ll definitely fail.
I actually watched Celebrity MasterChef on Lifestyle Channel this weekend (the UK version) and it was actually really good.
It’s quite a condensed version of the normal show, with just 3 challenges and 3 celebrities each episode. If they followed the same format, I think it would work well for an Australian version.
@ George,
Completely agree that TEN’s promo department is fantastic – definitely the best in the country by a long mile. Nine have been pretty good with their identity promos (Still the One, wehearttv, choose nine etc), but Nine sucks when it comes to advertising a specific show. homeMADE’s promos definitely gave away too much, while TEN’s promos have always been a bit more secretive, and catchy. Well Done to TEN.
But I think Nine’s version could rate as if people knew it was like MasterChef, they might actually watch it because MC is great.
the ch9 version you guys are talking about is “The great australian cookoff” they are airing the contestant call now. the only hint they give is that is that it will be an “exciting new cooking competition show to find australia’s top cook” i guess it’s no accident that they didn’t use the word chef.
i agree that the MC promotion was terrific.
I would definately check it out. Rather than having it stripped across 2 weeks though, I would be inclined as David mentioned to have 10 1 hour episodes for 10 weeks, it would wrap up the year once Masterchef actually finishes. But there are a few things. I would have, celebrity chefs (i.e. Maybe the ones that participated in the show during the course of the competition) come in a battle off against each other. Then prehaps have another show where George and Gary have a cook offf with Matt Preston judging both dishes……
If on the other handd it is D-List celebrities then the show could go down the poop shoot….
that would make sense, having celebrity chefs cooking off against eachother. they need to choose very carefully r this could not work, but also dont forget celeb versions run pretty short
could it be that it is actually a cook off between celebrity chefs, as it seems TEN refer to the professionals in the current format as celebrities
@Gerry:
TEN’s promos are really good in my opinion. They get people intruiged but without giving away everything which happens. The “sneak peeks” done for MasterChef were just that, Sneak Peeks. They ran for 5 mins max I believe and not for ages on end like Nine and homeMADE.
Nine really need to take cues from TEN. Get people interested without oversaturating the show before it airs. You may have been able to get away with completely drenching 2.5 Men but it won’t work for every single TV show.
And if Nine do try to make their own version of the show it’ll probably flop bigtime because people aren’t so stupid that they won’t be able to see it’s a cheap copy of MasterChef.
This would be so bad for them to do a celebrity version of master chef, when networks for those types of shows, they always fail and loose rating. bad idea ten!!
@ redbullboy,
Are you serious, Nine are going to create a version of this? If they do, their promo department will kill any chances of it being a success. MasterChef’s promos got people talking, even though it was so unrealistic (people doing backflips, etc). Hopefully Nine don’t kill their own version by showing back-to-back “sneak peaks.” They should just have a decent promo like TEN. Well done ten on this show, it’s great.
I agree “Celebrity” MasterChef doesn’t sound too appetising and may harm the popularity of future seasons. However a few years back they did the same with Big Brother and that went on to last for six more years, so who knows.
Hmm.. I’m not sure whether to be excited or disgusted by this.
I wouldn’t mind us having a junior and professional version of the show, but a celebrity version is kinda trashy, but if it leads to us having the other versions done in the UK I’ll live with it.
Earthquake, who is to say it won’t be one ep a week over ten weeks? It will rate short term but it’s a shame to see the brand go this way so soon at potentially long term expense.
I think were getting fed too much MasterChef.
wyh ten have got to do this ill never no, but if they were goin to do another Masterchef format they should of gone with MasterChef: The Professionals. However i still feel ten should of rested this series to next year. did they not learn from Celebraty BB or Bondi Rescue: Bali? Anyways one thing is for sure, if it works it will help tens last 1/2 of the year.
Whoever said this is a risky move is clueless, this is the soundest decision coming out of a massively rating new series Ch10 can make. It’s bankable, you know people will watch from the get-go. In the end, it’ll be the exciting-but-now-familiar format running for 3wks with some celebs who can cook (this is a cooking show, contestants need to be able to cook to get on).
In a few weeks half will you will be shocked and amazed to see someone like Tom Gleeson raise a perfect souffle, you’ll be all like “oh wow, I didn’t think it would work but Tom Gleeson is amazing, he’s so much funnier than the other shows I’ve seen him on before!”
Bass, I do remember celebrity ready steady cook – but Celebrity Masterchef should be a different kettle of fish.
Masterchef seems a lot more refined and less wacky than it’s daytime cousin.
Paull and Barrie – I saw a promo on 9 the other night for a new cooking show that sounds identical to MasterChef. It was only a matter of time before 9 came up with their copycat version. Is anyone else tired of 9′s “original” ideas?
Because it’s only running over two weeks, I don’t think it will do much harm to Masterchef. But if it were running for months, it could get rather dodgy.
I’d like to see the Masterchef contestants up against celebs though – that would be interesting.
Anyone remember Celebrity Ready Steady Cook??? didn’t think so….good reason for that….. don’t do it 10.
I think it will be very different to to normal version. Probably a little lighter, less serious and a lot shorter. i dont see any harm doing it and it may help them close out the eyar nicely
Paull – a great little franchise for channel 9 or 7 would be “Come Dine With Me” Its a fun 30 min show where 5 neighbours take it in turns (over 5 nights) to host a 3 course dinner party. They all give scores out of 10 for each night and whoever gets the highest score wins.Its shown in the UK at 5pm.
How about a teenage version of it? Like, chef-in-the-making Masterchef.
I’m just waiting for channels 7 and 9 to come up with their versions- Expert Cook and Professional Kitchen Person.
This is a very risky move, because celebrities always tries to outdo each other.
Like with normal MasterChef, the contestants all like each other, their all friendly and get along well. This has definitely been a key to its success – the non-bitchiness about the show.
With celebrities, this could turn ugly. Hopefully Ten don’t screw this show up, especially after the success of MasterChef, it would be disappointing to see the show’s concept be destroyed by some stuck-up celebs.
good idea i reckon. the current series is close to finishing and most people are loving the show and want more. why wait until the show struggles before making a celebrity version? just hope it doesn’t become overkill
Anything with the word “Celebrity” before it is a big no-watch for me. Don’t stuff up the format TEN. “Celebrity” usually means publicity-seeking has-beens or wanna-bees, or radio people that no one outside of Sydney has ever heard, and most of Sydney don’t listen to.
Uh_Oh!@!@!!!!!
It will probably rate well, but I don’t see why you would cheapen what is probably the biggest hit of the year… I’m disappointed, I want to see regular joe making good, not so called “celebrities”….
im up 4 this!
In the UK there are 3 MasterChef formats played throughout the year. A regular MasterChef featuring amateur cooks, a Celebrity MasterChef, featuring Z-lebs and a MasterChef: The Professionals, featuring professional cooks.
Whats the bet the Tele got it wrong again just like they did with the TEN News extension.
No huge shock here, if its just ten eps, say, stripped across two weeks toward the end of the year then I dont see it doing any harm to the franchise
This is a dodgy idea. I know they’re desperate for hits especially in the second half of the year but doing a format with people trying to build a life and aspiring for their careers is different for audiences than watching dodgy d-list celebs learn how to cook. Do we really want to see Ricki Lee and the latest Home and Away reject in a series like this?