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Cravat-alicious!

Matt Preston tells TV Tonight he isn't sure if the honeymoon with the Australian media will be over with the second season of MasterChef.

Matt Preston has been doing the rounds.

As MasterChef Australia begins its second season, he’s been telling journalists, radio hosts and anyone who will listen that this series has a higher level of contestant, with even better dishes served up. Even in his theatrical style he manages to find a way to make every interview entertaining.

But as he explains to TV Tonight, he also admits to uncertainty about whether the honeymoon with the media will be over this year.

“It’s very interesting,” he considers,”whether there will be a shift, how will there be a shift, the tall poppy, all those things.

“The number one question from them is ‘Is there pressure after having a hit show?’ But there’s pressure when you’ve got a dud show. There’s pressure when you’ve got a show that’s going to be axed, or has 110 crew who won’t fulfil their allotted time on the show.

“And people want to know what’s different, but we’re trying to change a minimal amount.”

Preston feels last year media watched the show for professional reasons but then actually became genuine fans. As a food critic himself, he has noticed they have become more engaged with the show and how it has changed the dynamic of interviews.

“They bloody know what they’re talking about because they’ve seen the show,” he says. “Speaking as a journalist, sometimes you’re asking questions about something you don’t particularly know a lot about. As you do a series of interviews you’re building up your knowledge so you can write a decent story.

“But with these guys they watched it and they know every nuance. So they will say ‘I felt this didn’t work, that didn’t work.’ So we have to be as passionate and informative as they are about that.”

Last year as the Australian viewing public celebrated the show’s positivity, media were reluctant to carve the show up as it had done so many reality shows before. There were barely any articles on the deep, dark pasts of contestant, or behind the scenes friction. Preston acknowledges the “positive run” delivered by media, but admits it may not be so easy second time around.

“Because it’s a show that people love, if it’s not true to itself, true to it’s form, I will expect people to come after us. And I would hope they would come after us. I don’t think that’s going to be the case, but I think that’s what the pundits will be looking for -to see if we’ve damaged it in anyway.

“You’ve only got to look at the way Chris was treated in the first show to see there was a hunger. Once the show starts getting decent numbers, then they get on board.”

TEN has a lot riding on MasterChef‘s second season. Slated in its new 7:30 slot it goes up against tougher, more varied competition than in 2009. The network hasn’t had a strong start to the year, but if anything can turn around its fortunes, it’s the cooking contest that sent the other networks back to the drawing board.

“The interesting thing for me is how would the show have been received if there hadn’t been My Kitchen Rules or Celebrity Masterchef? I think what’s intriguing is that Celebrity MasterChef reminded everyone that what made the first MasterChef so special is that it was real people. And that’s the focus of the second series,” says Preston.

“The other thing is that there has been a fair break. Often what happens is you have a hit show and they try to rush into a second series pretty quickly. It’s a bit like going for another giant meal half an hour after the first one. Because there’s been a bit of a break there’s been a chance for people to develop a taste for it again.”

So is he worried that Seven’s show may have diminished the appeal of TEN’s? Not likely.

“I think the comparisons will be between MKR and Series 2, rather than Series 1 and Series 2. I hope because the production values on ours are so high that we will come out of it quite favourably on that basis,” he says.

“Our feeling was always that we wanted it (MKR) to be a success, not just because we know Manu and Pete. That’s obviously one element. But the real damage would have been ‘Oh no, cooking is dead as a segment, let’s move onto the next thing.’

“But it proved there was a genuine interest in cooking and how people cooked.”

MasterChef Australia airs 7:30pm weeknights on TEN.

24 Responses

  1. I’m quite nervous about bagging a show that David so obviously loves (heard him on the radio this morning) but I can’t help myself.
    The reason I won’t watch this show, and so many others, is that I’ve seen the original (which was British I believe) several years ago FTA in a crap timeslot, liked it, and am sickened by the way these clone shows also clone the identical presenters and personalities. The UK show also had a fat dandy food critic, a rough-as-guts unshaven chef who asks “yeah?” at the end of every sentence and a limp peacemaker. Recognize the stereotypes? Kyle S, Dicko, Simon Cowell, the corpselike old guy on US Dance. Ryan Seacrest, Grant Denyer, Andrew G. Marcia H, Paula Abdul, Danni M – they’re the same 4 people who zip on different skins for different shows.
    And once you’ve seen it one reality show you’ve seen them all – the fake bonding, close-ups of teary eyes, artificial suspense, pointless stress and pitiful backstories. Masterchef is just more soap television, people!
    And soap, albeit in a red wine jus garnished with compote de pommard and a cinnamon/redcurrent glaze, still tastes like soap.
    Sorry David.

  2. It was good to see it back. I’m worried that this early on contestants are breaking down in tears and having fits of hysterics. What will they be like at the sharp end of the competition? I hope they’ve had plenty of Kleenex on hand during production.

  3. Tonights first ep was pretty dam good, so much was happening which is what i like. matt seemed a little unhappy at first but by the end he was his usual happy self.

  4. As the first episode kicked into gear I think I’d forgotten how much I’d missed MasterChef. What other show can make a collapsing pavlova such compelling TV?

  5. @Ant – I’m glad you commented on GLBTIQ ‘cos I didn’t know what it meant. I’ve not seen the acronym before. I looked it up in the Free Dictionary and it means Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer. Yeah! I learnt something new today.

  6. I have no issue whatsoever with diverse casting and actually think its good – My beef was with the acronym GLBTIQ or whatever it is… Most i would suspect wouldn’t have a clue what that stands for

  7. Channel 10 really stunned me with how good they made this show. Full credit to a top production team who make it what it is. I’ll be watching every episode, again.

    I also love that it’s not a show that begs to line 10’s coffers with SMS voting revenue.

  8. @ Michael… If it goes ‘the way of BB & Idol’, then those of us who love it will be pretty lucky! That means you’re wishing for at least 6-7 more seasons of MChef. Thanks!

  9. I hope it goes to the scrapheap.Does anyone remember during season 1 how the loyal Friends and Other American Sitcom Viewers lost their programme for garbage like this plus Big Brother before that not to mention Idol.

    The Idol is a pile of crap.

  10. Ten are going to kill this so fast. Why do they saturate their schedule with reality rubbish like this and TBL. People are no longer committed to watching shows religiously everynight. Surely they would know this.

    @Michael – agreed.

    The guy gives me the creeps.

  11. MasterChef is a good show! I won’t be watching as having it on 6 nights a week with so many hours is ridiculous, but its better than most stuff on FTA

  12. The difference is this time the contestants are coming in with a fairly good idea of what to expect, so the worst thing you can do is present them with that. But at the same time, you can’t just throw in (cliché alert) “game-changers” that upset the successful format.

  13. I like the old adage of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Here’s hoping Matt Preston’s statement that “we’re trying to change a minimal amount” will be proven accurate.

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