Donna Hay joins MasterChef judging
Donna Hay will judge MasterChef celebrity chef challenges, while the show is being questioned as contestants are allowed to 're-plate' dishes.
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Best-selling author and cook Donna Hay will join as a MasterChef judge on celebrity chef challenges every Tuesday night for the rest of the season.
“Gary is on the floor so he had to step out as a bit more of a facilitator role between the celebrity chefs and the contestants and that only left two judges – so I am now the third,” she said. “How can you not support a show that changed the food industry in a matter of months? It has just been incredible.”
Hay’s inclusion will help to address the loss of a female presence when TEN jettisoned Sarah Wilson from the show. With all the hosting and judging from Mehigan, Calombaris and, to a lesser extent, Matt Preston, it was a move the network may yet regret.
Meanwhile the show is also under fire for contestants being allowed to ‘re-plate’ dishes in between finishing them and delivering to judges.
In a challenge on a caramel parfait glace dessert, 20yo contestant Callum Hann was allowed to re-plate before a taste test by Mehigan, Calombaris and Preston.
Executive Producer Margaret Bashfield has said, “Due to the duration of the filming process, on rare occasions both the contestant and the celebrity chef in MasterChef‘s Celebrity Chef Challenge are offered the opportunity to re-plate dishes between the completion of the challenge and the tasting,” she said.
“This occurs with elements such as ice cream, sorbet and sauces, which can deteriorate under the studio lighting before the tasting can take place.”
Gary Mehigan said, “It was done under supervision … even though he was allowed to put the chocolate mousse back on, [producers] wouldn’t have allowed him to fuss about with it for long enough to alter the outcome.”
This isn’t the first time the practicalities of television production have come into question for MasterChef. Last year Poh Ling Yeow told TV Tonight that dishes were sometimes cold by the time judging sequences were filmed.
“The food wasn’t tasted hot because of the time delays,” said Yeow. “So that was really frustrating for us at times. We did have a tasting plate, so the judges would come around while we were cooking and they would taste stuff as they went along. But the actual dish would be tasted cold which is really bad for some things as you can imagine.”
Source: Sunday Telegraph
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24 Responses
I’m sorry but I don’t care what Donna Hay has to say about the contestants food. She has no credibility whatsoever as a real chef like Justin North.
Aaaaaaaagh….
Why Must we have a token woman on everything?
We had brunette Barbie and she left. Nota problem!
At least Donna is short and stout. and has a few clues….. would have been nasty to get another clueless plastic trinket..
But Really?? The lads were doing fine and there are woman contestants and women Chefs…
“Food science nerd” indeed Donna…. Are you hoping for as role on America’s Top Chef after this?
Please….. More George and Matt and Gary…..
Wow, what a bunch of s**ts. Donna Hay is a great Australia chef and judge. MS has been a total manzone since Series 1 and a tad sexist. It’s so obvious. While we’re talking about flaws in MS – blind judging, people! They have their favourites. They shouldn’t see the contestants cooking and they shouldn’t know whose meals they are judging -Or- the other judges’ comments until they have their decisions written down. They influence each other! George was an apprentice to Gary – it’s a conflict of interest. Make the show transparent, Channel 10.
But if there is re-plating involved then can you explain to me how Adele’s pavlova cake was served with the side crushing under the weight of the cream.
Just re-plate a new one then
or why that girl was allowed to serve uncooking chicken in that challenge…re-plate some cooked one
The re-plating was so obvious even on first viewing, but it’s more than just the melting of the dessert or to make it more visually acceptable for TV.
Nobody has mentioned that if the original plating of the dessert was presented to the judges, they would immediately know which was the contestant’s and which was the chef’s. That would straight away ruin the disinterest in terms of judging. The two dishes need to look at least similar for the judging to be somewhat fairer.
A poster on Whirlpool put up the issue of Callum re-doing that dessert. There’s a long-running topic on masterchef, and he put up captures from his taping of that celebrity chef challenge. A day or so later, it’s a news story. Whirlpool readers are quite suspicious!
As for a “female presence”, I didn’t even notice that tall useless girl from last series wasn’t there. I thought her role was demeaning, just a mobile mannequin. No token females, please. As for Donna Hay, ugh.
This season, MasterSook has some good elements, and some bad ones.
Masterchef, aka masterbore, aka mastercon…the names keep rolling on, but it was a con from the start and will be to the finish. Just wish I was in on the merchandising, then I could be happily ripping of the ryans and harrys of the world. 😀
This whole melting problem, why not put the stuff in a fridge, before it’s judged, just get a waiter to get the completed food from the contestants, and put it the fridge. Problem solved.
Ugh, she totally ruined the final week of the first season. That uncooked chicken girl would make a better judge than Donna Hay.
This is how BB is replaced. It’s like BB has said I want a food show that manipulates viewers and the contestants. I knew that some dishes would be cold, but to re-plate just for my eyes is not dazzling, it’s DisasterChef. I trained as a chef and some dishes I hand up to the pass or the chef in training was critiqued, but I was never told to re-plate. I was given cold turkey on the presentation, appearance and flavours. It makes me think now George’s Meatloaf style burger is his way of saying your burgers are piles of rubbish on a plate and that It goods to have producers who can re-plate. Also I wonder how they got that Girl for the party?
i always wondered how they did that… i assumed there must’ve been heatlamps or something and was curious about desserts n such… i dont think it bothers me…. as they say here, im sure its done under strict supervision…. and if a contestants dish suffers because his or hers is not chosen to go first then thats not a fair competition… they cant all go first… and they are filming a tv show… there’s gonna be delays alot of the time
as for donna hay, i wasnt a fan before n her appereances on the show so far havent changed my mind… as a couple ppl have mentioned, she seems a bit in love with herself… i dont think it’ll be enough to see a ratings drop, but i dont think regular viewers will like her joining the panel… tv viewers like consistancy… and they wont like the gary/george/matt staple trio being disrupted… just my opinion
@Nick – Exactly. Contestants are picked because they make good TV, not good food. The food is replated to make it look good and make good television. And guess what? It works, MasterChef is good TV.
Prob a good idea to have gary on the floor and to have a woman judge
“it takes away an element of legitimacy”
So does picking contestants based on their personality and not on their cooking ability. The whole this is rigged and manipulated. But who really cares.
@Chris – I totally agree – I stopped buying her cooking magazine after the cookbook challenge last year.. She had better act a bit more humble this time around and not so up herself…
I can understand if the article on re-plating comes from Fairfax, but this is from a newspaper owned by a company that also publishes the MasterChef monthly (News Limited)? Does News Ltd wants its newspapers to be impartial, or continue its support for MC?
@Chris: I agree. As a brand name, Donna Hay is a coup for the show. As a judge, I have found her decision making to be questionable at best.
Even though re-plating is unfair, im pretty sure the studio lights are really hot so it’s impossible for it to to not melt.
i’m still wondering if 7&9 paid the sunday terrorgraph to run this ‘exculsive’ story. oh well, i doubt it will effect the ratings.
Donna Hay isn’t that great a judge. I don’t really question any of the judges because I’m not much of a foodie, but her decision in the cookbook challenege last year had me questioning her objectivity. I hope I’m wrong though. Also, the female presence does provide a point of difference from the sea of the [mostly] faceless/unknown male chefs.
they do it during the 50 minute ad breaks
Is it just me or does she seem really up her self?
Re-plating dishes should not occur, otherwise it takes away an element of legitimacy. Contestants should be able to place deserts in the freezer after preparation, if they are not going to be served immediately. Also, for hot food, contestants should be provided with heat lamps or thermal shelves.
Somehow viewers are know cooking experts critiquing plating. Just enjoy peoples
Donna Hay is a real person??
I just thought it was a brand name (geared towards housewives)…. Kinda like how no-one goes to McDonalds and thinks of the original McDonald brothers…. just another brand name.
But then I never read the food parts of a newspaper or mag. I eat food, not too fussed on finding out how to make it…. way too much effort for a lazybones like me 🙂