★★★★★ 0/5

MasterChef 2.0 is coming

If you think MasterChef has lost a bit of soul this year you're not alone -but there are already plans to restore its brand for 2012.

66
Leave a comment

It’s been almost impossible to ignore the growing dissent over this year’s edition of MasterChef.

The show has been attracting good numbers but viewers and critics have been expressing their disappointment in the series.

Favouring certain contestants, unfair Immunity challenges, dull contestants, uninspiring dishes, accidental Spoilers, strict behind-the-scenes rules, unnecessary lockdowns -the list of complaints grows with each passing week. Dani’s cook-off against Eamon Sullivan this week saw a major backlash amid cries he is not a professional chef.

But at the heart of the problem has been a shift from celebrating the talents of ordinary Aussies to raising the bar higher and higher -to levels of incredulity. The drama no longer emerges from a contestant’s ability to rise to their own ambitions but in trying to top the shock-and-awe of a previous challenge.

While the judges try and tell us this is ‘tough love’ in the grooming of a professional chef, it’s hard to know how “lockdown” in a New York hotel room contributes to character. What’s next, Siberian salt mines?

All of this contrasts enormously to the first season when it was a breath of fresh air to have a Reality show that wasn’t chockful of nasty judges and heroes and villains. Remember that show?

TV Tonight understands the changes -and the audience response- has not gone unnoticed.

The powers that be are looking to see the soul restored into MasterChef for its 2012 season. While there are no expressed plans to change the judging line-up, there are rumblings that the brand has to be restored. But there will be an uphill battle to win back audience trust.

Later this year Junior MasterChef returns. It will again be produced by Shine Australia which takes ownership of the main event for 2012. This will see it under the helm of the creative team that produced the first season.

While the current edition is heading to its finale, nobody in the inner circle is keen to have a detailed discussion about the misgivings of this season.

But there are already plans for MasterChef 2.0.

66 Responses

  1. i really loved the first several series of MC. Much more realistic and we used try and replicate some of the dishes. It was fun, laid back and realistic. I am still watching an occasional episode but find it makes me anxious and I always feel frantic. Ans the dishes and challenges are often not even achievable in the time frames given…. a disapointing season of a fabulous show. Lift your game Msterchef and give us more of the original stuff that we loved.

  4. How we can get down to the last 6 and then have one of them go up against Eamon Sullivan for an immunity pin is just unbelievable. The red team winning last night…..well we All knew That was going to happen. The thing that is most ridiculous is that Ellie is in the top 5!!!!!!!! Ellie!! Come on.

  6. I agree with you David, I think Hayden is going to go before the final and I think it might be tonight. It’s not going to be the big shock that they hope though as I think a lot of people want Hayden to go.

    I also think Michael and Alana are the ones who are going to make it to the top 3 at the very least. Michael would be a deserving winner.

  7. @ franz chong …..See…there you go….different opinions….
    I love Matt Preston…..he has a subtle sense of humour….and knows what he is talking about….food wise…..

  8. Spot on David. Matt Moran is ok it’s Matt Preston and the way he slides food into the side of his mouth that gets me. Has he got a neck problem? The best 3 cooks are in tonights episode but I’m sure that Dani will get to say a lot. I will tape it so I don’t have to watch the Fire, at the end. I don’t like Junior Masterchef either.

  9. As one who has worked on Masterchef and other reality shows, I can tell you the editing process starts at the back of the show and to see who does well and who does badly. And then you fill in the front. If someone “flies under the radar” it’s because they are hardly ever top or bottom – eg Alana. As for people like Kumar or Billy – if they are hard to understand, they get precious little airtime. And if they are generally disliked by the producers such as Sun, they also get little airtime.
    And of course footage and interview grabs can be manipulated any way a producer wants to.
    Most shows are only an hour less adverts – so you can’t include everybody’s food. there just isn’t time.
    But yes – the show jumped a number of sharks this year. But whether the people currently in charge of Renovators and Fattest Loser can do a better job next year remains to be seen.

  10. @Darwinite, yes, the food cooked in the Masterclass has always been fancified, “restaurant” style dishes, as the Masterclass is meant to show the contestants specialised, chef style techniques for cooking. It is very rare indeed that they show a straightforward meal that can be easily cooked at home.

    Interesting theory about Hayden, his elimination would be a Marion moment, as he has been seen to be a protected favourite all season long. Personally, I think he should have gone before the top ten, but he has received so much attention, I reckon they would want him in the top five.

    I agree about Alana and Michael. Neither have had as much airtime in cutaways as the remaining contestants. Alana has been virtually ignored, she has had very little on-screen attention, much like Sun, who was also largely ignored by the editors. Alana has really sailed under the radar.

  12. I’m a MC fan but agree with several disappointments. It has been the least satisfying series so far but I have still been glued to every episode. I have faith in the producers taking care of the brand and upping the standard in 2012.

  13. David Knox,
    If so many people keep bringing up the fact they believe there is favouritism at work do you think that there could be something to it?

    Or are we all seeing favouritism because we don’t like Dani & Ellie and need an excuse?

    1. People claim favouritism because they are responding to the visibility of contestants, ie. how much camera time someone gets, how much media attention, whether their dishes are rated higher. In storytelling a series this long, it makes sense to edit in the people ahead of when they are being eliminated. Last year’s winner Adam didn’t have that much camera time until the final stages of the series, he was largely unknown. I don’t think Alana and Michael have had as much as some others of the remaining batch. Do the editors know something we don’t?

  14. This is no Spoiler, because I don’t have any inside info on this… but I reckon Hayden is being primed for an elimination. The show previously had a big media boost from Marion’s “shock exit” in the lead up to the finale. I think the field is about to be thrown open…. just a hunch.

  15. As a new viewer to Masterchef this year, is the food cooked on the masterclass especially fancy this year? Or is what they are cooking the norm?

    When I look on the website it seems to have recipes for food that looks quite nice, but everytime I seem to watch the masterclass it is all fancy food or when it is relatively normal they ruin it by putting in bone marrow.

Leave a Reply