MasterChef is finally here, screening on Ten tonight from 7.30pm.
Finally, a reality show that doesn’t spark a flood of tweets about toxic masculinity.
Mel, Jock and Andy are back and now seem like old hands. How quickly we became used to there being no Gary, George and Matt.
Unfortunately MasterChef is up against the LegoMasters season 3 premiere, so the audience for the family friendly shows will be split. Still, both shows should do well on catch-up TV.
The big question is: Will the eliminated contestants be allowed to hug their competitors? Remember how heartbreaking it was last year when they had to keep their distance as the silent tears flowed?
Ma$terchef too afraid to take on MAFS Finale in ratings last night. What happened to “believing in yourself”, that timeless piece of Ma$tercult insanity? Bryce vs Rice would have been good.
Eating Lego will probably be a better experience than the gruel we’ll see stumped up by the best ever cooks.
But these are the best cooks ever. Even a boilermaker, who I reckon will bring the toxic masculinity in droves. Plus toxic micro organisms to the kitchen with the filthy beard.
I’m an hour into this bilge and haven’t seen hand sanitizer or social distancing yet.
Coveted Ma$terchef Aprons are being thrown around like cheap confetti. Hell, there was even a dome.
These must be the greatest superspreaders ever on Ma$terchef. This could truly be food to die for.
Dave, how about the short scene of cooking before Melissa came out. One dude was flambeing something and blew on the food to put the flame out. Blew on it.
The boiler maker seems nice, for what that is worth. But that beard hanging over his food…
Blowing on food during a Pandemic, you have to marvel at the versatility of the best ever cooks.
You can blow on food , ie a scalding hot chop to cool it and consume it oneself…….but let’s face it, blowing on it and then serving it to an unsuspecting recipient, it’s culinary bottom feeding.
Five minutes in – count the cliches. I’d suggest drinking for every one uttered, but we’d all be blotto after 20 minutes.
There were so many promos and ads before this that I got a bit tired of it all.
I’m skipping through. How lovely is Tommy (chicken congee guy). The auditions are always a bit meh – bring on the competition!
If I get one of those new-fangled tvs, am I able to have two shows on the screen at the same time?
Have I ever seen so many ads in two hours?
Granted Ch 10 are struggling for bucks but……c’mon.
I feel Jock was mentally cruel for the sake of drama to the cancer survivor from Sri Lanka. What a prick.
Any takers on a bet that green-shirt guy doesn’t get in, no matter how good his second dish is? He’s the one who disagreed – out loud! – with what Melissa said. I don’t think I’ve seen her raise one eyebrow at a contestant before, but that can’t be a good sign.
Obviously he needs to raise his butt-kissing skills.
Yep. He deconstructed himself effortlessly.
That’s for singing shows.
Hibachi sighting tonight!
I’m Team Aaron (and not just because he’s from SA). That duck looked delicious
I want to enjoy the show especially as it doesn’t try to pit humans against humans for enjoyment but the stupid melodramatic music and editing makes it unbearable at times. We’ve been watching for 10 years now, we don’t need to be lead emotionally by the nose through these scenes of triumph over adversity. Just let them cook – the effusive judging is more than enough to add the drama.
I agree, just let them cook.
Trouble is,they can’t.
I turned off when the ice cream came out.
“I deserve an apron because I got cancer” Yawn.
I couldn’t get into the show at all last night. When that woman mentioned her nonna for the 47th time, I changed the channel. I relied on Ben Pobjie recap to find out the results and I’m sure that was more entertaining.
So it’s the first night of actual cooking competition. We have a mystery box, three immunity pins that are the only ones this season, which can be used at any time during an elimination round, and some really bad acting from the contestants being flabbergasted at every announcement. One dude dropped his jaw so far at hearing something or other that he might have dislocated it.
Melissa seems less than happy that she is on this season.
I don’t know when this was filmed, but they are all pretty casual about covid precautions and restrictions. Judges approach contestants’ benches and stand too close, then look at and breathe on the dishes being prepared. They need to back off.
MC started off pretty well last season but this season is annoying me so far.
Ma$terchef are Covid deniers, they don’t give a fennel about safety.
Example: the creation of the chicken skewers by some amata. Hands all over the chicken and through the marinade.
” Behold ny awesome passion, I have overcome great adversity so I could share these Chicken Spewers with youse all”.
Don’t give a fennel! Thanks for that. If only the rest of society was this aware that other words than filthy ones are sufficient to convey meaning. You gave me a chuckle. I shall now appropriate fennel as though I came up with it.
I hope you don’t give a flying fennel.
Fennel me if you do.
Have to agree with Von. It’s not fun this season. Can’t explain why.
Maybe it just can’t compare to LM and I’m just not willing to wait through the Nonna’s and the tears.
I start paying attention when the food is being tasted. Eric’s Strange Flavoured Chicken has won me, I want that recipe. I was drooling looking at that.
It seems as though there are no bad dishes this year; every dish is perfect, beautiful, great flavour, balanced, etc. etc. I know it’s early in the comp but is everyone really that good? How are they ever going to pick a winner? And, if they can’t, can they afford 24 lots of $250,000?
Ah, finally a negative criticism, someones chicken is a bit dry.
Nigella’s recipe: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/toasted-marshmallow-and-rhubarb-cake
Just came off finishing the current Masterchef UK season. The tone is soooo different. They were also heavily impacted by the pandemic and it shows. But still, no drama, no ott music etc. Just. Cooking.
I am not sure how far I will make it this season of MCAU, I just started the first episode and 15 minutes in, I am already annoyed by the noise level. The sob level,. And I am sure it just gets worse from here.
And puuuuhhhh-lease. I want to change my life and the food industry is the best thing for me, yeah, right, In the middle of a pandemic. Just be lucky your country doesn’t get hit as badly by all the Covid mutations as we in Europe do.
This might honestly be THE worst moment to venture into the food industry. Granted, Australia is doing fine, but don’t bet on your luck.
Schupfnudeln, baby!!!!
I hated them so much when I was a kid. Still am not the biggest fan of it. One of my Omas made them with Sauerkraut and pork belly. YUCK!!!!!
Last night’s pressure test was stupid. They had to replicate a Nigella cake going only by her description, although they did get a copy of it after she finished rabbiting on for what seemed like forever. Her effusive, over the top way of describing food and cooking has always irritated me.
Tonight’s guest is Yottam Ottolenghi. Tag teams have to cook a 3 course meal using Yottam’s flavour bombs and fifty other rules I didn’t pay attention to. I like him, so will watch more than usual. Team cooking is often funny, especially this early in the comp, since contestants don’t really know each others strengths but might know their weaknesses better. One woman volunteered to be team captain because she is a control freak. Control freak is not synonymous with good team leader, but we’ll see.
I like Tommy, Aaron, and the woman with the messy bun, who at least tries to control her hair :). I’m still finding it hard to get interested in MC this season.
I’ve never been a fan of Nigella.
She doesn’t cook my sort of food and I have always found her pretence that she doesn’t realise she is being “overly sensual” disingenuous.
And in these COVID times, her cooking style is gross. I wonder if we will ever get over some of this stuff.
Nigella blurs distinction between prawn and porn. Why give your spoonful a blow job?
Mac ‘n Cheese tonight. Talk about raising the bar.
Fattening, unhealthy.
Gimme some tofu from Aldi.
How pathetic was that outcome as determined by the judges. The brief, as presented to we viewers, was to USE bread, not TASTE it or to even recognise the texture. How bready is a bread and butter pudding for gors sake? I don’t have an objection to the decision, but I have an objection to the stated justification.
Didn’t meet the brief….haha. Use bread and that’s exactly what she did.
Why not “deconstructed” bread ? Just a few grains of wheat on a plate with some fennel puree drizzled over it. Just like my Nonna used to do it……….before she lost the house gambling on the pokies before she died. Give me my Ammunity pin now……..or I’ll cry.
Melissa is definitely not very interested in MC this season. She wore her flannelette pajamas to work so she could go to bed right after the show.
I am wondering when it was filmed. She has just gone through a separation.
I watched her on Chef’s Line. She is definitely out of sorts this season. Maybe the timing was bad for her.
I think they started filming late last year. They were on The Project the other day in the Northern Territory so we will know when we got to those episodes it was filmed in April.
My first thought was also that she was wearing pajamas.
I thought Melissa looked nice tonight. She still doesn’t look happy but still, nice.
I keep hoping the judges will start a challenge with the words, “No ice cream today.” Maybe they can remove the ice cream makers. 🙂
Ice cream is one of the things done to death that has killed Ma$terchef. I hate seeing it. too. Is it even food? Is it cooking? The best ever the amatas swoon and worship at the Golden Calf of ice cream. Whoopee.
I love the stuff but’s it’s a buck a litre at the supermarket. It’s the ice cream makers making the product , the amatas are just flying blind,. FFS Vegemite.
Have you noticed how expensive meat is at the moment?
Nothing to do with MC. Just sharing.
I’m thinking that tofu is starting to look very attractive.
I have. I don’t eat red meat any more, but have noticed that pork chops or strips have increased in price, as have chicken pieces of any sort, even sausages.
Meat subs for me are halloumi or chick peas or tinned tuna. Spell check wanted to correct halloumi to thallium. That’s never been on my shopping list.
I love halloumi. I had forgotten that it makes a very nice meal.
I’m not a fan of chickpeas, except oven baked until they are crunchy (or hummus but that goes without saying).
I will have to go hunting through my cook books.
Throw chick peas in a pan with some olive oil, cook for a while until they are a little crispy, add some broccolini or your green of choice, add some curry paste and lemon juice, simmer for a couple of minutes, throw in some chopped tomatoes. Serve with plain yoghurt, maybe pappadums on the side.
I guarantee it will be better than bacon ice cream.
Our local Lebanese does a manoushe (pizza) with just za’atar, sliced tomato chilli and grated halloumi. It is sooo good!
I usually only get meat when it’s reduced. Very rarely pay full price. I always look out for the for quick sale sticker.
Price of meat substitute food meals has jumped, too. I bettter get along to a Hill$ong Love In and get in for my chop.
🤣
Aw, geez, so far they’re making ice cream, ice cream, and ice cream. Again. No idea what the other two are doing.
Heston must have been having an off day to pick such a dumb, predictable challenge. I guess we should be grateful blood sausage was not one of the choices.
They all made ice cream. I scream, you scream, we don’t want to see any more ice cream. Can’t any of them come up with a dessert that doesn’t have ice cream? 🙁
Boring challenge and, so far, a very boring season.
I’m not watching much, but my theory re ice cream is that two things about the competitive environment stops them making real desserts. First is the time limit – the best puddings etc require too much cooking time, and secondly they won’t ever serve anything hot (which is all the best desserts). Icecream (with a cheat machine) and other cold elements make plating and timing easier.
For many years I have wished that they would re-jig the challenges to stop the boring desserts. Many years ago I remember a team challenge where they had a full day and the next morning, and the judging was purely on how close to perfect they could get it.
I am binge watching tonight as I am many episodes behind. I am episode hopping and not going in order (the horror!).
Massimo’s bread noodles looked really interesting and I liked his pressed metal splashback kitchen. Are the judges being overly kind this season? “This didn’t work but you tried really hard and stuck to your vision.”
I have noticed the judges being very tactful and charitable this year. I don’t want to see them tear strips off anyone, but the critiques are kind of boring and bland. Maybe no dish is actually crap? There have been plenty of tears when contestants talk about their inspiration (the usual nonna, kids, life-long love of cooking etc.), and maybe the judges just don’t want to have to deal with any more frigging tears.
Poh, Callum, and Reynold on Sunday…yawn. I enjoy seeing Reynold’s creations, but I’ve seen enough of Poh, and barely remember Callum.
I’m a little tired after the first 15 minutes because I’ve rolled my eyes so often. There are three (acutally two) accomplished cooks as guests, not the second coming of Christ x 3.
We haven’t seen the sous vide machine for a while, but it is back tonight.
Cannot get into MC this season, just cannot. I only know 3 or 4 contestants by name so far and don’t care much who is eliminated and who stays. It’s disappointing because I used to enjoy this show so much.
The three legendary Ma$terhacks. No thanks.
Is it just me or is Masterchef kinda ageist? Is there any contestant older than 40? I guess anyone over 30 will be booted off soon. The days when a mumsy Kate could win a season are long gone.
German Schupfnudel Girl isn’t doing that great either (kinda rooting for her German roots :D). But well, still not as bad as the guy who left first. Already forgot his name, but wow, he was BAD! Although he might have won the season with the one who could not cook fries and who still won. The one with the fringe. Forgot her name.
That would have been Emma. She even had a short television gig for a while but she mysteriously isn’t on the show far as I know. Yeah , failing to cook chips and failure to toast a bun are two of my favourite Ma$terchef memories.
Andy said these were the best ever cooks. The old Ma$terlie. Same muzak, culinary cliches. It’s about as dramatic as watching some paint dry.
Ratings 592,000. Pitiful. Pohthetic.
Ma$terchef has always been ageist, in my opinion. It’s wrong on so many levels. At the same time, I’d expect a mature, intelligent person to see Ma$terchef for the culinary farce it is and avoid it like the plague it is.
Pohthetic. Ha!
It’s filmed over such a long period of time that anyone older, with kids, ageing parents, a mortgage, would be put off applying. A GBBO episode used to be filmed over a weekend, which is much easier when you live somewhere geographically small
I’ve tried MC a couple of times this season because I have a fondness for the show but to no avail.
I don’t care about the judges, I don’t care about the contestants and I have so little interest in the dishes. It’s all looking a little tired and repetitive.
Maybe we are running out of talented cooks?
I always love looking at Reynolds creations (so pretty) but Poh is seriously overexposed.
Idk.
Normally I am an excellent armchair critic but this season has me perplexed. It’s like all the pieces are there but it has created a blancmange.
I don’t think I’ve seen “blancmange” referred to since the last time I read Little Women :).
Last season, when we didn’t know what to expect, was somewhat interesting with the new judges and the previous contestants. This year, meh. Melissa is just phoning it in, and I can’t even take pleasure from seeing her outfits because she is dressing like a pioneer woman, with a taste for pastels, from Little House On The Prairie. Andy has expanded his vocabulary but not enough to be amusing. Jock is so gentle in his criticisms that it’s as though he is snapping out of a deep sleep before making a comment.
There is no life to MC this season, it is flat out boring. And the ads,,,my god, the ads, for MC and the ads while MC is on. I feel sorry for the contestants, some of whom may be talented, but are not getting a chance to show it on this thrown-together, indifferent season.
I watched 2 weeks worth of MCAU and I am already horribly bored and once again do other stuff while it’s running.
I mentioned it above, the noise level is too high, too much pathos. The music is a big part of why the show annoys me so much. It is nearly as bad as the US version, the only advantage MCAU has over it: The people aren’t nasty to each other.
The fawning over the “superdupermegaawesome chefs” on a stupid video screen is grating. Even the dumbest idiot knows that shit has been pre-taped. Still they pretend they are really talking to the contestants…
Tonight’s dishes will be “perfect” ( producers must have snuck in some Ubereats) Been sledgehammered all day with ads for it. Andy gibbers ” We told yaz these were the best eva cooks”
Someone will cry.
Three more ice cream dishes chosen for the big finish. Where would these amatas be without an ice cream machine? Totally fennelled. What a nerve Ch Ten have to call this an “encore”
I’m liking tonight’s challenge, with Jock swapping the sweet and savoury dishes that the individual contestants chose. It’s different at least.
Contestant completely fails challenge.
“I hope this doesn’t send me home tonight”.
Fftt.
No. What you hope is that someone else does worse.
Or that the judges will manufacture an excuse to rig the outcome.
Either/or (shrugs).
If I couldn’t get the shell out of the mould I would have still served it in it rather than just smeared on a plate. At least then it’s still a tart which was what the challenge was. I don’t get why they didn’t do that. And Jock. You big meanie. I can’t believe you did that. Swapping the tarts. That was cruel.
Again tonight, every one of the dishes was delicious, flavourful, balanced, imaginative, and met the brief – even the ice cream. Either the remaining 18 are all very talented, or the judges have dropped their standards because the 18 are all mediocre. In any case, it makes for a lacklustre competition. I did like some of the pasta dishes, but not enough to look up the recipes.
And Ben Pobjie’s recaps are still the best part of this season.
Melissa seems more like her usual self tonight; that’s nice to see.
I’m interested to see what the contestants do with their unusual pairings. Ha, actually interested in MC tonight.
Oh shit, someone just said they’re making ice cream.
I thought it was just me getting used to it all.
I think she’s relaxing.
That’s what I thought. Her face is more relaxed,so her smile stands out again. She’s not swathed in metres of pastel fabric with ruffles. And check out her shoes – if I were 50 years younger, I would go out and buy those shoes. She is just more like last season’s Melissa.
There’s a master class, whoopee. It’s Andy, but whoopee anyway.
🤣
Come on! There has to be one night where no one makes a stupid ice cream with stupid flavours. One dude is making, I think, black olive ice cream with a cucumber granita.
Another dude is doing cucumber dumplings with wrappers made from choko because there was no kohl rabi. I’d think turnips would be a better choice.
Bearded dude is doing, of course, meat, meat, and meat.
I had trouble understanding the judges explaining the brief because they kept saying fud sayings. Fud. What the hell is fud? Oh, it’s food. They lost the oo and substituted uh for some reason.
Just when I thought MC might be getting interesting…I’m wrong.
Once again, too much ice cream with each team making ice cream or sorbet for their desserts. Best part of the episode was watching Chef Andreas make pasta.
Guess they are not following any kind of Covid protocol with contestants hugging each other and judges and Chef Andreas hugging one another, too. Don’t know why they are continuing with the elbow bumping.
Tonight the contestants in elimination challenge have 3 1/2 hours to replicate three, yes three, Kirsten Tibbles creations.
Seems unfair to me, maybe doable with more time. But I’m watching.
These cooks are the best ever. They’ll move faster than the Coronavirus.
I got lucky,but two of my friends are as sick as dogs after that AZ Coronavirus shot. Feeling sick is not off topic on this thread,surely.
I think I heard that making the gunk to dip the lollipops into needed 1 1/2 kilos of melted white chocolate. Just thinking of that made me feel sick.
I’m sorry your friends had bad reactions to the vaccine. Remind them that a few days of feeling shitty is still better than how they’d feel if they caught covid 19. I hope the unpleasant side effects of the vaccine are short-lived.
Thanks, Von.
I think overconfidence and a bit of arrogance brought the eliminated contestant down.
If any of her replications had looked good, she might have had reason to hope, but two of them looked sloppy and one was incomplete. Thinking that taste would get her through was arrogant…and dumb.
I think half of the people watching last night would have been yelling at the tv, telling her to play her damned pin. She forgot that anyone can stuff up any time, even a so-called dessert queen.
Forget the contestants tonight, I want to see Chef Yomo demonstrate his skills for the whole show. That dude’s knife skills make Marco Pierre White look like a ham-fisted amateur.
My best efforts at pretty are radish flowers and celery curls. I love watching a truly accomplished person wield a knife.
I dislike when the judges, especially Jock, start their critique of a dish by saying something like “I had high hopes for you tonight”, pause for 5 seconds while the contestant’s hopes are deflated, then finish the sentence with “and you nailed it” with a big smile. Yes, the contestants should be able to hear constructive criticism calmly, but that little bit of trickery is not funny, not cute, and is really unkind.
Who can forget in the early season Matt Preston saying that is disgusting & dropping the plate on the floor. Then after the ad break says disgustingly good.
Wonder why Chef Yomo did not stay for the judging. Would have liked to have heard his opinions regarding the Bento boxes.
So much yelling & screaming 😟
I will have sound off for all the time Curtis Stone is rabbiting on tonight. Whatever he says, it always sounds like he’s doing a Coles commercial. And I’m not interested in watching him carve up a giant hunk of red meat.
Yep, I’d rather watch an animal carve up Curtis Stone.
You are dark tonight, BDD.
I now have a mental image of two cows hovering over a table doing slicey things to Curtis. But Curtis just keeps on talking.
Curtis The Ripper and his ‘passion for butchery” was an advertorial for Coles. He “trusts” Coles. Didn’t they get caught hiring illegal immigrant labour for peanuts?
Curtis is getting fatter. I lasted nine minutes on the encore. See yaz ,amatas. How does the appearance of meat become the cue for a torrent of computerized faux metal muzak? This is abysmal.
Andy ~ “Adelaide is the home of the schnitzel” Andy’s talk is so cheap.
Never heard that …..and I live here.
Home of serial killers and paedophiles, pal.
Then what is Austria (okay, apart from Hitler’s country of origin….)? Andy is such a smart and educated guy!
I’m enjoying the show tonight, teams of MC contestants versus teams of chefs from restaurants. I assume the fix is in somewhere so that the MC guys don’t get totally creamed. The people this year are not talented enough to beat teams of professionals who are used to working together.
Depinder’s plan to give two prawns per serve for main course is pathetic. Have none of them ever paid for a meal? I would bitch about two prawns only on my entree.
I hate the planning stage where the team gets a piece of butcher paper and a texta to write their menu. They’re not in first grade.
In team service challenges, none of the teams seem to have any idea about plating multiple serves, or how to run a pass. All these contestants in love with food and wanting to make it their lives – no one has worked in a restaurant as a wait person or even a dish washer?
20 diners and only the judges had a say regarding which dishes were the best. Didn’t believe the final results. Fix was in.
Perhaps it was hard to organize a diners’ vote with many of them in the toilets purging themselves of the work of these “best ever” amatas.
The chefs tonight work at a restaurant named after an American actress. Odd.
What a joke that the waiters are wearing masks. The food’s been sweated over and mauled before they even touch the plates. No sanitizer within a bull’s roar of the Ma$terchef Kitchen.
I’ve just watch two bearded amatas put their hands on and sweat all over the food, then the judges call it “perfect”.
I lasted thirty six minutes. , watching the boof boilermaker’s dirty bandage being dipped into the dish was my turning point. Purge~fection.
Four amatas celebrate appalling hygiene and beat four real chefs. That’s just wrong.
This was a fix. Bravo to those pros for taking the bullets from Ch 10..
I think every one of these challenges had the fix in – MC team won when cooking in MC kitchen, professionals did when in their own kitchen. So the professionals should win tonight. Results might also have been determined by which team of pros were (grudgingly) willing to be embarrassed by losing to MC amateurs, none of whom, really, are very talented.
Tonight’s MC team seems to have trouble with colours. Prawns aren’t red, turmeric-poached fish is not yellow. Both are orange to me.
And please, MC, stop using “hero” as a verb.
Both teams need to go back to primary school and re-learn colours from their crayons. The pro team chose beetroot as their red *snort*.
Let’s hope the unknown electrical appliance under the bench is not a freaking ice cream maker.
Oh – the two losing teams from last week are cooking against each other in a relay. Only the first cook of each team sees the must-use ingredient, which is apples. The others only find out what it is when they enter the kitchen to start their leg of the relay.
They all groaned when it was announced the challenge was a relay. And someone actually said the infamous phrase.
Every chef in the world can tell me that pork cooked medium rare is desirable and safe, but I will never accept that. Pork should be cooked through. What’s next, underdone chicken?
Watching the relay is so stressful. I loved how organised Sabina was and that she set up everyone’s ingredients in bowls. And then Justin panicked and ignored them
Sabina was a bit hard done by tonight. At least hers tasted good
I think, because of Josh’s remarks about her first idea, that they had already halfway judged anything she put up.
I don’t think they did too badly for an invention test. They’re amateur cooks, not Heston Blumenthal.
Tonight’s elimination challenge is just stupid and mean. Even a 5 second look at the chef’s finished dish would have been fairer. A 3 or 4 page recipe is hard to follow without taking the time to read through it several times, never mind not knowing what the completed plate looks like.
I’m getting annoyed with MC this season. It’s seeming like a bunch of smug people throwing ridiculous tasks at some cooks who are only mediocre at best.
Last night’s episode was mildly amusing, with the contestants and judges tasting and cooking with some of the world’s hottest chillies. Although I think it may have been heavily edited. No one showed much of a reaction to a bite of a raw hot chilli. The contestants rabbited on about the various flavours as though there was no heat at all.
Andy’s reactions and facial expressions when tasting the dishes was the best part of the show. I wonder if the judges had to have a couple of days off after eating five dishes made with potent chillies.
Of course someone made chilli ice cream. Yawn.
New thread for MC chat at https://talkingtv.net/2021/05/who-will-win-masterchef-australia/