Masterchef 2011

Would you call Masterchef a reality TV program, or a cooking show? Subconsciously I have classified it as a cooking program, but a discussion with Nellie recently caused me to rethink my assessment, and admit to the fact that it really is a reality program, with food and cooking being incidental to the actual reality show outcomes.

Last weeks New York spectacular was to blame. The whole weeks activities for contestants was farcical. There was absolutely no attempt to disguise the fact that it was not a level playing field for the luckless top eight.

The couples challenge on Wednesday, which consisted of 6 of the contestants pairing up, then locating – in Times Square, arguably the biggest and most highly populated of all public spaces in the world! – one of three New Yorkers wandering aimlessly round Times Square carrying a sandwich board with the Masterchef logo on it. The sandwich board gave whichever pair discovered it, the name of the restaurant they should travel to in order to discover their dish, plus obtain the ingredients for it. The sandwich board person gave them a recipe too, I think.

They hightailed it to wherever their restaurant was, by whichever method they thought appropriate (taxi, subway, running etc), given they only had 3 hours in which to: locate the sandwich board holder, travel (in peak hour NY traffic) to the relevant restaurant; wait for the restaurant owner to have the time to explain the dish to them; sample a serving of said dish; collect ingredients, then rush to the pre-appointed Four Seasons restaurant kitchen to prepare, cook and serve the dish they had been allocated, to the judges, who, coincidentally, happened to be the original creators/restaurant owner of the dish, along with our MC judges.

We watched Hayden and Dani, the first arrivals at Four Seasons, making the entrée, with Dani (being entrusted with the more lightweight preparation of the dish) having enough time after she’d done her prep to clean up the bench area, then go round to the other couples chatting aimlessly whilst she distracted them!

We sweated it with Kate and Michael as they struggled to get the many elements of their complex main course prepped, cooked and onto the plates. They really did have heaps to do, and I think they did well to present what they did.

The final arrivals, Ellie and Alana, spent eons in Times Square trying to locate their sandwich board guy, then taking the wrong subway train, having to change trains, then taxi-ing and getting let off at the wrong Four Seasons, so having to taxi again to the correct Four Seasons. When they ultimately arrived at their correct destination, they only had an hour to prep their reasonably complex dessert – which they not only succeeded in, but ultimately won the challenge.

To cut to the chase after such a long introduction……it obviously was not a contest about how good an amateur cook you are, a statement of which we seem to hear regularly from each of the 3 judges as they urge their fledgling chefs to higher accomplishments in the contest.

Whatever your opinion of Alana and Ellie and their cooking talents (or not), they were obviously behind the eight-ball, having spent so much time getting to the Four Seasons. They obviously made a bad travel choice, which has nothing to do with cooking, but provided them with a severe disadvantage in the cooking contest.

The midweek elimination pin challenge which involved Ellie cooking an elementary pasta dish (ie make the pasta, cook the matriciana-like sauce) was insulting to previous elimination pin cook-offs which involved, for instance, emulating Adriana Zumbo concotions, and similar extremely complicated dishes. Plus I swear to god Ellie’s opponent, introduced as one of NY’s top pasta chef/restaurant owners, threw the challenge, as his dish was so sloppily plated and presented as to throw off the judges as to who had cooked which dish.

At the UN catering function, each contestant was allocated one hors d’oevre dish to prepare 300 servings of. Poor Billy unfortunately drew the extremely short straw of a sherry glassful of a leek and potato soup – the vichysoisse variety – and not a popular choice in the overall scheme of things universally. Naturally he received the least amount of votes from the 300-odd guests at the function, so he too was eliminated and locked down at their NY hotel till return to Oz time, along with Sun. Once again, nothing to do with his cooking skills, or lack thereof.

I was interested to read a harsh critique of the show in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald by Paul Sheehan. Paul rightly questions the underlying cynicism of the show, and calls on the ethical aspects of the show to be examined by producers. He claims the contestants are coming off looking more honourable than the people running the show. He cites Adam and Tom’s eliminations as examples of the high moral codes of some of the contestants.

I think Masterchef heirachy will be lucky if this brand of reality show juggernaut continues after one more season. As viewers, we aren’t stupid, plus we’re Australian – we respect fairness. This show, much as I am addicted in a perverse way, is unfair to its players. Yes, they are seeking the notoriety and fame associated with participation but does that mean they need to tolerate some of the patently unfair practices inflicted on them in the show? I don’t think so.

Tues 2nd August - POSTSCRIPT - Yay! I have never been more happy than tonight to see that airhead, lightweight cook Dani leave the show! Thank god sanity prevailed!