#365DaysOfWriting — Day Ten
And just like that, I’m into double digits! Hooray! Welcome to Day Ten, folks! Hopefully this is the beginning of a long and fulfilling writing spree.
It’s been a rather slow day though, and I’ve been day dreaming about one show that I truly love — MasterChef Australia. As you can see from my bio, I can consume abnormally large quantities of food, and the stuff that they cook up on MasterChef Australia… ooh-la-la!
But there is a MasterChef India (or was?) and a MasterChef USA. Yes, I’ve watched them too, but I’ve come to the conclusion that MasterChef Australia is the best of the lot. I know the original MasterChef show (it was just MasterChef, yes) was set in the UK, but I’ve heard from reliable sources that it was the most BORING incarnation of the show till date. MasterChef India and USA suffer from the same fate — both shows concentrate on the judges acerbity and contestants’ drama rather than the cooking.
So what makes MasterChef Australia the best cooking reality show in the world? Before any of you get antsy, remember that this is just my opinion.
I believe any reality show relies a lot on the charm and the aura of its judges.
In that regard, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston make up the Holy Trinity of Cooking. They’re not overbearing or pompous (like a certain Gordon Ramsay can be), they NEVER insult contestants and their criticism is always constructive. They’re more like mentors than judges, helping the contestants along the way and becoming their confidantes. Even so, they do not shy away from criticising a contestant, and they show no partiality. Cooking puns and cliches abound, but they’ve never made the show boring. Their chemistry is also something to behold — it’s almost as if they know what the other guy is about to say. An example for other reality show judges. Even the guest judges that come in (Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal, Audra Morrice, Shannon Bennett to name a few) exude class and professionalism, even while being nice to the contestants. This show is built around judges.
It’s a show about food. And food has to look good. Ergo, the show has to look good.
MasterChef Australia is one of the most well-packaged and well-presented reality shows in the world. They even make failures look glorious (if that makes any sense). The show format is simple — broadly they have Mystery Boxes, Invention Tests, Pressure Tests, Immunity Pin face-offs, and Team Challenges. They also used to have Master Classes, where contestants were schooled by Gary, George and Matt in the fine art of cooking (it used to happen every Wednesday, but I don’t see them any more). Every episode lasts roughly between 45 minutes to an hour, and it maintains a beautiful balance of concentrating on the cooking, as well as the contestant’s stories. When a plate of food is finally presented by a contestant, each one of them looks like a work of art. This show ticks all the boxes of presentation and gets even the most minute details right.
No drama. Only cooking.
For a reality show, this is surprisingly refreshing. Yes, you do have the odd emotional moment here and there, but it is never overplayed, and we’re never taken away from the main focus at any given point — which is cooking. Every little backstory, every emotional moment, every anecdote always ties back to cooking. There is drama, but of the good kind — like when a contestant has to put the final few touches to his/her dish and there are 10 seconds left, which are counted down by the three judges, cutting to a commercial when the judges are about to give a verdict (which doesn’t irritate me, honestly), or even when a contestants drop vessels or cut their fingers… it’s not made into a goddamn Ekta Kapoor serial where there are three reactions to everything. It’s just shown as it is, pure and simple. And… we get back to the cooking!
