You Pinspire Me
I lied a teensy tiny bit in yesterday’s post when I said that all of my TV consumption takes place via Netflix these days. I make one exception and one only: MasterChef. We no longer have an antenna on our house (and haven’t had cable or satellite since the 2012 Winter Olympics), so I’m now relegated to seeking it out online after broadcast or at a friend’s house the night of. Last night I caught up on the MasterChef Season 6 premier, and now I have a few thoughts to share.
Source: FOXtv
Live Auditions: Last year, the producers of the show decided not to air one of the crucial bits of this reality show: the one-on-judges auditions. As opposed to giving us a brief intro to each of the chefs who would be playing a bigger role in the season, they just dropped us straight into what used to be episode 2 or even 3: first day of competition. It was really disorienting and it took me more than half a season to really get connected to any of the potential Master Chefs.
I watched this show on broadcast last year and tweeted with some of my fellow foodies – Christine from Life on Manitoulin, for one – and I was clearly not the only one who felt cheated. I have absolutely NO idea if our reactions had any impact on this or not, but I was thrilled to see in S6 E1 that they brought back a version of the audition. 20 aprons, 40 chefs, multiple Head to Head Battle Royales for coveted white apron. It wasn’t quite the intimate introductions that we have received in the past, but in the end I was pleased with what they had presented.
New Judge: While Joe Bastianich was never my favourite MasterChef judge, I appreciated the more critical eye and mouth that he had when it came to the dishes. I don’t watch MasterChef for the feel-good comments (precisely why I can’t stand watching the mushy MasterChef Junior), I watch because I think it’s really interesting to see all these different kinds of dishes come into being when prepared by the average Joe. Graham is pretty soft in his critiques and a sucker for a teary-eyed chef or social underdog. Gordon has his occasional outbursts, but is generally predictable in his reaction and gives positive reviews more than negative. There needs to be a Joe Bastianich to balance out the Graham Elliot.
Source: Yahoo.com
New to the scene is Christina Tosi, chef, owner of a chain of bakeries, cook book author, and teacher, is very nurturing. She tries hard to compliment and is very reluctant to chastise. In other words, she seems like a really nice person, but not the person I would have chosen for this role. Who knows? I may be wrong. Time will tell!
Favourites: I don’t have any favourites yet. Perhaps because I was spoiled with Luca two years ago – I’d picked him out the first year that he auditioned (Season 3), and finally got to cheer for him the next year in Season 4 when he rose up to be MasterChef. I’m intrigued by a few of them, but that’s about as far as it goes.
Irony: There’s a strange fellow named Stephen (who I swear is in the midst of a manic episode, he’s so wired!) who drops the F-bomb a lot as he’s talking to Chef Ramsay. Gordon, of all people, says to Stephen, “FYI, your language is terrible!” You get the irony of Gordon saying that to anyone, right?
Of Note: One of the fellows to get an apron is Tommy Watson of Chicago. He’s a fashion designer and he claims that he’s 50-something years old. Do you believe it? I’m not sure that I do! One word that could be used to describe him would be “Character” – he reminded me a lot of Martin Short. I’m on the fence as to whether he’ll be amusing or annoying this season.
Do you watch? Please chime in – I love talking about MasterChef! It’s my one ‘reality show’ guilty pleasure.
Jenn vanOosten
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I was totally into the Canadian one last year b.c my friend Danielle was on it. This year, I just haven’t had time. But, I love GR.
What? Did I know that you’re friends with Danielle? Loved her!