MasterChef Notes

So. MasterChef.

Being a snobby purist and all meant I had a bad attitude to the show from the start. But give peace a chance. It's come into its own as a completely different show, and I've been enjoying it.

So how is it actually different from the UK show I watched when I was a pregnant hippopotamus sea cow blimp?

The UK show had six fresh contestants every episode, one of which would make it through at the end of the episode to the finals. The final three contestants worked with and cooked for some of the best chefs and food critics in the world, and a collaboration between these people and the judges would decide the crowned MasterChef.

No voting, no house, no sob stories. Just cooking.

Our Aussie version has a lot more variation in the challenges and styles of cooking, so it balances out in that way.

There was an emphasis on the cooking process in the UK version, but the judges discussions seemed more technical; they didn't dumb it down for the masses, talking in detail not just about how certain flavours and textures worked or didn't work together, but why.

While I still can't help but get a whiff of Big Brother every now and again watching the Aussie version (it is produced by the same people that brought us that abomination after all), I'm having a good time.

I'm going for Julie, not because I think she's the best cook on the show, but because she's unpretentious and the last person you'd expect to win. Or it could be because she's my namesake, so if she wins I'll hear them say I'm the winner of MasterChef.

Who will actually win? Channel 10 will want someone with talent + personality + popularity to hook up to whatever juicy money-milking machines they've got lined up, so it wouldn't surprise me if Sam is right up there among the last men standing.