MASTERCHEF (TV DINNER RELATED)

grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
edited July 2011 in Strut Central
nothing like a food related post to really get the blood boiling around here. ive seen a few of the american version episodes but it really piqued my interest because the british version seems to get burned so much in other british tv shows. not sure if it was misfits or the inbetweeners or both but masterchef seemed to be the butt of quite a few jokes. so i shecked out the british version and i immediately saw why.

british: first off why do they shoot so many british tv shows through gauze? its the clear marker of yet another sappy emotionally driven show. the british masterchef is like if you took all those crappy american idol vignettes on how much of a sadsack a contestant is and strung it all together in a kitchen. granted i saw about 30 minutes of the first episode where they weed out all the doo doo chefs but that was enough. corny.

american: its with gordon ramsay, a fat dude, and some poncey bald head dandy. its pretty corny and people like to cry a lot on the show. at least in the ones ive seen. its no "jamie oliver food revolution" but if its on tv, its not like im changing the channel.

the real revelation is the australian version. again, ive only seen a few parts of a few episodes on youtube, but god damn theres like 100 shows per season and it seems like they run the series every day. like the news or oprah winfrey. oh yeah, one of the episodes had the dalai lama in it. HOLY SHIT WHITE PEOPLE LOVE THE FUCK OUT OF THE DALAI LAMA. whats that all about? anyways, the interesting thing about the australian show is how comfortable australians are with cooking asian food. like all kinds of asian food, sri lankan, japanese, vietnamese, you name it. i mean, if you put rice wrapper in front of an american contestant theyd prolly think it was a cookie for space aliens. but these australian dudes didnt even bat an eye. also, they dont really focus the show on how much of a backstabbing piece of shit a person is. the format, prolly because they run it everyday, is part reality game show, part actual cooking show like them old pbs shits.

anyways, im sure any one of the transcontinental versions pisses someone off on some level. let it out soulstrut!

  Comments


  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    There are two seasons of MASTERCHEF NEW ZEALAND, they revealed the winner for season 2 a few weeks ago. I got into the show because my sister has wanted to travel there, but ended up visiting Australia twice in the last few years. But, I kept watching. Never watched the AU show but probably should.

    On the most recent season, one of the 12 finalists was a vegetarian who created stuff by looks. When he was finally let go, they got deeper into recipes using offal and whatnot. This season was really good, as the last two people were the two I had hoped to win, but (spoiler alert if you plan to seek and watch) the last test involved a dessert, one of the cooks angled things the wrong way and the entire thing collapsed. Nonetheless, the second place winner is doing more social networking than the winner, and she (her name is Dax) wants to take things worldwide so perhaps, a NZ chef with British roots will make her presence known in the coming years.

    Some of the other cooking shows in Australia/NZ are really good, I like POH'S KITCHEN. There's another series that I have on file but have yet to watch.

  • MurdockMurdock 542 Posts
    I don't watch the show but, the bald guy on the american show is one of my bosses. He's a famous restaurateur (with Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton) and vineyard owner (in Italy). He's also wrote a book on Italian wines and has won James Beard awards. He's a cool dude. Laid back and easy going. His mom is a famous chef. Blah blah blah

  • parallaxparallax no-style-having mf'er 1,266 Posts
    Murdock said:
    I don't watch the show but, the bald guy on the american show is one of my bosses. He's a famous restaurateur (with Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton) and vineyard owner (in Italy). He's also wrote a book on Italian wines and has won James Beard awards. He's a cool dude. Laid back and easy going. His mom is a famous chef. Blah blah blah

    He seems like a real prick on the show. Just a schtick?

    Kindly,
    parallax


  • MurdockMurdock 542 Posts
    parallax said:
    Murdock said:
    I don't watch the show but, the bald guy on the american show is one of my bosses. He's a famous restaurateur (with Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton) and vineyard owner (in Italy). He's also wrote a book on Italian wines and has won James Beard awards. He's a cool dude. Laid back and easy going. His mom is a famous chef. Blah blah blah

    He seems like a real prick on the show. Just a schtick?

    Kindly,
    parallax

    Definitely

    I don't know who that bald guy is above???

  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    Rustledust said:

    Gotta love his "teeth as stairs" dental work.

  • Masterchef Australia has been something of a revelation for the great unwashed. The most watched show in it's slot and boom time for related industries. Australia has a fantastic food culture and world influences are something of a norm but this show has really got people open, kids 'plating up' at home and the like.

    I ride, even though it is cheesy, the hosts are passionate and respected chefs.

    We are cooking the recipes from 'Eat Le Tour' at the moment, regionally inspired french recipes highlighted by the locally produced tour coverage as the riders transverse the countryside.

    Last night was Duck with turned, butter glazed Turnips in a veal jus....... :freeway:

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    johmbolaya said:
    Rustledust said:

    Gotta love his "teeth as stairs" dental work.

    I know people obsessed with Gregg's head. A friend described his teeth to me as:

    an old cobbled path, a graveyard of lego pieces, a legion of mouldy sugar puffs standing to attention upon a brook. They are a delight; a rustic charm inside a rotting cabbage

    Another once pointed out that he suffers from "double head" a syndrome where a person appears to have a smaller head growing out of the back of their skull so you get a camel effect on top (captured to a tee in the still on that youtube clip).

    I think I've mentioned before my other half's devotion to cookery shows and, out of all of them I sometimes watch with her, Masterchef Australia is a far superior beast. They've tried to mix up the UK show now to mimic the Aussie one but John and Gregg seem far less comfortable with the format that George and Gary. Add to this the fact that they are unable to either do the show nightly or keep all the contestants in a house together means that it lacks the personable aspect as well. Plus, Matt Preston is a true individual in the world of television. The man exists outside the rules of taste or decency.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    In the absence of anyone stepping up to The Galloping Gourmet's plate (YOUR TIME IS NOW), The Aussies have got the concept on lock, no doubt.

  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    oh shit i just saw the masterchef australia episode with marco pierre white! i dont really follow the celebrity chef thing but this dude had a show on pbs like 20 years ago and it was awesome. it was 1 of 2 tv cooking shows bitd that shot in actual working restaurant kitchens (as opposed to studio kitchens which was/is the norm). anyways, this episode reminded me of that show and you can find it on youtube and guess who's marcos bitch boy veggie chopper? gordon ramsay! haha i shit you not its young gordon ramsay running around like his lackey.

  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    grandpa_shig said:

    the real revelation is the australian version. again, ive only seen a few parts of a few episodes on youtube, but god damn theres like 100 shows per season and it seems like they run the series every day. like the news or oprah winfrey. oh yeah, one of the episodes had the dalai lama in it. HOLY SHIT WHITE PEOPLE LOVE THE FUCK OUT OF THE DALAI LAMA. whats that all about? anyways, the interesting thing about the australian show is how comfortable australians are with cooking asian food. like all kinds of asian food, sri lankan, japanese, vietnamese, you name it. i mean, if you put rice wrapper in front of an american contestant theyd prolly think it was a cookie for space aliens. but these australian dudes didnt even bat an eye. also, they dont really focus the show on how much of a backstabbing piece of shit a person is. the format, prolly because they run it everyday, is part reality game show, part actual cooking show like them old pbs shits.


    LOL

    The Australian masterchef does make for quite good television. There is a bucketload of money behind it and that means they can cook amazing things, meet amazing chefs and go amazing places.

    The things you probably don???t pick up from the youtubes, is the endless product placement and the high tendency for contestants to break out in tears. These things start to wear you out a bit as a viewer. Especially as you watch the 25 contestants who start in the house wittle down to about ten.

    The producers have recognised that the fact that it is not cut throat like so many other reality TV shows, has a lot to do with why it has been so successful. However, now it has gotten to the other extreme, where contestants soppy back-stories and group-hugs have often become more of the focus than the food.

    Still once it gets down to the top ten it can be really good, and as something that is on every-week night, it is much more preferable than the ???big brother???s and the ??? pop idols??? that it has replaced.

    I can sense that next season will be quite different in its format and I am looking forward to a change.

  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    haha! yeah, its got some serious summer camp counselor vibes sometimes. but you should see all the crybabies on the american version. this is actually emotionally light in comparison. and its refreshing what they cry about. like all the good vibes and stuff get kind of tiresome at points, but the fact that folks actually help each other out, i mean you just dont see that on american tv.

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    just saw masterchef junior



    this shit is out of control

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Junior Masterchef Australia is right at the top of the pile. These kids have mad cooking skills for days. They shame most adult contenders.

  • barjesusbarjesus 872 Posts
    This explains aussie DJ's making risotto

  • sakedelicsakedelic 247 Posts
    I've been hooked on MC Australia since season 2. 80+ episodes / season means a new episode to watch almost daily; downloading episode 74 of season 3 right now.
    Matt Preston's outfits never fail to amuse. Learning Aussie colloquialisms like "daggy," "claggy" and "ripper".
    Have to hit the mute button during the intro & outro Katy Perry though.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    For what I can only guess are copyright reasons, the UK Intro of Masterchef Australia is sans Perry and instead has the kind of feel good pumping dance track not heard on these shores since we stopped taking the Eurovision seriously:


  • sakedelicsakedelic 247 Posts
    That's actually worse than the Katy Perry. MUTE!!
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