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Masterchef: Is It Really Reality Television?
Masterchef on FOX is brand new tonight and the competition heats up when the contestants are put to two daunting challenges by Gordon Ramsay and his fellow judges. We’ll see thirty contestants battle it out over onions and eggs, but who will have what it takes to make it through to the next round?
But seriously, has anyone noticed how well groomed and “beautiful” these finalists or contestants are? Are not these people supposed to be amateur cooks who are battling for a $250K plus book publication prize? In a country of over 300 million people, I’m pretty sure there were some extraordinary cooks who weren’t picture perfect like the ones who have made the cut so far. In fact only one, Avis White appears to be overweight with the rest looking like models from a Tommy Hilfiger catalogue. I mean come on…..in this day and age, shouldn’t we be giving the opportunities to the best cooks (if this is what this show is meant to offer) as opposed to who will make the best television drama?
I had the privilege of being able to observe the Australian Masterchef series which was an absolute smash hit with the television channel that had purchased the rights. Not only did the show air 6 nights a week for 3 months, the ratings for their second season continued to grow steadily. The finale was watched by over 4 million people. When it’s taken as a proportion of the number of people who live in Australia (over 22 million) we are looking as some serious statistics.
Even so, there were often criticisms over the show’s producers to lean towards drama over the cooking prowess of competitors which made many purists unhappy. Snippets of what was actually said, taken out of context to create “fake” personalities of the contestants unknown to them until they left the show. And we all know that in this global age of technology, the use of social media like Twitter and Facebook can quickly kill a movie or television show. I just wonder if Gordon Ramsay and his 2 sidekick judges will actually place culinary skills over looks and possible bitchiness that may occur on this show.
It may then come back to ratings. Masterchef has been doing well with FOX considering it a hit even though it’s trailing re-runs of NCIS: LA (which is a very good show). If ratings begin to drop, watch for the background stories of the contestants to begin to take a little more character. I for one, hope the show succeeds as it did in Australia which would mean the show could focus on the cooking skills rather than the ability to manipulate the judges through tears and emotions.
Continue to watch for the roller-coaster ride of Masterchef.
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