Masterchef is a
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
television cookery
game showA game show is a type of television program in which members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving problems usually for money and/or prizes. On some shows contestants compete against other players or another team while...
. It ran initially from 1990 to 2001, and was revived in a different format as
Masterchef Goes Large from 2005 onwards. The "Goes Large" part of the name was dropped in 2008 but the format remains identical. The revamped format was devised by Karen Ross and John Silver, who updated the original
Franc RoddamFrancis George Roddam is an English film director and documentary maker.-Career:...
format. The series now appears in three versions: the main
Masterchef series,
Masterchef: The Professionals for working chefs, and
Celebrity Masterchef. All three versions have been commissioned up to and including 2011.
Original series
In the original series, three amateur cooks took part in each episode, with nine heats leading up to three semi-finals and a final, in which they competed for the title of "Masterchef". Their task was to cook a gourmet, three-course meal in under two hours. Contestants could cook whatever they liked, though there was a price limit on ingredients. "Everyday" ingredients and equipment was provided for them, in addition to which they could bring in up to five "specialist" ingredients or utensils.
The first incarnation of the series was presented by
Loyd GrossmanLoyd Daniel Gilman Grossman, OBE, FSA is an Anglo-American television presenter and chef who has mainly worked in the UK.- Early life, education and honours :...
, who was joined each week by two guest judges, one a professional chef, the other a celebrity. Grossman and the guest judges discussed the menus, wandered around talking to the contestants, and finally ate and judged the food at the end. Originally, the judges' "cogitations" took place off-camera, though later on edited highlights of the discussions were added between the tasting and the announcement of the winner.
In 1998, Grossman decided to take a one series sabatical. He returned to present the 1999 series, but left the programme in 2000.
Junior Masterchef
Based on the
"Masterchef" format, Junior Masterchef was for cooks up to the age of 16. Presented by Lloyd Grossman from 1994, it used the same set and format. A new series is due to be released soon on
CBBCCBBC is the brand name used for the BBC's children's television programmes, and currently specifically refers to those programmes aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 12...
. The BBC are currently looking for people to take part..
Revamp
In 2000, the series underwent a makeover. It was moved from its traditional Sunday afternoon slot on
BBC One
to a new weeknight slot on
BBC Two
. The "celebrity" judge was dropped, and chef
Gary RhodesGary Rhodes OBE is an English restaurateur, cookery writer, and celebrity chef, known for his love of British cuisine, distinctive spiked hair style , and use of butter and mustard in his recipes...
took over as presenter. This new version of the series asked contestants to cook just two courses in 90 minutes. It was much criticised (notably by former host
Loyd GrossmanLoyd Daniel Gilman Grossman, OBE, FSA is an Anglo-American television presenter and chef who has mainly worked in the UK.- Early life, education and honours :...
). It lasted just one series.
Masterchef (Goes Large)
In 2005, Karen Ross and John Silver radically overhauled the format, and a new series was introduced under the title
Masterchef Goes Large, which in turn was renamed
MasterChef in 2008. In the new version, there are two permanent judges,
John TorodeJohn Torode is an Australian-born British chef specialising in Australasian food. He runs Smiths of Smithfield and several other restaurants scattered throughout London's Smithfield market....
and
Gregg WallaceGregg Wallace is a fruit and vegetable expert, writer, media presenter and former greengrocer. He is probably best known for co-presenting Masterchef Goes Large and Celebrity Masterchef on BBC2 and BBC1 along with John Torode, where he is referred to as an "ingredients expert".Wallace was born in...
though neither addresses the viewer directly - instead information is conveyed by a voiceover performed by
India FisherIndia Fisher is a British actress born in 1974. Her father is the MP Mark Fisher. She is also the sister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play Other Lives....
.
The new series airs four nights a week for eight weeks, consisting of six weeks of heats and quarter-finals, with six contestants emerging to compete against one another over the final two weeks to select a winner.
In each of the first six weeks, there are four heats and a quarter-final. Six contestants enter each heat, with one quarter-finalist emerging from each of the four heats, and these four quarter-finalists compete for a semi-final place, so that over the first six weeks, six semi-finalists emerge.
The heats follow a three-round format:
- The Invention Test: the contestants must invent a dish from scratch in 50 minutes (40 minutes up until 2009). The contestants can choose from any of a selection of ingredients provided on the day. This forms the first round of the programs and reduces the contestants from six to three cooks.
- The Pressure Test: Working a lunchtime shift at a busy restaurant under the supervision of a professional chef who comments on their performance.
- The Final Test: Cooking a two course meal, with the contestants designing their own menus and choosing their own ingredients, in one hour.
The quarter-finals follow a different structure with different challenges:
- The Ingredients Test: where the contestants are asked to identify a selection of ingredients or produce.
- The Passion Test: in which each contestant has one minute to convince the judges of their overwhelming passion for food. Following these two rounds, one contestant is knocked out without having cooked that day.
- Finally the remaining three quarter-finalists each produce a three course meal in one hour and twenty minutes.
Although the programme has faced some criticism for perceived "
dumbing downDumbing down is viewed either as a pejorative term for a perceived over-simplification of, amongst other things, education, news and television, or as a statement of truth about real cultural trends in education and culture...
" and the overt bias of the two presenters, it has proven very popular and is one of
BBC Two
's more successful early-evening programmes. The show's popularity led to an announcement by the BBC that the series would be moved to BBC One.
Audition Process.
There are three stages to get to appear on the programme.
Stage 1 is to fill out an online application form at www.masterchefgoeslarge.tv
Stage 2 is a telephone interview conducted by one of the researchers from Shine TV, the company that makes the programme. Quite in depth questions concerning your influences, best dishes, style of cooking etc.
Stage 3 is to meet production staff normally at a hotel (they travel around the whole UK) and to talk in front of a camera and take one dish that you have prepared yourself which must be cold.
Celebrity Masterchef
Based on the format of
"Masterchef Goes Large", a new programme of celebrity contestants face the Masterchef challenge on
BBC One
. There are three contestants per episode with a total of 24 celebrities taking part, who follow the full Masterchef Goes Large test.
In 2006, rugby player
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. There was also a week of Comeback contestants featuring
Joe McGannJoe McGann is an English actor. His most well known role is the lead role of Charlie Burrows, the "housekeeper" in the TV comedy series The Upper Hand . He is also known as a television reporter on the BBC's South Today programme, reporting on local events in the south of England...
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,
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,
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and
Jeff GreenJeff Green may refer to:* Jeff Green , NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver and 2000 Busch Series champion* Jeff Green , Oklahoma City Thunder basketball player* Jeff Green , former PC gaming editor-in-chief of 1UP.com...
, from which Wendi Peters reached the series final.
Masterchef: The Professionals
A version for professional chefs. While Greg Wallace and India Fisher reprise their roles as co-judge and voiceover, Torode is replaced by Michel Roux Jr, who has two Michelin stars. Derek Johnstone won the competition on the 19th September 2008, and went on to take a job with Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche restaurant in London.
The second series began on Monday 14th September 2009 at 8:30pm on BBC 2.
Masterchef
- 1990 - Joan Bunting
- 1991 - Sue Lawrence
Sue Lawrence is a Scottish cookery and food writer, who came to fame after winning Masterchef in 1991.She wrote for the Sunday Times for six years, and now writes regularly in Scotland on Sunday...
- 1992 - Vanessa Binns
- 1993 - Derek Johns
- 1994 - Gerry Goldwyre
- 1995 - Marion Macfarlane
- 1996 - Neil Haidar
- 1997 - Julie Friend
- 1999 - Lloyd Burgess
- 2000 - Marjorie Lang
- 2001 - Rosa Baden-Powell
Junior Masterchef
- 1994 - Katie Targett-Adams
- 1995 - Jenna Tinson
- 1996 - Lucy Wright
- 1997 - Serena Martine
- 1999 - Dominique Fraser
Masterchef (Goes Large)
- 2005 - Thomasina Miers
Thomasina "Tommi" Miers is an English cook, writer and television presenter. She is married to Mark Williams.Born in Cheltenham in February 1976, she studied at Ballymaloe Cookery School and worked as a freelance cook and writer, with influences from time spent in Mexico.In 2005 she won the BBC TV...
- 2006 - Peter Bayless
- 2007 - Steven Wallis
- 2008 - James Nathan
James Nathan, aged 34, is best known as the winner of the BBC's Masterchef 2008, having beaten Emily Ludolf and Jonny Stevenson in the grand final...
- 2009 - Mat Follas
Mat Follas, 43, was the winner of the BBC's Masterchef programme in 2009. He was born in the UK, to New Zealand Parents and grew up in New Zealand. He moved to the UK when in his 20's and is now the father of three children....
Celebrity Masterchef
- 2006 - Matt Dawson
Matthew James Sutherland "Daws" Dawson MBE is a retired English rugby union player who played scrum half for Wasps having played most of his career for Northampton Saints. During his international career he toured with the British and Irish Lions three times and was part of England's 2003 Rugby...
- 2007 - Nadia Sawalha
Nadia Sawalha is an English actress and television presenter of Jordanian, British, and French Huguenot descent.Sawalha is perhaps best known for her role as Annie Palmer in the BBC soap opera EastEnders during the 1990s, although most of her television work is now as a presenter rather than an...
- 2008 - Liz McClarnon
Elizabeth "Liz" McClarnon is an English pop singer, dancer and member of the band Atomic Kitten. She is now also a celebrity cook and television presenter.-Atomic Kitten:...
- 2009 - Jayne Middlemiss
Jayne Middlemiss is a television and radio presenter, and model.-Biography:Jayne Middlemiss grew up in the town of Bedlington in Northumberland, England...
Masterchef: The Professionals
- 2008 - Derek Johnstone (chef)
Note: The original Masterchef and Junior Masterchef did not air in 1998
Other notable contestants
- Ross Burden
Ross Burden is a celebrity chef from New Zealand.Ross Burden's early career was as a model but became a chef later in life. His inspiration for being a chef was his mother's extremely bad cooking skills, which meant that he spent a lot of time cooking with his grandmother.Ross was brought up in...
, 1993
- Emily Ludolf
Emily Ludolf first became famous for being in 2008, at the age of 18, the youngest-ever finalist in the BBC TV show Masterchef, a reality tv show where amateur cooks attempt haute cuisine. In the finals Ludolf competed against Jonny Stevenson and James Nathan, the latter eventually winning the...
, 2008
- Joel Wright, 1999
- Lewis Bebbington, 2009
Masterchef Live
In 2009 the BBC Good Food Show London has partnered with MasterChef to launch MasterChef LIVE at London Olympia (13-15 Nov 2009).
The new-look show includes The Invention Test, The Masterchef Restaurant, MasterChef MasterClasses, MasterChef Cook-Off’s and MasterChef ‘Hot Tips’.
Visitors can book places the Invention Test where they’ll cook live in font of a live audience, with the top three going through to be judged by John Torode and Gregg Wallace themselves.
External links
- Masterchef (original format) and Masterchef Goes Large at UKGameshows.com
UKGameshows.com is a website dedicated to British game shows. The site currently provides information on more than 1,500 British game show formats from 1938 to the present day, over 500 mini-biographies of hosts, along with numerous other background articles....