Hurrah! MasterChef is back. And it's better than ever.
Boasting a slick new set and format, the latest series (9pm, BBC1, 16 February) will upset neophobes and has clearly taken its cue from the programme's international offshoots, not to mention Iron Chef and The X Factor. But so what. It works.
The two new audition rounds really upped the tempo. It was fast and furious stuff as a succession of would-be MasterChefs, armed with their own ingredients and with family and friends in tow, were thrust in front of the two judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode having had just 45 minutes in the prep kitchen and 10 to plate up.
Would they be one of the lucky 20 who'd proudly stride through the swinging doors wearing the MasterChef apron?
We no longer had to wait until the end of the show to find out. Every five minutes, Wallace and Torode would be stuffing their gobs, stroking their chins and pondering whether to put someone through, send them packing or offer them a lifeline the chance to cook again for them later in the audition.
Okay, it was utterly contrived, but even the most cold-hearted viewer (aka me) couldn't help but get swept up by the raw emotion of it all (a little bit anyway), especially as after the first couple of contestants tested the water, it seemed everyone was getting involved in a group hug or booing their little hearts out.
Clearly the new format allowed the programme makers to push the emotional buttons as often as they liked which was often. No opportunity to zoom in on someone's sweaty face was passed up, particularly when it came to the pudding-faced one (as described by one of the contestants, not me).
So elaborate were some of the faces Wallace pulled, he looked completely demented like some sort of cartoon Samurai (something borrowed from Iron Chef?).
And he had plenty to grimace at. I'm not sure I can recall anything as pitiful as Charity's 'deconstructed trifle'. Luckily, other dishes from other contestants impressed if not quite as much as Torode's ability to cram ever-larger portions of food into his mouth.
Of that he really is the Master.
More from this column
Boasting a slick new set and format, the latest series (9pm, BBC1, 16 February) will upset neophobes and has clearly taken its cue from the programme's international offshoots, not to mention Iron Chef and The X Factor. But so what. It works.
The two new audition rounds really upped the tempo. It was fast and furious stuff as a succession of would-be MasterChefs, armed with their own ingredients and with family and friends in tow, were thrust in front of the two judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode having had just 45 minutes in the prep kitchen and 10 to plate up.
Would they be one of the lucky 20 who'd proudly stride through the swinging doors wearing the MasterChef apron?
We no longer had to wait until the end of the show to find out. Every five minutes, Wallace and Torode would be stuffing their gobs, stroking their chins and pondering whether to put someone through, send them packing or offer them a lifeline the chance to cook again for them later in the audition.
Okay, it was utterly contrived, but even the most cold-hearted viewer (aka me) couldn't help but get swept up by the raw emotion of it all (a little bit anyway), especially as after the first couple of contestants tested the water, it seemed everyone was getting involved in a group hug or booing their little hearts out.
Clearly the new format allowed the programme makers to push the emotional buttons as often as they liked which was often. No opportunity to zoom in on someone's sweaty face was passed up, particularly when it came to the pudding-faced one (as described by one of the contestants, not me).
So elaborate were some of the faces Wallace pulled, he looked completely demented like some sort of cartoon Samurai (something borrowed from Iron Chef?).
And he had plenty to grimace at. I'm not sure I can recall anything as pitiful as Charity's 'deconstructed trifle'. Luckily, other dishes from other contestants impressed if not quite as much as Torode's ability to cram ever-larger portions of food into his mouth.
Of that he really is the Master.
More from this column
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