The last few months have seen a huge increase in the amount of reality cooking shows on TV. From the original Masterchef to The Great British Bake-Off, or the increasingly popular Man Vs Food, there are numerous shows that despite sharing similar qualities, still manage to captivate their own unique audience. With many series starting again as the new year begins, I decided to take a look back at one of my favourite series, Masterchefs the Professionals, and find out what makes it and other cooking shows so popular.
For those of you who didn’t watch Masterchefs the Professionals, here’s a quick run-down of what happened in the last series:
- Several sets of chefs were tested by harsh top chef Monica Galetti and constructive but fair Michelin- starred Michel Roux junior.
- Usual Masterchef judge Greg Wallace had a smaller side role, and any food tasting was usually followed by a standard Greg Wallace style ‘mmmmm’ in approval, especially for anything sugary sweet.
- The chefs were generally either: stone faced or extremely cocky. The cocky ones were largely all voted out, having been way too confident in their own ability.
- The food was ridiculously fancy: whereas in regular Masterchef a good cheesecake would be praised, here you’d be likely to be sneered at.
- If you thought John Torode was critical as a judge alongside Greg, you should have seen Monica in action. Her critique was generally scathing to say the least.
Highs and lows of the series:
HIGHS:
The cooking!
The standard of the Professional chefs was actually astonishing: the amount of different components that they put in to each meal and managed to make look incredible almost every time was seriously impressive. I also enjoyed watching them being thrown in to the professional chef kitchens at full force and try to cook, because the way that they were made to cook was, unbelievably, even more elaborate. Undoubtedly, it made me want to try to cook more, and to cook interesting food, and I’m sure that this year’s contestants’ efforts have inspired lots more people who watched it too!
The contestants:
Aside from a shaky few chefs who competed in the opening rounds of the competition, the rest of the chefs were, in my opinion, amazing. The final four contestants produced incredibly inventive and unusual dishes, and my personal winner was Adam (below) because he remained calm and cool throughout and produced dishes so incredible looking that I wished on several occasions that I was the one tasting them instead of the judges!
LOWS:
The ‘mysterious absence of Mr Greg Wallace’
Did anyone else wonder about the severe lack of ‘usual’ Masterchef judge Greg in the Professionals series?! Whereas in ‘regular’ Masterchef it is Greg and John Torode who make all the decisions and set the challenges, for the Professionals series Greg only appeared at the start of the series alongside Monika, and was occasionally brought back ‘to taste’ the food. Personally, Greg is my favourite judge: his commentary and general enjoyment when it comes to tasting the food (particularly anything remotely sweet or rich) is TV gold. BRING BACK GREG!
Monica’s facial expressions…
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Monica, as I thought she was a bit too harsh on the contestants, and at times with her expectations. BUT I have to say the most irritating thing about Monica was her facial expressions. Honestly. The way she watched over the contestants like a hawk whilst they were cooking and then when they did something wrong, looked horrified or rolled her eyes, was highly annoying and I’d assume highly off-putting!
So, that’s why I enjoyed Masterchefs the Professionals so much, but I’m sure many of you prefer another cooking show and have your reasons why. But, whichever cooking show you choose to watch, be inspired and don’t be afraid to try and cook something new!
Image Sources:
1) http://i1.cdnds.net/11/45/618w_tv_masterchef_the_professionals_1.jpg
3) http://thetalentzone.co.uk/musictv/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/adam2.png
4) http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1456711.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Greg%20Wallace-1456711
5) http://blogs.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/blogs/satellite-dishes/2011/11/07/Monica-Galletti.jpg
6) http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2806066.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Joey-Essex-2806066.jpg
Ella Duffy