What a Waste!

The final started off with an interesting qoute, you guys can browse Jep's blog for the full quote. Although I personally feel the final of Masterchef didn't deserve to use it...the 'giants' referred to in the quote here in my view is not really the tests that the contestant must endure, but the pressure of ratings, commercialization and money, of course. It is a (reality) television show, entertainment to the core - so what did I expect!

But still after several weeks of watching the show on and off, I was expecting better. I loved it when the show had the elements of 'The Apprentice' in the earlier weeks. But when the contestants' numbers dwindled and they only had to cook against each other, then that element of subjectivity came in full fledge and thus reminds me again that this is only a TV gig. Hence, it became less of an interest to me, though I know the show had one of the highest rating a TV channel ever had in a long time in Australia. And I know why...

It's not a show about cooking, it's a reality TV show that played with your emotion with a background of cooking... or else why would they keep showing how one of the finalist, Julie, is a mother of 3 boys, projecting as if she's a full time home cook throughout the show, even though in reality she's an IT consultant. Why else...but to gather the attachment of other mothers out there to watch the show. I was also often left wondering how many people actually sit down during the Master Class to copy recipe or is actually interested in what and how a certain dish was cooked. I am personally only interested to watch when the adrenaline was kicking in ;-)

The final though, was a big dissapointment for me. I am analysing it because I did spent almost two hours watching it in between playing 'Dora the Explorer' with my children. I don't care who win, but there was so much unfair elements in it, amongst others:

1. During the tasting test, Poh did hers first, then it was Julie's time. Whilst Poh was doing her test, Julie was left out of the room. But when it's time for Julie to do the test, Poh was in the room to endure the pressure again, this time together with Julie. Julie was also given the fair and unfair advantage of knowing how much ingredients Poh got right. I personally feel the same rule (of leaving one out of the room) should apply to both of them.


2. During the pressure test, the judges on two occasions, not only hinted that Julie did something wrong with her dish, but tasted the dish and suggested that she redo them. Come on! I would love for my teachers in school to give me that upper hand in my exams last century ;-), but that's morally wrong and unfair to others.


3. The turn for serving the dishes was also bugging me. Usually, throughout the season when the contestant have to go against a celebrity chef, they would serve the dish anonymously - using the term 'Plate 1' and 'Plate 2', to be fair to the contestant. Why didn't they do it in the final then? It just doesn't make sense in reality...but in reality TV, it does...:-(

It seems as if they are giving the title on a silver plater to Julie. Although, it would be interesting to see the Malaysian born Poh won the title, but I guess she doesn't really need it. She is really a successful (painter) artist before she joined the show. Check out her website. I would really be interested to know where the 'sweaty' Julie would be in the next two years. I hope it's not going to be like American Idol or so...where the title winner don't really go anywhere 'oustanding', but others in the show often do.

Anyway, speaking of sweats there are complaints that the show care less about hygiene. So not only was it not 'halalan', it's also not 'thoyyiban'. They never seem to show that they take food safety and hygiene in cooking a serious matter. They don't show that the cooks washed their hands before they started to cook. They used the same utensils to taste food over and over again. The list just goes on and on. No proper cook hats or sweat bands are worn. Chris' hat didn't count as one. It's so disgusting to see cooks with their full sets of hair all over the place and food, not to mention sweaty cooks like Julie and Tom (Teringat citer SENARIO!). At least Tom had a face towel handy. Well, I don't even want to imagine such a cooking environment, less see it. My husband said: 'No way am I going to eat Julie's dish, even if she did an all 'halal' version of it' ha..ha..ha. I guess that's it for me. I simply don't see a Masterchef in myself nor my diary next season :-}