Television / How to win MasterChef |
‘Warmer, sharper and funnier than ever,’ claims one reviewer of ‘the BBC’s disgraced cookery show’ MasterChef. But this is nonsense. First, MasterChef was never ‘disgraced’. It was just the victim of some desperate sub-#MeToo media insinuations about the mildly laddish shenanigans of its two ex-presenters John Torode and Gregg Wallace. These insinuations were likely not unconnected with a) the show’s need for some publicity; and b) an excuse for a revamp after 20 years with those presenters now starting to look about as fresh and inviting as the trays of congealing fried eggs and uncrispy bacon you get in a hotel breakfast buffet.
MasterChef was never ‘disgraced’. It was just the victim of some desperate sub-#MeToo media insinuations
MasterChef was never ‘disgraced’. It was just the victim of some desperate sub-#MeToo media insinuations
And second, no it hasn’t got better in any way. Despite the change in presenters – to Guardian columnist Grace Dent and chef Anna Haugh – it’s exactly the same as it’s been since it was reinvented in 2005. Which is the whole point of format TV. The talent is irrelevant. What matters is a formula that can be deployed with interchangeable parts across the world, as MasterChef has been in more than 50 countries,........