Which is the better Chef formula?
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 10:13 pm
Do they have a point?
Master whinge as UK critics pan Australian version of hit show
THEY invented the show and exported it to Australia where it evolved into a TV phenomenon, but now the British are literally choking on the Australianised version of their beloved MasterChef.
The original no-frills UK show has undergone a makeover to mirror the Aussie ratings blockbuster, with greater emphasis placed on contestants' emotion, the use of dramatic music, over-the-top judging showdowns and cliffhanger editing.
But it has delivered an almighty backlash in Blighty, with host broadcaster the BBC last week forced to defend the changes to the seventh series.
Irate viewers and the British media have blown up over the new audition process, drawn-out drama and cavernous new kitchen sets.
Under the lengthy headline, "Why the BBC have ruined the recipe by turning MasterChef into some kind of X Factor for foodies", The Daily Mail's Marina O'Loghlin lamented: "Season seven is not so much overcooked as burned to a cinder.
The Guardian suggested the program be called "MasterChef: Australia: UK, because that's basically what it is. The formula viewers have become used to ... has been replaced by an almost perfect replica of the enormously successful Australian version.
"The set is polished and needlessly gargantuan, the early stages now consist of some silly X Factor-style auditions and frantic, wailed emotion is wrung from contestants at every possible turn."
Last Tuesday, the British program's inaugural winner Joan Buntin told The Mirror: "I find parts of it really annoying. In my day it was more about the cooking, now it's more about the show and the personalities."
The BBC acknowledged the viewer backlash. "We've received some complaints from viewers who are unhappy with changes to the format of MasterChef," the broadcaster said in a statement.
"The MasterChef team have been making the series since it started again in 2005 with (hosts) John (Torode) and Gregg (Wallace) and hoped viewers would enjoy the new energy they'd given the show by dropping the heats.
"The level of cooking on MasterChef has increased phenomenally over the years and the new format will give more people the chance to cook their own food individually for John and Gregg from the outset, and presenting a bigger challenge."
Relocated Briton and MasterChef Australia judge Gary Mehigan said he understood the British response.
"The reaction in the UK is understandable. They have fallen in love with the no-frills, no-fuss style of the show, and now it's changed," Mehigan told The Sunday Telegraph.
"They have a more conservative taste, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think they'll come around.
"The new format pitches the show to a broader audience, including children, which is part of what made it a success here in Australia. They'll learn to love the contestants and buy into their stories, too."
Mehigan is currently filming a third series of MasterChef Australia, expected to launch on Channel Ten in early April.
THE British press has carved-up MasterChef Australia judge Matt Preston, giving him a serve for his size and pompous attitude.In slamming the local version of the British series, The Guardian's entertainment reporter, Stuart Heritage, singled out Preston, labelling the bon vivant a "boob of a man."
"He's ... bloated on self-importance and seemingly on the constant verge of a full-blown gout attack," Heritage wrote last week.
"He's plainly awful - give him food that he doesn't like and he'll just hurl it on the floor like a cross between a dreadful toddler and a gargoyle of a Kenneth Grahame character. No matter what you make of the new changes, at least we don't have to put up with any of that flatulent posturing."
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, Preston's response was restrained.
"The mark of a good journalist is that they have researched what they have written," he said.
"Anyone that watched the show knows I only drop food on the floor that I love - not the food that I hate."
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