Knive-Wielding Chefs are a good thing: Masterchef Australia #AtoZChallenge

This post is part of my #A2ZChallenge for April 2016 where my theme is TV Sitcoms.

For the letter K, I shall cheat and choose the knife-wielding chefs of Masterchef Australia.

Premise:

The iconic cooking competition from the 'land down under' pits amateur chefs against each other in various innovative cooking challenges to win the coveted title of Masterchef Australia.

10 reasons you will love it:

1) Feel good factor. 

In three simple words, this is why it wins over everyone else. Unlike shows like Masterchef USA where you have the mercurial Gordon Ramsay ripping you apart, here the trio of Matt, Gary & George are like a soothing balm, praising your skills and softening the blow even while giving bad news. Even the colours and decor of the main competition hall is airy and bright with a welcoming feel to it. It makes for a wonderfully pleasant viewing experience.

2) I love Top Chef's staple trio of judges (Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi & Gail Simmons) but I would still say the trio of George Calombaris, Matt Preston & Gary Mehigan are the best for me by a tiny margin. They are lively, fun, helpful, nurturing and positive-minded. They lend the competitive show a much appreciated 'family bonding' feel.

3) The diversity. Australia has always been a land laden with people of all multi-ethnic backgrounds. The show embraces that and you find people of all backgrounds chosen, based purely on cooking skills. 

4) Learning from errors: In the 2013-2014 season, they made the crucial mistake of looking into others plates and coveting what they had. Seeing how the other cooking show hosts were a bit more stern/brash with the contestants, MCA tried the same. Viewers made their disappointment heard loud and clear and MCA luckily returned to what it did best: serving love, smiles and food in a single serving.  

5) Where usual TV shows stick to a 23 episode a season format, Masterchef just turned the dial all the way up. The recent seasons have had up to 60+ episodes, giving the contestants a lot of chances over the week to redeem themselves.

6) An ideal week would have so much awesomeness:

Sunday - Challenge Day: Mystery Box (make a dish with ingredients carefully selected and handed over in a sealed wooden box), Invention Test (make a dish based on the theme using a particular ingredient)

Monday - Pressure Test: Bottom three from Sunday face off against each other in limited time. Loser gets eliminated.

Tuesday - Immunity Challenge: Winner of Sunday faces off against an accomplished chef in a themed challenge with judges not knowing who made which dish. If contestant wins the most points, he/she gets an immunity pin which can be used later in the show to avoid elimination once. 

Wednesday - Team Challenge: contestants form teams for a challenge (usually an outdoor catering style event). 

Thursday - Elimination: Worst dishes from the losing team of Wednesday face off. Loser gets eliminated.

Friday - Master class: Based on dishes of past week, the judges teach and cook for the contestants and show how they could have done better.

  

7) Unlike the heated competition you see in most reality shows where drama gets amplified over substance, here the show has a positive vibe between competitors too all throughout and the main stress factors are limited to those occurring during the cooking rather than through personal conflicts.

8) Contests and ideas are very innovative and challenges your skills. You cannot get away with just continuously cooking Indian or French food and hope to reach the finals. Your talent under pressure, your creativity and your evolution as a chef all matters here. 

9) It is Food porn of the highest level! Enough said.

This is their version of a carrot cake, apple toffee and chocoholics delight.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go cry somewhere...

10) Personal opinions: There are literally hundreds of cooking competition shows around on TV. Masterchef alone has so many sub-divisions (India, Canada, UK, New Zealand, France, Greece, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, USA, Peru). Of all the shows, the one I will always recommend to you is MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA. Hands down.

If aliens were to judge us based solely upon this show:

• They would give up their plans for world destruction and stay back for the food.
• With that awesome Aussie accent and that forever feel-good aura, the aliens most likely will abduct George Calombaris mistaking him for an Aussie teddy bear but hey, as long as there is world peace, right?

Trivia:

• This is not the original show. The British version is the true original. This just does it better.
• Do you remember any dish you liked in particular? You can get the recipes of the best dishes of the show here.

To see all the shows  I have talked about till date, please CLICK HERE.