Past Seasons Discussion

[xchouchoutex]

I’m happy that Amina finally won a challenge also because she cooked something out of her safe zone although i know that middle eastern cuisine is wide and diverse

[ppl]

I wasn't impressed with the dishes in the immunity challenge. I think trying to recreate a top 3 service challenge but with the added pressure of making 5 dishes for an immunity challenge was dumb. It's clear Jock and Andy were out of their depth when they were tasting Amina's rice balls with kimchi dish.

It feels like the producers have no idea what they're doing and are just sticking random pressure tests or team challenges in any sort of cook to switch up the format.

They're wasting these contestants' talents by taking them to suburbia to cook a whatever dish. Most of the produce from those random people were exquisite and jaw-worthy (like that zucchini!) but I want to see refined/technical dishes that makes you go wow when you see them. I already don't have the benefit of trying these dishes so telling me that someone's plate of turd tastes AMAZING doesn't mean much when there's zero sophistication or elegance to the dish.

Where are the award winning chefs? I guess 10 really cheapened out on the budget if we're reduced to weeks of no guest chef and a week of cooking in suburbia. I wonder how much of Gary/George/Matt's connections were used to entice the guest chefs to come over and how much was down to $$$. We already know that Massimo Bottura only comes on Masterchef Australia because of the show itself (perhaps connections to Gary/George/Matt).

[Athena]

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[Mellowyellow]

15 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

Puke. People can be disgusting. 

I feel like I need to put on my little tin foil hat now, but I just read a heated online argument about how S1 was "rigged" because Poh was more deserving of the win than Julie (and they had some valid points about how badly Julie did in some of the challenges and yet it was always somebody else who went home instead of her), but Julie was more marketable plus they didn't want to give the win of the first MCAU to a person with Asian background. And then when S10 was ending, there were the rumors that Ben B. was only in the finale because they didn't want to have a finale with two non-Australian natives there, thus omitting Khanh. I don't know if it's true, but it made sense to me at the time, because Ben sure as F wasn't in the finale because of his cooking skills.   

I'm not sure what my point is, but I'd be interested to hear you guys' thoughts about whether that's believable at all or just some silly conspiracy.

(Sorry about the OT!)

I could never for the life of me understood why Julie lasted so long to win S1. She was on par with Emma from S5 as far as I'm concerned. Her cooking was super basic. There was a challenge where she made a pie that didn't set. She called it a puddle pie and they eliminated someone else. I was outraged!

Poh went off script in the finale and didn't follow the recipe in one of those hard recreate a dessert challenges. That was primarily why she lost I think.

But anyways I do think Julie was the chosen one in S1. They should have gone with Justine. Any decent cook can cook better than Julie! 

 

[Mellowyellow]

I'm going to call it! I think last season's Larissa was the worst winner for me.

I see her smug self on the Facebook page and I cringe. She was definitely a better cook than Emma but there was just something about her that I found incredibly off putting (really smug I think) so yes I've decided she's my worst winner ever.

[dippydee]

16 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

 

I'm going to call it! I think last season's Larissa was the worst winner for me.

see her smug self on the Facebook page and I cringe. She was definitely a better cook than Emma but there was just something about her that I found incredibly off putting (really smug I think)

 

She’s definitely right up there (along with Emma). I found her to be smug too, maybe it’s an age thing because she was a very annoying 19. But also mostly I thought Tessa cooked circles around her for most of the season. Her dishes were consistently more coherent and better plated.

Emma was freaking terrible. That whole season was kind of a mess. Emma was exactly the template the old judges preferred (see also: Georgia and Tamara) so I wasn’t surprised to see her win but she was just average.

My favourite winners and Diana, Billie and a toss up between Elena/Adam for the other spot.

[Myriad]

Larissa: two failed pana cottas and the trophy.  Weeee!

Tessa was always a bit too serious, but that I understood when she came in with her two feet heavily planted on the ground at the beginning of the season. Like she was not there to only win, but mostly to right a wrong.

Quote

Emma was freaking terrible.

What's a superlative for "terrible"? Abysmal? Godawful? Woeful? Abominable? All of these answers? When years later forgiveness hasn't yet come having chosen this ~winner~, it's telling how deep the wound was.

2 hours ago, dippydee said:

(see also: Georgia and Tamara)

Ah, Georgia, Tear Manufacturer Supreme, follower of the all mighty Breakdown Meltdown Crushdown.  Wonder how she's doing nowadays, when pandemic/quarantine has everybody getting more teary than usual. Good thing the  toilet paper craze hasn't extended to kleenex boxes yet.

But Georgia, I have once been very, very impressed by her.  Which never happened with Emma, not even almost. Remember that how-can-anyone-forget white chocolate velouté by that John guy? Georgia being last and working miracles to save that mess and present a correct and finished dish was quite the feat.  When she crunched down at the end, totally exhausted mentally and psychologically,  I was right there with here, sending her back rubs and words of congratulations months after she had actually accomplished that. How come she didn't fail under that thick pressure that time, but would always have her "I can't!  Boohoohoo me!" moments in a team environment where she was not all by herself?  Maybe being alone is her secret life vest. Maybe she can push herself further when there's no one but her to count on.

[Rosenrot]

50 minutes ago, Myriad said:

Larissa: two failed pana cottas and the trophy.  Weeee!

And a banana sundae. A. BANANA. SUNDAE. One that was apparently SO delicious that it saved her ass even though it wasn't even her original dish but a last-minute afterthought after the original failed!

But seriously, though I never actively disliked her, I'm still shocked that she won. I was 101% sure that either Tessa or Simon were going to and Larissa was just kinda... there, as some kind of a side note. Like "oh well, they wanted a top 3, so she has to be there as well, but SURELY she doesn't stand a chance".  

Edited July 21, 2020 by Rosenrot

[Iris987]

On 5/27/2020 at 11:45 PM, Mellowyellow said:

Poh went off script in the finale and didn't follow the recipe in one of those hard recreate a dessert challenges. That was primarily why she lost I think.

I remember that. She didn't try to temper her chocolate and Julie at least attempted it. It's funny how far we've come with Masterchef. At the start, tempering was so exotic and difficult that it was part of the grand final and now if you can't do it in the first episode then you're gone. Even though I haven't watched religiously for years I'll always have a soft spot with the show for expanding my food knowledge. Ganache is no longer 'a shiny sauce'. A cloche is no longer 'a silver dome thing that covers food'. Vacuum sealing meat is now sous vide. And I'll always be grateful for wage stiffer and soccer hooligan George for reminding me of the importance of 'galvanising' flavor. I mean, what the hell, Calombaris?

[NotChristine]

For those of us in the US, S1-4 are now available on Tubi.