Kiwis rule the kitchen in trans-tasman cooking clash

onion chopping challenges. The judges though, are there to support her. The somewhat polarising Jock Zonfrillo delivers a treacly speech about ‘‘being a classic’’ to ease her clearly visible trepidations.

Season 10 winner Sashi Cheliah also admits to worrying about going home a bit early, and season 7’s John Carasig promises there won’t be a repeat of his infamous white chocolate veloute – even though we know he’s going to be reminded about it constantly.

Yes, for all its charm, endorphin-enhancing sights and words and fizz, something about this latest Masterchef Australia season just smells as funky as returning-from-just-last-season Tommy Pham’s initial winning fish and pork belly dish. It has become like Survivor USA. Trading on past glories and twisting itself into knots trying to find new ways to bring its biggest personalities – and audiences – back. We don’t even have contestants any more – they’re ‘‘favourites’’ or ‘‘fans’’.

Flamboyant returning season 10 combatant Aldo might opine at how skinny the ‘‘new’’ judges are, but the newbies are more concerned about their rivals: ‘‘Sarah’s [Todd, from season 6] so gorgeous, it’s a crime to be that pretty,’’ one observes.

Not that the Kiwi participants aren’t above such comments, they’re just reserved for Lim.

‘‘You can tell she eats really good food,’’ one whispers a little too audibly when the 27 Masterchef NZ hopefuls first set eyes on the judging trio.

For her part, Lim wants to assure everyone that ‘‘experience is one thing, attitude is everything’’, and it’s clear from the outset that she, Dearth and Mabee want contestants to ‘‘present yourself on a plate’’.

In 2022, that means far more diverse dishes than 2015, everything from Egyptian street food to Thai barbecue and Vietnamese staples. Foraging and the use of local ingredients also abound, and kawakawa and horopito are threatening to quickly become our version of lemon myrtle and Davidson plum. And while no Nonnas were praised in the making of the opening two episodes, a clear credit was given to a bakery-owning filipino grandmother – and rightly so.

Perhaps a little cloyingly and schmaltzily, no contestant was given a ‘‘no’’ by the judges, just ‘‘maybes’’. Eventually, that did paint the trio into a corner, with only three aprons left for 14 hopefuls, but at least they could do that in the relative safety of outside, where the opportunity for a tantrum was significantly lessened.

Likewise, although the Kiwi producers managed to smartly reduce the impact of the often strident Masterchef emotion-inducing soundtrack smorgasbord, anyone familiar with the franchise will be able to work out a contestant’s relative success in a particular challenge based on where they are in the edit. Feature first or last – and you’re almost guaranteed to be sailing through with the highest praise.

Then there was the constant drone of, ‘‘how much do you want this?’’ from the judging trio, one that hopefully will just as quickly fade out.

If the presentation – on the plate and in the production – isn’t quite up to its stablemate from the Western Island, what Masterchef NZ has going for it is its endearing scrappiness and its chutzpah. They might not be huggers like the Aussies, but Mabee and Lim look to be having a grand old time.

In the opening episodes alone, there was an attempted wink to wave a contestant through that was completely ignored, a gentle dig by Mabee that Lim would publish a contestant’s recipe ‘‘in a heartbeat’’, an exclamation that a dish was ‘‘blimmin’ exceptional’’ and an acclamation to another nervous participant that ‘‘this to me smells like ability’’.

Then there was the awkward, extremely Kiwi moment when Mabee recognised one of the chefs, but couldn’t place him. ‘‘I fixed a leak in your kitchen five years ago,’’ he was then reminded.

Perhaps sensing some more stories might get revealed, Mabee packed him off with a ‘‘maybe’’, suggesting that his dish ‘‘lacked a bit of texture’’.

Which perhaps best sums up the difference between the two shows. Masterchef Australia has become too smooth an operation for its own good. Surprises are few and far between, so familiar is the format and so fawning the seemingly endless praise, that you yearn for the days when there was a bit of tension to chew on and the odd dish went spectacularly wrong.

We know not everything will go perfectly on Masterchef NZ. The fennel might be rendered inedible, a dish might have too much acid and, as one hopeful has already warned us, they might not be able to keep ‘‘a white apron clean’’. But it’s exactly that sense of jeopardy and identifiability that will keep us coming back for more.

Masterchef NZ screens on Three on Sundays to Tuesdays each week. Masterchef Australia: Fans & Faves is unspooling on TVNZ 2 from Sundays to Wednesdays. Both are also available on their respective on-demand platforms.