Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
You c an taste the tension!
Whittling down MasterChef’s 3,000 applicants to a final 56 takes five months – as Gregg might say, entering doesn’t get tougher than this!
The show that brings you cutting- edge cookery, the ultimate challenge for those who aspire to be the next James Martin or Mary Berry, is back. MasterChef returns this week for a new 24-episode series, with the winner to be crowned the show’s 15th champion.
Over the next seven weeks we’ll see 56 amateur cooks, including an estate agent, a scientist and a vet, attempt to impress judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode, as well as a host of guest chefs including Raymond Blanc and Michel Roux Jr.
The rewards for success are great. Previous champions have opened restaurants, published books and cooked in some of the world’s finest eateries.
With so much to gain, it’s unsurprisingly a competition that is difficult to enter, let alone win. To begin with, there’s the long, detailed application form which asks questions such as, ‘Tell us the exact moment you fell in love with food’ and, ‘What is the hardest cooking situation you’ve been in?’
Just over 3,000 applied this year, with an even split of males and females, after which the numbers were gradually whittled down.
‘From the application form we can generally tell those that have the passion and baseline knowledge we are looking for,’ says the show’s executive editor David Ambler.
Those making it through the first stage were then interviewed on the phone by a member of the production team and if they continued to impress were invited to take part in a face-toface interview, bringing along a plate of home- prepared food to discuss with the casting team.
Five months after receiving the first flurry of application forms, Ambler and his team had their 56 contestants.
The filming days for this series, at 3 Mills Studios in London’s East End, often ran for 12 hours, during which time Gregg Wallace says he was constantly attuned to his fellow judge John Torode. ‘I was listening out for the phrase, “You’re sure you want to do this?”’ says Gregg. ‘If John said that to a contestant it meant, “Stop what you’re doing and take a different approach.” Sound advice from an expert!’
Gregg, meanwhile, had to be care- ful how he consumed the food. A few years ago, an elderly female viewer noticed that he kept his fork or spoon in his mouth for just that little bit longer when tasting dishes that he subsequently praised – a giveaway sign he’s been keen to eliminate.
What can’t be prevented is cold food. The judges always taste the dishes as the contestants prepare them but the need to film lots of different cooks,
and the judges’ reactions to their dishes from different camera angles, means that some of the food inevitably loses heat by the time Gregg and John sample the finished product.
‘The temperature of the food does vary but it doesn’t impact the integrity of the dish and its taste,’ says David.
Once filming is done each day, the food is either stored, sent to a charity food bank – or eaten by the crew. ‘The soundmen carry forks and spoons in their sound gear!’ says David.
But it’s the palates of Gregg and John that really matter – and Gregg says this series was incredibly tough to judge. ‘It’s competitive and of a high standard,’ he says. ‘Bring on the challenges!’
MasterChef, Monday, 9pm, Wednesday, 8pm, Friday, 9pm, BBC1.
This year’s semi-finalists must cook a vegan meal for vegan chef Alexis Gauthier. ‘If you want to succeed as a chef you must have knowledge of vegan and vegetarian food,’ says executive editor David Ambler