Caitlin Jones moves ahead on ‘Chef’

Let the real cooking begin!

Season eight “MasterChef” (Fox, Wednesdays) just completed its twopart premiere in which 40 hopefuls were winnowed to a field of 20 amid tears, cheers and stove-top flash fires.

Caitlin Jones, a New York City dancer who graduated from Peters Township High School and Carnegie Mellon University, earned a coveted white apron. She moves on in the competition.

Also in the mix is Heather Dombrosky, one of two registered nurses. Ms. Dombrosky grew up in Miami, but she has honorary Pittsburgh status because her father is from here and she has tons of relatives in the area.

The field also includes three teachers, a ranch owner, another dancer and a swimsuit model. The winner of “MasterChef” gets, among other prizes, $250,000 and a spot on the next branded “MasterChef” cruise.

Other shows

of they actually got to take in the scenery. Although this once led to one “National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation”-type moment.

“I’ll never forget. We were in New Zealand, and we are on this hill on Mount Eden [a volcano]. It was raining, and this huge rainbow showed up. We had finished the task, and Starr was like, ‘I’ll get in the car.’

“I said, ‘Wait! We have to stop and enjoy this moment.’ I put my arm around her shoulders and said we should justenjoy where we are.”

“She pushed me away and said, ‘No! Let’s go!’ ”

• “Planet of the Apps,” Apple Music’s first foray into reality programming, is currently available to stream for free at planetoftheapps.com. Think “Shark Tank” but with three celebs and one entrepreneur on the panel.

Gwynth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, will.i.am sit with Gary Vaynerchuk in cubist white chairs while app developers descend verrrrrry slowly down an escalator. In those 60 seconds, they must give their pitches.

In the first episode, Andrew Kemendo describes Pair, which allows, via augmented reality, shoppers to virtually place furniture and other products “in” their homes before buying. Another trio of hopefuls has an event-based dating app they’d like to pitch.

The Sharks, oops, panel then marks portable tablets (iPads, of course) to say yea or nah to a longer pitch. If more than one goes for the idea, the developer can choose him or her to help with six weeks of further product study.

Hosted by Aussie Zane Lowe, future episodes of “Planet of the Apps” will be available through iTunes purchase and Apple Music subscription.