Susie O’Brien: MasterChef judges’ plea for more money not a good look

How could MasterChef’s judges demand whopping payrises as the show’s ratings continued to slide? Let’s not forget that Ten’s decision to let its stars go en masse is giving George Calombaris a dignified escape he doesn’t deserve, writes Susie O’Brien.

So long, George, Matt and Gary.

They will be missed, but perhaps it was time for them to go.

It’s being rumoured that although they each earned over $1 million per season, they wanted more money.

That’s more money in addition to the generous sponsorship dollars they earn.

And more money in addition to the big bucks they rake in from cookbooks, restaurants and appearance fees.

Braying for more is not a good look when ratings of your show continue to slide, and the hospitality industry is in crisis due to the underpayment of staff.

It’s unfathomable that George thought he was worth more money given that he’s just underpaid his staff by $8 million over many years.

George Calombaris, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan have will no longer be judges on the MasterChef. Picture: Jay Town

The network’s decision to let the judges go en masse gives George Calombaris a dignified escape he doesn’t deserve.

The chorus of calls for his sacking were growing by the day, fuelled by disgruntled staff saying they were still waiting for funds.

Even Channel 10’s The Project had former employees baying for his blood.

Good on Channel 10 for showing that TV shows are bigger than even their biggest stars. There’s no shortage of replacements for you all, although Matt Preston in particular leaves big shoes to fill.

I’ve been an avid fan of MasterChef ever since a shocked Julie Goodwin took out the first season prize in 2009 in front of a TV audience of 3.7 million people.

The show’s three largely unknown judges became celebrities overnight, and a TV juggernaut was born.

Calombaris has recently found it’s self in hot water after it revealed he underpaid restaurant staff.

Now an average MasterChef show is lucky to get 720,000 city viewers and a finale one million.

It’s because over the years the food has got stranger, the guests more star-studded and the judges more famous and self-satisfied.

And we’ve now got better things to watch on TV.

As last night’s show was likely to be the end of an era, it’s worth taking stock of our “food journey”.

In the beginning it was about home chefs creating great dishes, and then weird things started creeping in. Porcini dust. Mushroom sand. Saffron soil.

My kids have made better looking mud pies.

One year, a masterclass offered a recipe for fruit carnival with sugar tuile, aerated fruit chocolate and toffee apple.

Mehigan at the Logie Awards.

It’s show pony posing on a plate. Any recipe with titanium dioxide, freeze-dried raspberry powder, isomalt and agar-agar surely isn’t food.

Heston Blumenthal even came up with a finale dessert concoction that had 55 steps and 17 elements and was based on a disease that affects grape vines.

No one could make it and — more importantly — no one wanted to eat it.

As time went on, the language become more and more wanky.

These days we don’t fry, we “saute”. We don’t melt chocolate we “temper” it. We don’t make sauces, we create a “reduction”.

And, thanks to MasterChef all our nouns are now verbs and all our verbs are nouns. Take plate. We no longer put it on a plate (noun), we “plate it up” (verb). And we don’t cook (verb), we undertake a cook (noun).

MasterChef is far from the ratings juggernaut that it used to be.

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While the show had many great years, it hit a low point with MasterChef: Professionals. Audiences turned off in droves, bored by the thought of professional chefs struggling to cook like, well, professional chefs.

It’s likely that even with new judges, the show will never be the same.

At least without MasterChef we can get our kids to bed on time.

For 11 seasons, we’ve been sitting around watching a food show packed with sous vide baby koala with a urine-enhanced eucalyptus leaf infused reduction while our kids ate eggs on toast and put themselves to bed.

So long, and thanks for all the memories and meals.

Originally published as Susie O’Brien: MasterChef judges’ plea for more money not a good look