MasterChef 2020: The biggest behind-the-scenes questions answered
As we near the pointy end of MasterChef: Back to Win, contestants spill the beans on what we don’t see on camera.
Let’s face it: This year’s instalment of MasterChef has been among the few good things about 2020.
The hit Channel 10 show has proved a ratings success, with more than a million Aussies tuning in three nights a week to watch the all-stars cast do what they do best.
From Reynold Poermono plating up astonishing dessert creations week by week, to Poh Ling Yeow routinely seen peering into the oven with two minutes on the clock, MasterChef is the wholesome reality TV offering Aussie viewers have been missing.
But while at this point in the competition — down to the top eight — we may feel like we know everything there is to know about MasterChef, behind the scenes is a whole different story.
News.com.au asked Back to Win contestants for their juiciest behind-the-scenes titbits, and dredged up secrets from seasons past.
Here’s what we discovered:
WHAT THE JUDGES ARE REALLY LIKE OFF-CAMERA
New judges Melissa Leong, Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen have been credited with breathing new life into MasterChef this year.
Having taken over from Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston after over a decade at the helm, who better to test their skills out on than returning favourites from the series?
Here’s what the contestants say they’re really like behind the scenes:
“Mel has one of the most kindest souls you can meet,” Reece Hignell told news.com.au of the glamorous food writer.
“Often she will stand with us during onset breaks to make sure we are all in good spirits,” he said.
Callum Hann added that Mel was often “amping everyone up with her fun little dances” on long filming days, while Laura Sharrad said she gave “the BEST pep talks” during challenges.
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As for Andy Allen, winner of MasterChef’s fourth season, Laura Sharrad said he was often the most excited about the challenges.
“Sometimes I swear he’s just going to pull out a bench and start cooking with us,” she said.
Khanh weighed-in — in great detail — that Andy was the judge he would most like to befriend outside the kitchen.
“Andy, just be my friend,” he said. “He’s the type of guy I just want to text on a Friday to see if he wants to grab a bite which leads to way too many tequilas and bar hopping until the wee hours of the morning.”
As for Jock Zonfrillo, recently-eliminated star Khanh likened him to “that teacher everyone loved but was a tiny bit scared of.”
“You know, the teacher that you just want to make proud. He’s got this presence,” he said of the Scottish chef.
JUDGES DON’T FAST BEFORE TASTINGS
If you’ve ever wondered whether the judges save their stomachs before sampling 20-odd dishes in one night, many of the contestants revealed Jock Zonfrillo certainly doesn’t.
In fact, they say he often eats a whole meal beforehand.
Brendan Pang, Callum Hann, Tessa Boersma, Reece Hignell, Laura Sharrad and Reynold Poernomo each said they were astounded by Jock’s tendency to eat a full lunch before sampling each and every dish.
“Jock sometimes eats a full lunch before a challenge and tastings … Even with 24 people in the competition. How can someone fit that much food in their stomach?,” Tessa wondered.
Callum also said: “Jock is the biggest eater I have ever met, and I eat a lot. He’ll have three helpings at lunch and then taste our dishes all afternoon.”
Fan favourites Reece and Brendan made the same observation: “Jock never stops eating. I mean never,” Reece said, while Brendan revealed he was “shocked” by how much food Jock could polish off.
Laura, who previously worked with Jock at his Adelaide restaurant Orana said: “Jock could eat a whole house and still be hungry.”
Meanwhile, frontrunner Reynold joked that Jock could “join an eating competition”.
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THE FOOD IS COLD
Back in 2018, returning MasterChef star Hayden Quinn, who was eliminated earlier this season, shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the judges’ sampling habits while speaking on the PopSugar Podcast.
Hayden said the judges have an idea of what each dish is going to taste like “before it gets to” the final tasting, given they walk around trying elements straight from the pot.
“It’s a huge process to go from uncooked produce, to cooked produce, to then be tasted,” he explained on the podcast.
“If you’re tasting 24 dishes, they’ve got to cool it, get it in the fridge and store it and then they have to shoot it,” Hayden continued. “It’s cold food basically.”
Ex-judge George Calombaris admitted the same in a Nova radio interview in 2015.
“When we say, ‘Stop cooking’ we do a quick wander of the room and taste stuff out of their pot.”
Elaborating to the Daily Mail Australia, Calombaris said the judges had to fake it for when the cameras started recording.
“It has always been cold and it always will be cold, but we taste everything hot off camera,” Calombaris said.
He said sometimes sauces were reheated at the point of serving.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FOOD THAT ISN’T COOKED/EATEN
MasterChef fans demanded answers when Tessa Boersma set down her steak dish for the judges to taste this week as a sizeable chunk of her tomahawk was missing, despite her cooking the entire cut.
While many expressed concern over what they perceived as food wastage, fellow contestant Laura told news.com.au earlier this month that the MasterChef team was committed to ensuring every morsel of food from the kitchen was either eaten or used elsewhere.
“Nothing is ever wasted,” Laura explained.
“Most of it is donated to food charity SecondBite.
“Some of the unwanted produce ends up in the garden’s compost. It’s so amazing to see all the split bin systems also in place to make sure everything is getting disposed of properly,” she said.
JUDGES ALREADY KNOW WINNERS
George Calombaris has previously revealed judges usually have their winner in mind in the version viewers see.
“It looks sexy on TV, but it takes time to film. So when you see us tasting at the end – it’s cold, but I’ve already made the decision, I already know what it tastes like,” he told the Daily Mail.
Season four contestant Alice Zaslavsky backed this up, telling Domain’s Weekly Review in 2018: “The best early indicator that you had a winning dish was when the whole production crew came down and licked your plate clean.”
17-HOUR FILMING DAYS
Zaslavsky said shooting days were generally very long. In particular, one challenge took her four days to film.
“A shooting day can be up to 17 hours, sometimes at least four of those hours are spent driving up and down, from the house, to the studio, up the driveway, out of the driveway, and at least another seven spent waiting around,” she said.
“Some interviews can take like three hours. Sometimes more. And then one of those hours is spent cooking.”
COOKS GET ANNOYED AT SPECTATORS
Do you ever watch MasterChef and get annoyed at the “safe” people sitting up there on the gantry putting their two cents in?
Turns out the chefs do too.
In another titbit from Zaslavsky, she said there were moments that often don’t make it to air where the cooks would get angry at those on the balcony.
“A couple of times, and it usually doesn’t make it to TV, the contestants specifically looked up (at the balcony) and said: “Can you guys just shut up?”
CONTESTANTS RARELY EAT THEIR OWN FOOD
As most keen home chefs can attest, one of the greatest joys of cooking is sampling as you go along.
But while we may have seen a contestant taste their dish once or twice throughout this season, Tessa Boersma said there’s a reason it’s not more frequent.
“We all lose our appetites during challenges from stress,” she revealed.
“So we don’t even get to enjoy all the delicious food ourselves.”
THERE IS NO ‘EXTRA TIME’
One of the biggest questions surrounding MasterChef’s intense challenges is whether that giant clock is ever paused momentarily to give the cooks a leg up.
According to Callum Hann – not at all.
“The challenges are completely real,” he said.
“People often ask me if we get secret extra time or other advantages to make the challenges more achievable than they seem. If they say you’ve got an hour, you’ve got an hour, and they are very strict about it,” the Adelaide chef said.
Emelia Jackson backed him up, revealing they’re never given extra time if they don’t finish.
“People are always most curious about that – but we definitely don’t,” she said.
Brendan Pang also spilled that “it really is as hard as it looks.”
Ben Ungermann, who came second in 2017 and appeared briefly on Back to Win before disappearing amid sexual assault charges, previously told news.com.au the same.
He claimed at times they were even further “stitched up” by producers.
“They say you have one hour exactly but they don’t tell you where anything is, so you could spend 15 minutes looking for your equipment and have only 45 minutes to cook.”
“The drama you see on screen — none of it is fabricated — but they put you in these high-pressure situations because they want to see you crack,” he added.
However, former contestant Dani Venn — who left earlier this season — did let slip that sometimes, contestants were given a few moments to mull over what they’ll be cooking between being told about the challenge and when the timer starts due to the way the segments are filmed.
“There is a little bit more time in between when the judges tell you the challenge and when the challenge actually starts because obviously we have to reset the cameras so you do get maybe a little bit of extra time to think about what you are going to cook,” she said on Mamamia’s The Quicky podcast in April.
MasterChef: Back to Win continues from 7.30pm Sunday on Channel 10.
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