Smell of burnout in the MasterChef kitchen

What began as a simple recipe for the Masterchef hosts’ external opportunities became a toxic stew.

Gary Mehigan, left, George Calombaris and Matt Preston discuss a MasterChef series 11 meal. Picture: Martin Philbey

Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris met with Ten Network chief executive Paul Anderson and chief content officer Beverley McGarvey in Melbourne to discuss their involvement with the CBS-owned broadcaster’s much loved show MasterChef in February.

Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris decided they loved working together after some time overseas, and had formed a production company, known as GGM Pty Ltd. But as the months passed and MasterChef’s latest season went to air, what began as a simple discussion about external opportunities ended in a disagreement over the terms of a new contract.

Just hours before the final show of its 11th season went to air, the negotiations would fall apart.

The initial conversation wasn’t actually about contracts. Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris wanted to talk to Ms McGarvey and Mr Anderson about the prospect of doing more work outside of their MasterChef Australia responsibilities — a deal with Netflix, Amazon or international travel. Ten is believed to have not had concerns, and there was nothing in the contracts that prevented the cooking connoisseurs from doing so.

Months later, Ten received a note from a lawyer, on behalf of GGM Pty Ltd. Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris wanted a one-year contract with more money and fewer hours. They also wanted more creative input to the show, which they had helped Ten and production company Shine build over the previous decade.

Negotiations became fraught with challenges as the three hosts, their agents, a lawyer for GGM and Ten’s executives began debating the terms of the contract. One of the main issues was that the trio wanted to end their contract earlier than the end of the 2020 year, in September.

That was a risk. The show hadn’t performed as well as it had in previous years, and the network believed it would be problematic to sign a contract without full-year exclusivity. Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris could, after all, head to rival networks before the year concluded.

Masterchef Judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Colombaris. Picture: Lachie Millard.

Eventually the talks broke down, and in the final days of the 11th season of MasterChef, Ten went back with its last offer, which included the exclusivity agreement for the entirety of 2020.

If exclusivity were guaranteed, it is unclear whether Ten would agree to the rest of the terms. But the trio are understood, however, to have agreed to the financial part of the contract.

Ten, now also facing scrutiny for a wages scandal involving the Calombaris restaurant empire, Made Establishment, felt like it had been backed into a corner.

On Tuesday the offer fell apart — Ten walking away from the hosts who helped create the much-loved MasterChef format. Ahead of the final, Ten said it had failed to meet “satisfactory” salary expectations for the trio, believed to be earning more than $1m each.

“The MasterChef brand is much-loved right around the world. At its core, it is about ­ordinary people cooking extraordinary food, providing meal inspirations for viewers and that won’t change,” Mr Anderson told The Australian.

But when Preston, Mehigan and Calombaris posted on their social media accounts about the “shock” exit, the wording was more careful.

“We were really keen to continue but we were unable to agree to all terms for the new contract,” Preston wrote. Mehigan said “we couldn’t agree on the terms of the new contract for 2020 and season 12”, while Calombaris said the “dates just didn’t align”.

The network was then hit with its lowest grand final audience in MasterChef’s 11-year-history, failing to crack one million metropolitan viewers. The final episode had 831,000 metropolitan viewers tune in to watch 22-year-old Larissa Takchi become the youngest ever winner, according to OzTAM’s overnight figures. Back in 2009, the final pulled in 3.3 million metropolitan viewers.

But Mr Anderson disputes claims of a reduction in revenue.

“We don’t expect changes to the judging panel to impact revenues and, as for ratings, our challenge each year is to produce a show that engages the Australian public. This will be no different in 2020,” he says.

“It’s always a gamble changing tried and tested performers,” reflects Mike Wilson, chief executive of media agency Havas.

But Mr Wilson, who believes MasterChef’s timeslot — 7.30pm — competes with streaming services and online platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, said “nobody is bigger than the brand format”.

“If ratings are on the wane and the sponsorship value is falling there comes a time when you simply need to change the cost-versus-return equation,” he says.

It is unclear whether the hosts will uphold the large sponsorships they have enjoyed over the decade. Longstanding sponsors like Coles are more likely to align with the MasterChef brand. But the failed negotiations raise several questions for Ten and other networks, the first being where to draw the line in negotiations.

“Free-to-air ain’t the gravy train it used to be,” one television executive said on the day of the announcement.

For Ten, which plans another decade of MasterChef on screen, the costs outweigh the benefits.

Contractual negotiations have been scrutinised more and more in recent years. Back in 2016, when Nine’s Today show co-host Lisa Wilkinson defected to Ten, one of the issues was understood to have been exclusivity.

Meanwhile, radio talent, including KIIS FM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson and 2GB’s Alan Jones, are also known for their multi-million-dollars salary packages.

Paying big bucks for sports rights is also something the networks have recently disputed, with Nine sports boss Tom Malone describing the model as “broken”. Networks have started a debate about cost and value, particularly in a time of audience decline and tough advertising market conditions.

Ashley Earnshaw, chief executive of Vizeum, describes last week’s events as a “pivotal point” for Ten. “It’s a ratings game, the more ratings the shows write, the more revenue the networks can gain off the back of it,” he says.

“We are seeing this play out in different ways, whether its sports rights, radio talent, TV show talent. The money just isn’t there like it used to be.”

The audition process for Ten’s new judges is already under way, and in a few weeks that decision will be revealed.

“There is a real opportunity to shake this up now,” Mr Wilson says. “They could probably bring in a superstar and dispense with three regular judges or look to bring completely new foodies in and take it younger.”

Mr Anderson is re-energised, hoping for a diverse new set of judges and that the contracts will be longer than 12 months.

Mr Earnshaw says while the brand is “still very strong”, things will need to be done differently.

“In this case, it will have an impact on the revenue for the show, it will have an impact on viewership,” he says. “When we are going to be able to determine that is when the new talent are announced.

“In advance of seeing who those people are, although the MasterChef brand on its own is very strong, the combination of the brand between MasterChef and the brands of the three personalities has been something that has carried the audience through.”

His comments echoed Chris Walton, managing director of Nunn Media, who anticipated the audiences would be hit by the departure of the talent.

Media analyst Steve Allen said Ten would reduce its audience projections for the 2020 season in light of the changes.

“Ten have to watch their costs and adding a million or two to a program’s costs, and in a tough revenue market, has enormous risk itself,” Mr Allen says.