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''MasterChef'' is an American competitive cooking reality television series that premiered on
Fox on July 27, 2010. Based on the
British series of the same name and produced by
Endemol Shine North America
Endemol Shine North America is the American division of Endemol Shine Group that was founded on March 15, 2002 as a merger of Shine Americas, Shine USA, and Reveille Productions.
Endemol Shine North America produces and distributes scripted and ...
and
One Potato Two Potato, the series features amateur and home chefs competing to win the title of 'MasterChef'. The current line-up of judges consists of
Gordon Ramsay,
Joe Bastianich
Joseph Bastianich (born September 17, 1968) is an American restaurateur, winemaker, author, television personality, and musician. He, along with his mother and business partner Lidia Bastianich, co-owns thirty restaurants in four countries, incl ...
, and
Aarón Sánchez.
A twelfth season, subtitled ''
Back to Win'', aired May–September 2022. In September 2022, the series was renewed for a thirteenth season. The season is set to premiere in summer 2023 with Ramsay, Sánchez, and Bastianich all set to return as judges.
Format
''MasterChef'' is based on the British
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series ''
MasterChef
''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...
''. The competition takes place in the ''MasterChef'' soundstage located in
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
which includes a large kitchen area with several cooking stations which is overlooked by a balcony, a well-stocked pantry, a freezer/fridge area and a fine-dining restaurant/seating dining area room used for certain challenges.
While the particular format of the season has slightly varied over the years, the following challenges have all been regularly featured:
* Skills Test: Cooks are challenged to perform a list of common cooking techniques or styles, or to replicate a particular cooking method of a dish (i.e. steaks done to an exact wellness). This type of test is also sometimes used as an Elimination Test.
* Mystery Box: Cooks are all given a box with the same ingredients and must use only those ingredients to create a dish within a fixed amount of time. The judges will select three dishes based on visual appearance and technique alone to taste, and from these three select one winner who usually gains an advantage of some type in the elimination test.
* Elimination Test: After the challenge is explained, judges evaluate all dishes based on taste and visual appeal. The judges nominate the worst dishes for elimination and criticize them before eliminating at least one contestant.
* Team Challenge: The cooks are split into teams by either team captains or the judges. They often occur in a restaurant takeover or pop-up restaurant taking the place of the staff of a particular restaurant. Diners taste both meals and vote for their favorite. The winning team advances, while the losing team will participate in the Pressure Test or face elimination based on the teams' performance.
* Pressure Test: Another form of the Elimination Test, in which losing team members compete against each other to make a standard dish within a very limited amount of time that requires a great degree of cooking finesse. Each dish is judged on taste, visual appeal and technique, and the losing chef is eliminated.
Once the competition is reduced to either the final two or three competitors, the finalists will compete against each other in a three-course cook-off. All courses of the meal are judged and an overall winner is crowned. The winner of each season wins $250,000, a ''MasterChef'' trophy, and the title of ''MasterChef''. Some seasons have also added other prizes such as a cookbook deal.
Judges
;Notes
For the first five seasons, the series starred celebrity chefs
Gordon Ramsay (the co-creator of the series and ''
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...
''),
Graham Elliot and restaurateur
Joe Bastianich
Joseph Bastianich (born September 17, 1968) is an American restaurateur, winemaker, author, television personality, and musician. He, along with his mother and business partner Lidia Bastianich, co-owns thirty restaurants in four countries, incl ...
.
From seasons six through eight, pastry chef
Christina Tosi
Christina Tosi (born 1981) is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and CEO. ''Food & Wine'' magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Food ...
temporarily replaced Bastianich. On season seven, Elliot departed as a judge, and in place of a third judge, there were a series of guest judges, one of which was
Aarón Sánchez. Since season eight, Sánchez joined as a regular judge. In season nine, Bastianich returned as a regular judge, replacing Tosi.
Series overview
Specials
Note: Bold indicates the winner(s) of the challenge.
MasterChef Celebrity Showdown (aired January 18, 2016)
*
Ta'Rhonda Jones
Ta'Rhonda Jones (born July 12, 1988)"a life less ordinary." ''Soap Opera Digest''. September 28, 2015. pg. 55. is an American actress and rapper who is best known for her recurring role as Porsha Taylor on the FOX television series ''Empire'' ...
vs
Kaitlin Doubleday
Kaitlin Janette Doubleday (born July 19, 1984) is an American actress. She played a number of supporting film roles in her early career, including in '' Waiting...'' (2005) and ''Accepted'' (2006). From 2015 to 2016, she starred as Rhonda Lyon in ...
from ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' (Mystery Box Challenge)
*
Boris Kodjoe
Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe (; born March 8, 1973) is a German actor, producer, and former model best known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film ''Brown Sugar'', the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama se ...
and
Nicole Ari Parker
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film '' The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went o ...
vs
Terry Crews
Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former American footballer. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords ...
and Rebecca Crews (Cupcake Tag Team Challenge)
*
Gigi Hadid
Jelena Noura "Gigi" Hadid ( ; born April 23, 1995) is an American model and television personality. In November 2014, she made her debut in the Top 50 Models ranking at Models.com. In 2016, she was named International Model of the Year by the ...
vs
Devon Windsor (Supermodel Signature Dish Face-off)
*Christine Hà, Luca Manfé, and Claudia Sandoval vs Addison Osta Smith, Zac Kara, and Amaya Baéz (Champions vs Juniors)
MasterChef Celebrity Showdown (aired January 2, 2017)
*
Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Ruth Hines (born September 21, 1965) is an American actress and director, best known for playing the role of Larry David's wife, Cheryl, on HBO's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', for which she has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also s ...
vs
Kal Penn
Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portrayin ...
(Mystery Box Challenge)
*
Trai Byers
Trai Byers (born July 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Andre Lyon in the Fox television series ''Empire'' (2015–2020).
Early life
Trai Byers was born in Kansas City, Kansas. After a year of high school in Kansas ...
and
Grace Gealey
Grace Byers (née Gealey; born July 26, 1984) Note: While some sources give her birthplace as the Cayman Island, Gealey says she was born in Butler, Pennsylvania. See interview in LumiereMagazine.com, below. is a Caymanian actress, known for her r ...
vs
NeNe and Gregg Leakes (Tag Team Challenge)
*
Ronde Barber
Jamael Orondé "Rondé" Barber (born April 7, 1975) is an American former football cornerback who spent his entire 16-year professional career playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He is the identical twin ...
and
Tiki Barber
Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber (; born April 7, 1975) is an American former football running back who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virginia ...
vs.
Joel Madden
Joel Rueben Madden (né Combs; March 11, 1979) is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist for the pop punk band Good Charlotte. He is also part of the pop rock collaboration the Madden Brothers with his identical twin brother Benj ...
and
Benji Madden
Benjamin Levi Madden (né Combs; born March 11, 1979) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the band Good Charlottefor which he has received various awardsas well as pop rock collaboration the Madden Brothe ...
(Pastry Challenge)
*
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ...
and Chef
Gordon Ramsay vs.
Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster (born April 26, 1980) is a Panamanian-American actress. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, she made her acting debut in an episode of ''All My Children'' in 1995 and next took on the recu ...
and Chef
Christina Tosi
Christina Tosi (born 1981) is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and CEO. ''Food & Wine'' magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Food ...
(Mystery Box Team Challenge)
*Guest judges: Season seven winner Shaun O'Neale and MasterChef Junior season five contestants: Shayne Wells and Justise Mayberry.
MasterChef Celebrity Family Showdown (aired May 15, 2019 and May 22, 2019)
*
Johnny Weir
John Garvin Weir (; born July 2, 1984) is an American figure skater and television commentator. He is a two-time Olympian (representing the United States in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, respectively), the 2008 World bronze medalist, a t ...
and his brother Boz vs.
Tara Lipinski and her husband Todd (Fish Dish Showdown)
*
Lisa Vanderpump and her daughter Pandora vs.
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and
JWoww
Jennifer Lynn Farley (born February 27, 1986), also known as JWoww, is an American television personality. She first came to prominence as one of the eight main cast members in the MTV reality series ''Jersey Shore'', and is a main cast member ...
(Blind Taste Test)
*
Tori Spelling
Victoria Davey Spelling (born May 16, 1973) is an American actress and author. Her first major role was Donna Martin on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', beginning in 1990. She has appeared in made for television films, including '' A Friend to Die F ...
and her daughter Stella vs.
Jennie Garth
Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom '' What I Like About You'' (2002–06). In 2012, she starre ...
and her daughter Fiona (Home Fridge Swap Challenge)
*
Evander Holyfield and his daughter Ebonne vs.
Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...
and his daughter Atiana (Keeping Up with Gordon Match)
Broadcast
Season one aired as a summer series initially on Tuesday nights at 9:00p.m. ET, debuting on July 27, 2010; it later moved to Wednesday nights at 8:00p.m. ET on August 18.
On September 7, 2010, ''MasterChef'' was renewed for a second season, which started with a two-night premiere on June 6, 2011.
On October 6, 2011, ''MasterChef'' was renewed for a third season, which started with a two-night premiere on June 4, 2012, following ''Hell's Kitchen.''
On July 23, 2012, ''MasterChef'' was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on May 22, 2013.
On May 10, 2013, Fox renewed ''MasterChef'' for an additional two seasons, which extended the show to at least six seasons.
On July 22, 2015, Fox renewed ''MasterChef'' for a seventh season.
On September 19, 2018, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a tenth season, which premiered on May 29, 2019 with Ramsay, Sánchez, and Bastianich returning as judges.
On August 18, 2021, the series was renewed for a twelfth season, which premiered on May 25, 2022.
On September 14, 2022, it was announced that Fox renewed the series for a thirteenth season, prior to the airing of the twelfth season's finale later that same day. The season is set to premiere in summer 2023.
Reception
Critical
The premiere episode received mixed reviews from major newspapers and online review websites, with reviews commenting that it was entertaining, but criticized the emotional aspect. The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' claimed
the contestants' back stories were "blown up," which referred to their dramatization.
A
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
reviewer explained the show "manages to be hugely entertaining and involving thanks mainly to the judges’ personalities and the ability of the producers to spot emotionally charged stories."
''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' said "the contrived sentimentality of it is, frankly, vomitous" referring to the emotion in contestants' reactions.
The program also attracted negative attention in season two when
Agence France-Presse journalist Alex Ogle discovered that the producers doctored a crowd scene said to be of "thousands upon thousands lined up" to audition for the program.
In post-production, portions of the scene were replicated so as to make the crowd look larger than it actually was, as evidenced by multiple appearances by especially noticeable people in the scene.
Ratings
Earlier American adaptation
West 175 Productions produced an earlier American adaptation, ''MasterChef USA'', broadcast on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
from 2000 to 2001. The series format was based directly on
BBC's ''
MasterChef
''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...
'' and lasted 28 episodes over two seasons. It was hosted by British chef
Gary Rhodes
Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', '' Mas ...
, who hosted the UK version of ''MasterChef'' in 2001.
Kitchenware
In 2011,
Reveille Productions
Endemol Shine North America is the American division of Endemol Shine Group that was founded on March 15, 2002 as a merger of Shine Americas, Shine USA, and Reveille Productions.
Endemol Shine North America produces and distributes scripted and ...
and
Shine TV, announced licensing deals with kitchenware manufacturers The Cookware Company, Triple Loop Housewares,
Global Knives, and
Kidsline to produce MasterChef-branded cookware, including stainless steel pans, knives, kitchen appliances, and children's cooking sets. The branded products were given to contestants on the television show to use during challenges. The show changed its branding in 2013 to reflect its expanded focus on consumer products in addition to the television shows. In 2018, Shine America hired Brand Central as their licensing agency, and more branded products, including barbecue tools from Unibrands and children's cooking sets from
Wicked Cool Toys, were announced.
See also
* ''
MasterChef Junior''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:MasterChef (Fox Tv Series)
2010 American television series debuts
English-language television shows
Fox Broadcasting Company original programming
MasterChef
Television series by Reveille Productions
Television series by All3Media
Television shows featuring audio description
Cooking competitions in the United States
2010s American cooking television series