''MasterChef Croatia'' () is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n competitive

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

cooking show A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a Television studio, studio set, or at the host's p ...

based on the original British version of ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with MasterChef (British TV series), the British version in July 1990. The show aims to discover the culinary talent of chefs of varying sk ...

''. In an elimination-based format, the series follows a group of contestants facing various cooking challenges in order to win the title of MasterChef and a cash prize. The first season premiered on 21 March 2011 on

Nova TV Nova TV may refer to the following television channels: * Nova BH, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Nova (Bulgarian TV channel) ** Nova Sport (Bulgaria) * Nova+, Bulgaria (defunct) * Nova Televisión, Colombia * Nova TV (Croatia) * TV Nova (Czech Republi ...

, and it was hosted by Jasna Nanut. The series went on a hiatus after the third season was aired in 2015. In 2021, the series returned with its fourth season and has since been on air regularly as a part of Nova TV's fall schedule. The seventh season premiered in September 2024.

Format

Each season begins with auditions during which aspiring finalists have to impress the judges by preparing a meal in front of them. After the finalists are selected by the jury, they face a vast array of

culinary Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

challenges. As the contestants are eliminated, the winner is selected among the remaining Top Two contestants at the finale.

Judges

The judges in the first season were Tomislav Gretić, a well-known Croatian chef; Mate Janković, one of the youngest Croatian chefs; and Radovan Marčić, a director and a writer. For the 2021 reboot of the series, a brand new panel of judges was introduced: Damir Tomljanović, Melkior Bašić and Stjepan Vukadin were the main judges for the fourth, fifth and sixth season. Tomljanović and Bašić were replaced with Goran Kočiš and Mario Mihelj for the seventh season.

Series overview

Season 1 (2011)

The filming of the first season began in February 2011; over 1500 applicants auditioned to participate in it. The series premiered on 21 March 2011. The finalists in order of elimination were Robert Predrag Žmire, Matija Nikolić, Vedran Beg, Davor Šreng, Željana Ančić, Ljubo Matulin, Bojan Končar, Ana Kovačević Pilepić, Marko Gajski, Nastasja Fišter, Ivan Vučković, Mario Bobanović, Ivana Đokić, Tea Đukić, Vesna Matulić, Igor Zdenjak, Ivanko Rebič, and Tomislav Rusakć. The season was won by Šime Sušić.

Season 2 (2012)

The second season was won by Nikola Lesar.

Season 3 (2015)

The third season premiered on 20 March 2015. The finalists in order of elimination were Ratko Iveković, Valerio Baranović, Robert Budimir Bekan, Oskar Svržnjak, Danijel Živković, Dina Lončar, Dario Žmikić, Mišel Matulin, Ivana Vujina Jović, Elena Jurić, Emilija Marinović, and Martina Županić. The season was won by Iva Pehar.

Season 4 (2021)

In late 2020,

confirmed that the series is returning after a hiatus. The auditions began in June 2021, and it was confirmed that the judging panel would consist of Melkior Bašić, Damir Tomljanović, and Stjepan Vukadin. The fourth season premiered on 20 September 2021. The finalists in order of elimination were Marija Gregurić, Frano Kekez, Igor Ivanović, Ana Marija Kutleša, Ema Baniček, Zvijezdana Posavec, Tihomir Bježančević, Tomislav Marković, Filip Pleteš, Željka Bleuš, Klavdija Zubović, Karmen Jurčić, Maja Mandić, Marko Krznarić, Roko Kulušić - Neral, Vanja Agić, and Ana Antunović. The winner was Ivan Temšić.

Season 5 (2022)

The finalists in order of elimination were Emina Bajramović, Leo Jurešić, Jelica Boto, Lucija Kerečin, Ivica Višić, Maja Jalšovec, Lucija Davidović, Luka Marin, Mevlija Delić, Marko Kolak, Nikola Kotur, Luka Piasevoli, Vesna Slavica, Matea Alduk, Andrea Dević, Tihomir Krklec, Ivana Ivić, Anita Vuković, and Wannapa Ponyon. The season was won by Maja Šabić.

Season 6 (2023)

The sixth season ran from 4 September to 29 December 2023, concluding after 61 episodes. The winner was Luka Veić.

Season 7 (2024)

Auditions for the seventh season opened in March 2024. For the first time since the fourth season, the judging panel was revamped: Damir Tomljanović and Melkior Bašić were replaced with Goran Kočiš and Mario Mihelj; Stjepan Vukadin, however, remained on the panel. The season premiered on 15 September and concluded on 30 December 2024 after 60 episodes. The winner was Ante Vukadin.

Season 8

Applications for the eighth season began in October 2024.

References

External links

* * {{Nova TV (Croatia) original programming

Croatian reality television series 2011 Croatian television series debuts Croatian television series based on British television series Nova TV (Croatia) original programming Croatian television series revived after cancellation