Celebrity MasterChef

This week was the Celebrity MasterChef final, with just three celebrities left they have to cook their last three course meal for John Torode and Gregg Wallace. Running for two weeks, the three finalists were Emma Kennedy, Danny Mills and Michael Underwood.

MasterChef was started in 1990 but was revived later on becoming ‘MasterChef goes large’, but the latter part of the title was dropped in 2008. The show has several tests throughout the levels, including the ingredients test and skill test.

2012

2012 Winner Emma Kennedy

Emma Kennedy was crowned the winner of Celebrity MasterChef 2012. She is a well known actress writer and television presenter, mostly known for her appearances in TV comedies.  Her winning menu consisted of a starter of Pea, Mint and Ricotta Ravioli with Pancetta Butter and Pea Shoots.  This was followed by a main dish of Pan fried Turbot topped with Samphire and served with Vegetable filled Leek Cannelloni, crushed Roast Potatoes and a Beurre Blanc sauce, and a dessert of Ile Flottante - Poached Meringue in Crème Anglaise with Almond Praline Topping and Shortbread Biscuits.

Danny Mills is a former English professional football player, best known playing for Leeds United.  He also played for England in the FIFA World Cup as Gary Neille’s cover following injury. He played every minute of England’s five matches. He is heavily involved in charity work for Shine, including competing in the Brighton marathon in a wheelchair.

Michael Underwood won a six week CBBC presenting contract on Gaby Roslin’s BBC television programme ‘Whatever You Want’ and has gone on to gain years of experience in TV presenting. He married his co-star CBBC presenter Angellica Bell, and they now have a son together.

As well as this year’s finalists, the following contestants also took part earlier in the series. These included Gareth Gates, Jamie Theakston, Javine Hylton and Zoe Salmon.

MasterChef Vs Celebrity MasterChef

Although the Celebrity version is a shorter run I believe this means they have more to prove in less time. Where the ordinary version has people learning from different chefs in different restaurants all over the world, the celebrities only get a handful of master classes to learn and improve, meaning that they have to have a natural talent and show huge improvement.

It is also interesting for the viewer to see people that they know challenged in a field they aren’t used to. With the MasterChef series we don’t know if the general public contestants have a background in cooking or how good they will be or what made them come on the show, whereas with the celebrity version, we already know something about these characters. This means that the viewer has already formed an opinion on the celebrity they are watching, increasing the viewership of the programme, by appealing to fans of these characters. I believe this is why the shortness of the series works; it is on long enough to gain viewers using the celebrities but not so long as to impact their work schedule.

Personally I believe the general public series is a more interesting programme to watch, as the challenges are more difficult and you can learn a lot more by them.

Summary

Cooking Gurus Greg Wallace and John Torode

The thing I love about this programme is the way that the judges get involved throughout the whole process. Greg and John are always funny to watch as a pair and always using the same catchphrases. MasterChef is an enjoyable watch, where you not only get to learn something but is interesting to see how the competition progresses. Although the show slot of 6.30pm on BBC 2 makes this show one of their less popular ones, I always like to watch it on iPlayer - just make sure you never watch when you’re hungry!


In the words of Greg Wallace: “Cooking doesn’t get tougher than this”.