Category — Matt Preston

Masterchef Australia judge Matt Preston says the fouth series is going to be all about the cooking.

This is what they said about series three as well…

Anyway Matt Preston told the Herald Sun that it is going back to basics.

He said:

MASTERCHEF judge Matt Preston says series five of the ratings juggernaut will be all about cooking.

The Herald Sun columnist said they were bringing the Channel 10 hit back to basics this year – unlike other reality TV shows such as My Kitchen Rules, which announced a fourth series yesterday.

“TV shows are about ratings, MKR has been fantastic and everyone has loved watching it because they have taken a leaf out of The Block‘s box,” Preston said.

“The first thing we look at is whether they can cook. We could pick nuff nuffs who couldn’t cook and it would make great TV but it is not really what it is about.”

Thanks Polly B for sending in article. She also noted that Matt Preston’s new haircut looks suspiciously like Justin Beiber’s.

Photo: Herald Sun.

Lucky Masterchef Australia contestants who are still  in the competition will be very excited to currently be in New York City filming upcoming episodes for the reality TV show.

Matt Preston via his twitter account @mattscravat tweeted to Anthony Bourdain (@noreservations):

@noreservations Made it to yr home town safely…am full of pork buns….now need 3 indecent places to drink! Pretty please oh wise one!

So New York City, and just eaten at one of David Chang’s eating establisments?

Anyway great news as there is a plethora of great chefs in New York who would make entertaining guest judges for the show.

First up will be the hot chef of the moment David Chang. Considering he is opening one of his iconic Momo restaurants in Star City, Sydney he would welcome the publicity.

Who else should we expect? I would guess Mario Batali and a visit to his Italian food emporium Eataly. Daniel Boulude, Tom Collicchio, Jean-George Vongerichten could be just a few that pop up in the episodes. Even Bourdain himself if he did not film with the show on his current visit in Australia, or famous restauranteur Keith McNally. Who do you think should be the guest judges and chefs in the NYC episodes?

But also let us hope they do some of the cuisine that is big in NYC and not so big over here. A Mexican challenge would be great, also southern or US style BBQ would really test the contestants skills and food knowledge. Or what about the contestants having to short order cook in a diner?

Whatever they do they are going to have some fantastic footage to screen for the week the episodes will go to air.

The Masterchef Australia pre-show media frenzy continues, and now the judges have revealed to the Daily Telegraph they did not enjoy Season 2 of the show.

The Daily Telegraph writes:

Preston makes no bones about the fact that he, Calombaris and Mehigan didn’t enjoy the second series of MasterChef.

The trio’s displeasure wasn’t just with some of the contestants – it was also aimed at themselves.

“In series two we were all overly dramatic,” Preston says. “We were all ‘performing’ for the first half (of the series), and as soon as we saw what it was like on the TV, we went, ‘Oh my God, that is so ridiculous, so overblown’.”

Last season’s Country Women’s Association challenge was an embarrassment. Many of the contestants couldn’t even bake a simple sponge, scone or fruit cake.

“We’ve become better at picking contestants that we think will grow through the course of the show,” Preston says.

“We’ve stripped out some of the dickhead factor. This year a lot of contestants are cooking for their family and friends. They’re not cooking their way through the complete works of Heston Blumenthal. They are people who cook as part of their lives rather than as an extreme sport.”

I take it this is code for no plate throwing this season thankfully.

The article also states there will be no second chance re-entry into the show, as there was in the first two seasons.

“We decided to remove things that don’t feel right,” Preston says. “Hopefully, it will feel more natural.”

Personally I don’t mind the second chance re-entry, as sometimes there are people who are eliminated due to having bad luck on the day or if your favourite goes early you keep watching on the off chance they will get back in.

The other thing they reveal is there will be less bitchiness and crying.

This year, they say, will be back to basics.

Last year, contestants including Jonathan “The Terminator” Daddia (IT consultant) and Claire Winton Burn (lawyer) fell out of favour with the judges and viewers for their perceived arrogance and repeated crying.

There was a lot of wailing on screen last year, however I actually thought the crying by Jonathan Daddia made him human to the audience. Also Claire Winton Burn being out of favour with the judges? She made top three, does that mean if she had been in favour she would have won. I thought the reason Claire Winton Burn did not get to the final was related to personal life issues.

Was Margaret Fulton not asked to be on Masterchef Australia this series? As this spray she gives the show and the judges seems extremely petty.

Considering her appearances on the show raised her profile to a whole new generation and treated her like a cooking icon and probably gave her the Woolworth contract she now has, it would be nice to see her be a little bit grateful.

But no the Sunday Telegraph reports:

COOKING great Margaret Fulton has unleashed on two of Australia’s biggest television programs, My Kitchen Rules and MasterChef, saying contestants cannot cook well and don’t know the basics.

Even the judges don’t escape a roasting.

Fulton has accused MasterChef’s Matt Preston of turning into a “full showman” and says George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan are fixated on earning the same large pay cheque as their cravat-wearing colleague.

Of the cooking couples on the hit Seven Network series My Kitchen Rules, which averages 1.5 million viewers, Fulton said: “I can’t be bothered watching them.

“I’ve seen enough people not cook well. I don’t want to watch people very pleased with what they’re doing but doing everything wrong.”

Fulton also whacked MasterChef, the Network Ten program she has actually starred on as a guest judge.

“What I found on MasterChef when I was on it, some of the basic things the contestants were trying to do – they didn’t know the basic things, such as pastry making,” she said.

The outburst from the 86-year-old came as she launched a new campaign for Woolworths – the supermarket rival of Coles, which sponsors My Kitchen Rules and MasterChef.

As Preston’s popularity on MasterChef grew, so did his personality, she said.

“Matt found the inner showman in himself. Now he’s found the full showman.

“Matt used to be quite a serious food journalist. He is married into a Melbourne family that’s quite conservative, and they couldn’t believe what Matt was up to.

“He’s a nice person, but he’s developing this thing like Bernard King.”

Fulton said King, who starred in the cooking show King’s Kitchen and died in 2002, had become more rude as his success skyrocketed.

Fulton also ripped into Calombaris and Mehigan.

“Matt had every reason to be self-confident, but they – although they have very successful businesses – aren’t as emotionally and mentally intelligent as Matt,” she said.

“Now it has become, ‘How much is he getting paid? If he’s getting that, I want it too.’ “

Masterchef Australia Matt Preston continues his multi-faceted media career by joining Kyle Sandilands on his breakfast show.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Matt Preston has signed a contract with Austereo which will see him appear on Kyle’s breakfast show on a “semi-regular basis”.

The article states:

Preston will join the show as a sidekick to the top-rating duo of Sandilands and Jackie O at the end of February, pitching in with celebrity interviews and adding his insights on the world of food, restaurants and star chefs.

I think it is a great gig for Matt Preston, but I am a bit perplexed by it. Are Today FM looking to expand their demographic or do they think Matt Preston will be a good fit with their current audience .

The contract is rumoured to be six figures. Congratulations to the popular Masterchef judge who has said he would like to get into commercial radio.

A Monash academic has said celebrity chefs are the new rock starts or moving into the territory where they once were. Really I would have thought that was so 2009.

The Courier Mail reports Monash University academic Angela Higgens says “People can relate to celebrity chefs,”

The article reports:

“Singers and actors have a huge talent but they don’t say ‘you can do this at home’.

“It’s about accessibility and achievability. Chefs are instructors not performers.”

MasterChef Australia has fuelled the rise of celebrity chefs such as Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan, joining established international stars such as Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson.

Ms Higgens says the “rise and rise” of the celebrity chef started with the breakdown of traditional family life.

“We used to cook with our mothers,” she says. “These days, with both parents often in the workforce and smaller family units, we are turning to celebrity chefs for reference.”

I am not sure I agree with everything she is saying. However one thing I do know is if my daughter when she is a teenager has a poster of Matt Preston on her wall I will be very disturbed.

It is that time of year for lists, and the Daily Telegraph has now put out their list of the 25 most influential people on TV. What was interesting was the reality stars that were on the list as well as the ones they left off.

Matt Preston was number 2 on the list, behind Jessica Marais who took out the number one spot. Also George Colambaris and Anna Gare were on there, but where was Gary Mehigan? He did not make the list. If I was him I would be feeling a tad peeved today. As I thought he proved when he was absent for two weeks from Masterchef Australia this year due to an injured knee that he brought some levity to the show.

He is a nice balance to George and Matt more exhuberant personalities, and ham acting.

Other reality stars that made the list were Manu Feidel, Danni Minogue, Peter Maddison from Grand Designs, and Scott Cam from The Block.

How can we miss Masterchef if it really won’t go away?  Another week goes by and our season two contestants keep themselves in, at least, our peripheral vision.

Matt Preston alerted the Twitterverse to this story, about Callum’s dream of having his own show, asking whether people would watch it.  Would you?  I’d watch it once, and – to be honest – would be hoping for it to be more Julie Goodwin than Poh, as it would make for a more entertaining blog post!

I fear that Callum has no real understanding of the television world, even after his months of immersion.  ”It [hanging out with Poh] made me jealous because her job is so fun – it’s MasterChef without the pressure of being eliminated.” They might not call it “elimination”, but networks do have other ways of making unsuccessful shows disappear.

Adam Liaw has been busy blogging, and posted a fabulous piece about the chefs he met on the show.  I hope Claire is taking note of the comment about Shaun Presland: “Your food is defined by your passion, not your ethnicity.”  It’s a really fun post, with some interesting insights and genuine laugh-out-loud moments.

Aaron Harvie has taken to social media like a duck to water, and has been dropping hints of an upcoming project with Matthew Caldicott.  He was also spending time yesterday with “some of the MC boys”.

For those of you with pay TV, the real Masterchef is starting on Monday.  Some of you hardcore fans might have already found ways to see this series (I’m guessing it’s the one from earlier this year), but if you haven’t it is definitely worth checking out. It’s on Lifestyle Food at 7.30.

Finally, if you are still jonesing for a reality TV cooking fix, check out The Restaurant on BBC Knowledge, Thursdays at 7.30. You might be able to catch the opening episode again on repeat during the week – I watched it and was instantly hooked (shameless plug for my recap here).

Rumours are circulating that Matt Preston is in talks with Andrew Denton’s production company with the possibility he will host his own chat show. The News.com.au article doesn’t say if it would be a day or night time show. However apparently Matt Preston is signed to Network Ten so won’t be able to work on any other TV channel.

The article says:

A chat show makes perfect sense,” the source said.

“Matt’s a historian, he’s academic. He’s articulate. He could really make it work.”

On top of developing the Denton concept, Preston is also gearing up for Junior MasterChef, expected to debut in September.

A Channel 10 representative would not comment about Preston’s ambitions outside MasterChef.

There were also rumours he would do a travel/food show.  If this was anywhere as good as Anthony Bourdain’s it would be fantastic.

As a lot of readers this year have commented that Matt Preston has been filling out his brightly coloured pants and jackets a bit too much, well apparently even the Masterchef Australia judge wants to do something about it.

The Sunday Telegraph states that Jenny Craig and Matt Preston are currently in negotiations for him to go on their program and of course promote it.

The spanner in the works is Network Ten, as they don’t think the Jenny Craig product is fits in well with their Masterchef product.

Not surprising considering the lashing of oil and butter George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan throw around with gay abandon. But seriously if Matt P needs to lose weight a recognised company may help him do it. I would have preferred to see him with Weight Watchers, as it teaches you about portion control, and you eating what you want in moderation.

And if the story is true in the article where he ate ten serves of bone marrow risotto restraint might be what he needs.

However with Matt Preston’s lifestyle it might be a bit difficult to organise that.