Category — Matt Preston

Marco Pierre White is reality TV’s answer to the best selling novel Fifty Shades Of Grey the erotic novel that stormed up the best selling list.

Here in this promo for Masterchef: The Professionals Marco shows that his sex appeal will create a sensation like this novel  did when it hit bedside tables this year. Even at fifty he shows he still has that certain je nais ce quoi.

Network TEN know that apart from his cooking skills this will be a big drawcard for the show. The good news is Marco hard arsed attitude also appeals to male viewers as well.

Matt Preston will be paired with the UK chef to judge the professional chefs in a cooking show if they get it right should see great cooking as well as being highly entertaining.

Masterchef: The Professionals will screen on Network TEN in 2013.

Is Matt Preston preparing for life after Masterchef Australia? He is stretching his acting wings in an episode of Lowdown on the ABC Thursday night and he is not playing himself.

TV Tonight reports the Masterchef judge will be playing a cravat-less wearing police detective:

This week Alex (Adam Zwar) and four other showbiz journalists spend the night in the a reality TV house surrounded by cameras. But something goes awry, requiring a Detective to arrive in the form of Preston as ‘Inspector Thornbury.’

“You always think acting will be easy, just remembering your lines and not bumping into furniture. That’s the old cliché. But I thought ‘I’m in over my head here.’ Which is a good thing to do,” he says.

Some might say that reality TV was his training ground for the real thing, also he might be realising that being a food writer in the long term may not pay the bills. Like most freelance work, Colman Andrews a leading US food writer, talks about the decreasing money in the food writing sector.

I have heard good things about the show Lowdown so will be checking it out tomorrow night both for the reality TV plot line, and Matt Preston’s cameo.

It screens on the ABC on Thursday night’s at 9.30pm.

Also on the ABC2 tonight is the final episode of UK reality cooking show The Restaurant and also Annabel Crabb’s series Kitchen Cabinet kicks off as well tonight at 9.30pm.

Joe Hockey is the first guest and TV Tonight appears amused at his choice of bed linen. No posh bed line for him it is Bart Simpson. Well at least Joe’s wife will know he is not getting up to any mischief with those bed sheets.

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.