With MasterChef Australian style now going to be made in the US and hosted by Gordon Ramsay (Source The Guardian) I really think it is a good thing that the Celebrity version of this show won’t be getting a second outing next year.

Sure it is non-offensive but it is nowhere near as good as the real thing. By the way I reckon if a TV channel fast tracked the US version it would rate very well here.

Last night’s episode I only saw half of the show, but really that was enough.  Even the contestants were uninspiring Fuzzy, Peter Rowsthorn, and Alex Lloyd. There is just no chemistry between them or on camera.

However I suppose I was going for Alex to win, I am pretty sure I used to work with his father who periodically would come around flogging Mother Hubbard CD’s (Alex’s first band) to us. Yes I bought them, I have to confess I don’t think I listened to them.

Anyway I missed the signature dish section of the show so it would be great if someone could fill me in.

The guest judge was Katrina Kanetani the dessert chef from Pier Restaurant and both the dishes she bought in looked sublime. The choice was between a chocolate brulee, and a sophisticated take on strawberries and cream.

Fuzzy picked the strawberry dish.

Alex’s problems arose from his dyslexia and he first started making custard with egg whites. Fuzzy just consistently went for it working very fast, and Peter was methodical and there were concerns he would not have left himself time to plate up.

I actually thought all three had plated up a very nice dish, but Alex took the prize as more of his elements work, and his tuile (which in my mind was a small part of the dish) was the snappiest.

Out of all of them in the semi’s I think I am going for either Eamon Sullivan or Alex to win.

Reality TV and beauty pageants have always been a quick way for people to heighten their profile when their other skills and accomplishments will not raise them above the milieu. Rachael Finch, Miss Universe Australia, has now tackled both genres. The 21 year old auditioned for MasterChef this year with a stir-fry which looked like it was laden with sauce, and was panned by judge George Calombaris.  Hence she did not get through to the top fifty then, but  by acquiring a tiara and her sash and she got a start on the celebrity version.

Rachael tottered in on white stilettos, which I did not think went with the cutoff ripped denim shorts, and she doubled her hotness once she got the blundstones on.

Ryan O’Keefe the Sydney Swans player, who I have never heard of, clearly my sports knowledge is very poor, made up for his lack of charisma with a high cuteness factor.

Ryan O’Keefe was cooking a fettuccine bolognaise sauce, which sounded a bit simple but he was making his own pasta.

Rachael is doing two courses a salmon, and crepes with creme patisserie, and strawberry and basil. The judges were impressed with Rachael ambitious menu and thought she showed some chefy skills.

George was cooking risotto bonza – I was a bit disappointed that they did not do a flashback to Andre’s strawberry and champagne risotto. Ok all you Masterchef Australia season two contestants who are still auditioning or in the top 50 – do not cook risotto, you will have better chance with a souffle.

George’s oyster was also pretty wacky pesto, parmesan, and then put in the oven. Also lamb with risotto is not something I particularly like.

Ryan’s fettuccine was beautifully cooked, but the judges felt the sauce should have had a longer to develop more flavour.

George’s risotto was a big fail, too chalky, however his oysters were given a positive response, though I am not sure why he wanted to shuck the oyster when he was going to cook them.

Both of Rachael’s dishes attracted praise, and she won the round.

Tony Bilson was the guest chef  the choice of dish was between  scallop and truffle tart with a beurre blanc and sweetbreads or a bouillabaisse.

Rachael picked the tart as she thought both the guys would prefer to cook the bouillabaisse. And it was a smart tactic.

The tart did look very complex. But even though they get one lifeline which means Tony Bilson will come and give them advice for 90 seconds, George and Gary also wander the room handing out advice. They told Ryan his pastry was undercooked, and George told Rachael she was cooking the sweetbreads wrong.

George Negus was in more trouble then the early settlers when he forgot to put the spinach puree on his tart. He had to take off the delicately placed scallops truffles and his pastry broke. Chances of him winning – very slim.

Matt Preston thought George had given them an Italian version of a french dish. They did pull him up for not taking the membrane off the scallop. But they were positive about the flavour.

Ryan’s dish looked ok, “Really precise,” said Gary “Pastry base a bit undercooked.”

“Needs a bit more time in the oven,” said Matt Preston.

Rachael’s dish looked beautiful. “You have just the right amount of  spinach on the tart,” they were all very positive except for Matt nitpicking about the presentation.

However unsurprisingly it was Rachael that got through, something I thought would happen due to all the Eamon Sullivan romance rumours that have been circulating. Where would they have met? The semis.

I have to confess that the celebrity version is not as engaging as the “real life” version. There is not the emotional engagement with the contestants that we had with the original. Some of the celebs are entertaining but some are pretty dull. Bring back Alex Perry I say.

If you are reading this article on TV.com please come across and join the discussion and check out my blog on www.realityravings.com

I find Alex Perry a bit of an enigma. I am always surprised when I hear Alex Perry is married, and that in fact he is a suburban dad not an Eastern Suburbs bachelor, and he is very much a family man. Also the sunglasses are is very own affectation, but I would like to know how he gets them not even to move a millimetre, even when running around the kitchen.

Oneof the times I have received a scathing comment (not that I mind receiving them) on this blog was when I confessed to never having heard of Simon Katich the cricketer. I am sorry I haven’t.   He also said said the best country to tour for food was India so no Warne’s baked beans for him. He is at a disadvantage because he has no sense of smell, an issue he has had since childhood.

Children’s author Wendy Harmer’s kitchen was fantastic who confessed to being a prolific entertainer. She said they had twenty people over every weekend.

The first round was their chance to make their signature dishes.

The last 30 seconds when they were cooking their signature dish went on for about 1 minute. How cold are the dishes they must taste, as their cooking stations are cleaned before the dishes are presented to the judges.

Simon Katich cooked herb crusted salmon fillet on a bed of mash potatoe with a lemon and dill vinagerette.

Gary thought the salmon was over cooked, George thought it tasted fresh with some good flavours.

Wendy made rabbit in mustard sauce, and a spinach and pear puree.

Gary liked Wendy’s dish because it is honest, he did raise the issue of whether the two elements went together.

Alex’s own dish was spanokopita, with greek salad, and tsatsiki. A dish he had only cooked two time before – to practise for the show perhaps?

Alex ‘s dish was given the thumbs by George and Matt. I have to confess I don’t think the degree of difficulty was very high except for the pastry. However he won the first round. Also I was a bit suss of how much Alex actually cooks.

Stephanie Alexander was the special guest judge. The choice was between Coulibiac of Salmon with a dill butter sauce or Lemon curd layer cake. Alex chose the cake. It was difficult but it was no Zumbo.

It had a lot of elements in it. Wendy used her life line to get a crepe making tutorial but lost out on some precious time as she had the wrong pan. But Alex also had that issue. They also both did not use the right amount of gelatin.

Alex’s cake looked a bit lopsided but once he cut it though it looked ok, however apparently it was not sweet enough.

Wendy’s passionfruit jelly topping was more a juice though George liked it. Matt thought that in terms of flavours it was all there.

Simon Katich’s looked pretty good, and Matt concurred and thought it was the one that looked closest to Stephanie’s. Unsurprisingly Simon won. However I would have liked either Alex or Wendy to have won, as they were much more entertaining.

I have just posted this article on The Punch.

The TV stations are in the final throes of the ratings year and over the past few weeks they have launched the shows to lead them into the Christmas break.

 The big three stations have included some new reality TV shows in their arsenal to win over the viewers and therefore gain advertising dollars. 

The Apprentice:

One of Channel Nine’s highly promoted new programs, made by reality TV gurus Fremantle Media. The show started off to very poor ratings of under 700,000, but this week it improved and look like it is gaining traction. The problem with attracting viewers may not be the show but people lacking faith in Nine not sticking with the program. 

Channel Nine this year have had a history of not treating their reality TV shows very well, and not giving them time to gain traction with their audience. They have pulled programs after one episode, like Dance Your Ass Off, changed the time they have been shown, Home Made, or even just shorten the programs to 30 minutes like Australia’s Perfect Couple. Or in fact just haven’t shown programs at all, like Superstars of Dance, and Survivor Gabon. 

Personally I think viewers were sceptical on whether to put the effort into watching the show when they think it will be pulled at a moments notice. 

The Apprentice is an entertaining well produced reality show. Mark Bouris who is now settling into his role, is entertaining and charismatic. There is a good mix of personalities in the contestants, with perhaps my only criticism is the likeability of a lot of them is questionable. The challenges are diverse and fun, and the boardroom scenes have the requisite amount of backstabbing in them.

Beauty And The Geek:

Channel Seven premiered Beauty and The Geek last week, this is a take off of a US program of the same name. The premise is the Geeks (the guys) teach the girls “academic” subjects, while the Beauty’s teach the geeks about girls. One team is eliminated each week. For what is a fluffy premise it really is entertaining, particularly the geeks who are witty, both intentionally and unintentionally, and who will find themselves chased by girls once they are out of the house.

 The girls most whom will be vying for Ralph photoshoots at the end of the series are not quite as engaging, and I seriously hope they are not at stupid as they are playing up to the camera. Oh and if anyone knows which airline, stewardess Jenna works for please tell, as I don’t want to be on her plane when an emergency occurs, as my confidence in her remembering the emergency procedures are low. I would guess she is playing dumb to get on the show.

 The show is rating well with an opening audience of 1.05 million last week, and they are holding and gaining viewers with 1.067 last night, with a win in most demographics. Also following on from this show is the highly entertaining The Amazing Race which deservedly wins the best reality TV show at the Emmy’s each year. 

Celebrity MasterChef:

Celebrity MasterChef was never going to live up to MasterChef Australia hype, but this Fremantle Media production is delivering solid, but not stratospheric ratings like the original did earlier this year. I think one of the reasons why Celebrity versions of shows are not as popular is because one of the great things about reality TV is seeing ordinary people breaking out of the everyday mediocrity or their lives, or discovering new personalities, and talent.

 However it is a watchable once a week show, with a nice mix of celebrities to hit their key demographics. The entertainment is in watching the contestants tackle a difficult dish which is a signature of a well known celebrity chef this week was Kylie Kwong’s delicious duck recipe. Expect to see an Adriano Zumbo creation with a high degree of difficulty later in the finals to really ensure the celebrities are really under pressure. Who can forget the chocolate cake from the last week of MasterChef Australia? It will be interesting to see if Channel Ten do another Celebrity version next year. 

Australian Idol:

Channel Ten traditionally finish their year with Australian Idol and it is not new and and is struggling with it not making the magic one million viewer mark. See a previous The Punch post on here on what has gone wrong on Australian Idol here and whether this is going to be the final season is currently the $64 million question.

Finally a new show that started a few weeks ago on Arena deserves a special shout out – Tabatha’s Takeover Salon. The reason it is hosted by Australian now living in USA, hairdresser Tabatha Coffey. It is like the Gordon Ramsay of hairdressing shows where she “takes over” struggling hair salons to make them a viable business again. Tabatha’s direct manner without the famous Ramsay aggression, and an Australian sense of humour actually makes her likeable and entertaining. It is not just a reality TV show for girls. 

At this stage none of these Australian shows have been renewed and the stations will be watching viewer demographics keenly to see if they deserve another series.

“A man who can cook can attract the ladies,” George Calombaris said to elite swimmer Eamon Sullivan. Eamon quickly fired back ” Is that the case for you?”. George seriously if Eamon served up a undercooked lambs fry he would probably get the girl. He has his own secret weapon and it is called a six pack.

Eamon was cooking Lamb Rump with Gnocchi and Rosemary Jus as his signature dish.

Former Queensland Peter Beattie used to swim with sharks to garner positive publicity, Anna Bligh is appearing on MasterChef. And gosh she showed us she has a type A personality by cooking three dishes – Moreton Bay Bug Salad with Thai Dressing,  Queensland Rib eye, and Strawberry and Vanilla Pannacotta. 

Anna aim was to showcase Queensland produce, which I could see in the first two courses, however I am not sure cream is a particularly specific to the Sunshine State.  I was expecting flambe pineapple with plenty of bundy rum on it.

I knew actor Simon Westaway was never going to be any competition to the other two, once I saw he was cooking chicken breasts with boccocini, served with spinach gunk, and a salad. Oh and to top off his dish he drizzled kecap manis. It the equivalent of Andre’s strawberry risotto dessert.

So Simon couldn’t cook, but at least Anna and Eamon were impressive. Eamon had the more difficult dish, whereas Anna had multiple dishes but with not a high degree of difficulty.

Eamonn’s gnocchi did not float but other than that he had no other disasters.

Anna was rushed so that must have been the reason she sipped the juice from a spoon and then stuck it back in to the saucepan. Or maybe the health regulations in Queensland are not as strict?

Simon’s chicken  was undercooked, and got slammed by the judges. George did give him a compliment about his own made up recipe  of spinach with bacon and cream cheese.

Matt Preston summed it up nicely when he said “The problem with this dish is there are to many things bolted together. It looks like Frankenstein.”

Eamon’s Gnocchi was given “Not perfect a little bit bouncy, but the lamb was well cooked,” by Gary.

Anna Bligh’s beef was over cooked, but her other two dishes were rated highly.

“Bugs just cooked just perfect I would eat it all,” said Gary Mehigan.

“Absolutely deadset cracking,” Matt said about the pannacotta.

Eamon Sullivan won round one, which meant he got to pick which dishes of Kylie Kwong the contestants would have to cook.

The choice  was between crispy skin duck with orange sauce with Vegetable Sung Choi Bao or deep fried whole snapper with cantonese fried rice. Anna perked up considerably when she saw the snapper, but Eamon picked the duck.

So if the swimming budget is cut next year in Queensland, they can blame it on Eamon.

At this stage I was wondering how Simon Westawaygot on the show, as he kept on burning his spices. I thought you only got one lifeline, but George had to help in out in the first five minutes. He also burnt the garlic, and his duck was undercooked. In two words – fucking disaster.

At the other end of the spectrum Eamon looked really smooth in the kitchen, also Anna is a very confident cook. She also had the added pressure of not being seen to lose her cool or swear on camera. She came across as competent, confident and barely broke into a sweat under pressure.

No surprise that Simon’s dish did not get much praise, Anna’s duck was too crisp, however all her other elements were given compliments, and Matt Preston pedantically criticised the cut of Eamon’s lettuce leaves.

Unsurprisingly Eamon won, but I have to confess I was hoping Anna Bligh would take it out.

Photo from www.news.com.au

Australian Idol’s Kate Cook is having an achey breaky heart moment, with news she has broken up with her long term girlfriend.

The Daily Telegraph reveals that Kate broke up with her 37 year old girlfriend who has four kids.

“I’ve been trying to just focus on Idol, but I find it hard to hide the way I feel,” she said.

“I really love Kerry, I always will, but I just had to make that tough decision to have a break.”I’m hurting over it, and confused too. I don’t want to hurt Kerry or the kids, but I have to follow my heart.

Does this mean Kate has found a new love? I would not be surprised that she has a few groupies as in a dull Australian Idol year she is one of the more interesting contestants. But then maybe she just wants to focus on her burgeoning music career.

As she says:

“This (Idol) is all new for me, and I’m enjoying focusing on myself and my career. The show’s giving me the support I need to help me through.”

Cook had attempted to keep the breakout out of the public spotlight, but was aware it had affected her recent performances and that viewers were asking questions.

“Being a private person, I would prefer to not go into it really, but yeah, it has been tough,” she said.

“Everybody is pretty cut up about it, which is why I have tried to keep the media away from it and not draw any more attention to an already painful experience.”

Racheal Finch, who we will see on Celebrity MasterChef in the next few weeks has also broken up with her boyfriend of two years. Apparently she busted up with him by text. Ouch. The article also says she has been seen painting the town red with Celebrity MasterChef colleague Eamon Sullivan. Is this the second MasterChef romance this year? (Source Daily Telegraph)

Justine Says The Spatchcock Dish Was Not As Difficult As The Zumbo Chocolate Cake.

On  a live blog on Daily Telegraph MasterChef Australia’s popular contestant Justine Schofield when asked thought the Zumbo chocolate cake (remember that extraordinary creation) was more difficult then the Brent Savage spatchcock recipe. There was a big deal made of the fact that the spatchcock was the most difficult dish on the show ever.

This is what she said when asked which she thought was more difficult:

Personally I think Adriano’s chocolate cake that we did was so much harder! Last nights dish was challenging, but that cake was a killer!

I also asked her about the clip where Brett was showing the celebrities how to debone the spatchcock here is the Q & A:

Hi Justine,

Last night prior to the contestants commencing the spatchcock challenge there was footage of Brent Savage showing them how to bone and skin the spatchcock. In the pressure tests or other challenges when you were on the show did the chef’s sometimes show you some technical techniques prior to commencing the dish?

By the way glad to hear you and Lucas’s degustation menu at Nino’s went well. Are there plans to take it to other cities?

hi Reality raver,

Whenever there was a pressure test we were never shown how to do elements of the dish. We were however given tips by the Chef and we were allowed to ask a couple of questions before we commenced.

Nino’s Chef’s Table on Tuesday was a big success. At the moment we are just doing the dinner once a month in Sydney…. but you never know maybe we will take it nationally!!

Our next Chef’s table will be at Nino’s on Melbourne Cup day which we are really excited about!

One of Australia’s leading foodbloggers Grab Your Fork has a great interview she had with Poh Ling Yeow about what influences her with food, and what she has been up to.

She has signed with the ABC to do a cooking series, as well as a two book deal, as well as trying to get ready for a art exhibition. I am just exhausted reading it. An Adelaide reader emailed me and I am not sure if this is true, but they said that Poh had been asked to apply to be on MasterChef Australia. Which may explain why she was given a second chance the audition.

Also the contestants may be able to find international fame, as MasterChef UK will be screening in the UK from January.

Ok you would think as reality TV blogger I would be barracking for the reality tv ‘star’ Michelle Bridges, one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser, however I wasn’t. I was going for Peter Fitzsimonswho I have been a long time fan of particularly his writing.  So I was hoping him to kick some MasterChef arse.

It was like a giant between two petite girls. Peter towered over his two competitors of Michelle, and former Hi 5 performer Kathleen De Leon.

First up they got to choose their own dish to cook with 1 and half hours to do it in.

Kathleen decided to go with something from her Phillipino background and cook Chicken Adobo and a Caramel Flan. I have to be honest I don’t know much about the cuisine of the Phillipines nor even in my Asian neighbourhood seen a restaurant/cafe selling this type of food. I figured if it was any good there would be a plethora of restaurants like thai and Japanese. However French is fantastic and there is not a great deal of that around in Sydney.

The chicken which looked pretty simple had garlic, soy, and a few other ingredients got some good feed back from the judges, but her caramel flan was what found their way to the judges heart. It did look beautifully presented and delicious.

Michelle was cooking fat and salt free Moroccan lamb cutlets with eggplant and blackcurrent couscous.  Personally I thought this dish was a bit of a cop out considering she had a pre-bought spice mix even though she did add in some extra fresh herbs. Also I thought putting the spice mix on the lamb and in the couscous was not great. And Matt Preston did call her on it when he judged the dish. I thought judge Gary Mehigan whinging about the lack of salt was a bit over the top, with all that spice on it would salt have added that much to the dish.

Peter Fitzsimons made a traditional Coq Au Vin with mashed potatoes. He put egg yolks into the mash, and this was panned by the judges. Saying his mash was grainy, and he should have used butter and cream. Peter Fitzsimons said he wife told him that tip, and to be fair it may taste ok if you add it in just before you serve and it is hot. Note to all future MasterChef contestants, when you are practising make sure you taste your dish when it is cold, as that is how the judges taste it.

Also it was great that Channel Nine let Peter Fitzsimons lovely wife Lisa Wilkinson from the Today show to be filmed something TV stations should be more gracious about. But maybe Channel Nine are hoping for some MasterChef magic will rub off on them. Chances of Lisa talking about the show tomorrow on her program. High.

The winner of this challenge was Kathleen De Leon with her flan ensuring she edged out the others.

The Pressure Test – Special guest Chef Brent Savage from Bentley Restaurant, Sydney.

Kathleen now had the advantage of picking which of Brent’s ridiculously hard dishes they would have to pick. The choice was Roast spatchcock with sweet corn polenta, pistachio and asparagus, or Pistachio cake with yoghurt cream and mandarin ice cream.

Kathleen chose the spatchcock apparently the hardest dish ever on the show. Two and half hours to cook the dish, which had about five squillion components.

However did anyone think it was strange that there was footage of Brent showing them how prep the spatchcock? Which made a lie out of them just being thrown the recipe and getting a taste of the dish.

Michelle was not used to working with oil as she overheated with the spatchcock balls, and then it was not heated enough for her confit dusted with polenta.

Peter’s pistachio did not look like puree, but more like ground pistachio dust. And the presentation  was a bit strange. in fact in judging Matt Preston called it pistachio dirt. By the way I noted Matt’s ads for Handee paper towels. I would have thought he would have done something slightly more sophisticated, but who cares he may as well milk his reality TV fame for as long as possible. As us viewers are a fickle bunch in a year or two we will be hitching our sail’s to someone else.

Gary thought Peter’s chicken ball tasted good, nice and moist. But apparently he had also left the jus off it. I knew at this point he could not win.

Kathleen’s dish was plated very well, but her spatchcock ball was too dry and overcooked. I must say I thought she looked the most comfortable in the kitchen.

Gary said “Jus very good. The chicken was borderline”.

The judges thought Michelle Bridges was the best plated dish however her ball was a bit undercooked. But in the end that is how Gary and George like it so Michelle ended up winning and will be seen in the semi finals. I have to be honest I thought Kathleen should have won.

Also if you want to taste Brent Savages dish apparently for this month during the Taste of Sydney Festival you can have it for lunch for $35 with a glass of wine. Go to their website for contact details. http://www.thebentley.com.au/

In a TV Tonight article MasterChef Australia

judge Gary Mehigan states that he believes Chris Badenoch did not cheat as was alleged on A Current Affair.

An exerpt from the article says:

MasterChef judge and mentor Gary Mehigan says he finds it hard to believe claims that Chris Badenoch cheated in the TEN reality series.

“We were with those contestants, not 24 / 7, but that particular challenge at Chatswood we were there from 6:00 in the morning with these guys,” he said.

“I was with Chris when he went up and ordered, or before he ordered. They actually had a full on butcher’s section behind a meat counter with a head butcher. I think this is their showcase store, so if you ask them for a particular cut of meat, they’ll do it for you.

“He asked them what they had and had a poke around and looked at fillets, rib-eye and all the rest of it and then asked the guys to chop it up for him, which he did. And he did that in front of us.

“So how he cheated I don’t know, and he actually stuffed that one up completely. As far as I remember he came last because he overcooked and crucified 4 beautiful rib-eyed steaks.”

Well we all know Gary is a bit of a sweetie, however that story was thoroughly legalled, a chances are there was text message proof of his cheating or attempt to cheat.

Also since he had a mobile which possibly had internet access who knows what other cheating occurred. Was he contacting his friends to discuss recipe ideas or looking them on the webphone?

Well Hey Hey comprehensively beat Celebrity MasterChef on Wednesday night in the ratings, but I cannot work out why, if this MasterChef Australia parody is anything to go by. I found it quite unfunny.

However in some good news for MasterChef Australia  and the contestant. It will be now shown in the UK from January. (Source Mumbrella)

Also Justine was blogging on the Daily Telegraph site on the Thursday after Celebrity MasterChef and she was asked about what she thought about Chris Badenoch’s cheating in the MasterChef  household.

Her response:

Yes we did get along on the show. No I had no idea he was cheating. We were all too focused on doing our personal best on the show to take notice of what each other was doing.

She was also promoting her degustation dinner with Lucas to be held on Tuesday night at Nino’s at Bondi Junction, Sydney. I have to say I think at $125 a head it is quite expensive, as for $20 more you can get a fantastic degustation menu at three hatted restaurant Marque.

Having said that if any reader is going to see Lucas and Justine on Tuesday night it would be great to hear how it goes.