Masterchef Australia was filming in Melbourne yesterday on top of the Langham Hotel. For those interested there were 17 contestants involved in the shoot, and 40 crew. This episode will feature celebrity chef Stephanie Alexander.

The article in News.com.au states the show has now been moved to a 7.30pm timeslot, because the 7pm Project is in Masterchef Australia’s previous timeslot.

Matt Preston also states the contestants are three times better. I am presuming he means they are better cooks rather than better personalities.

Also the second series will be sponsored by Tourism Victoria. Very smart Victoria, very smart.

The second series will premiere late April.

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While I am doing my My Kitchen Rules recap check out Masterchef Australia’s Julie Goodwin on the Today Show (http://today.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1012894).

It was her first segment today and she cooked buttermilk pancakes. She did look a tad nervous.

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The winner of Masterchef Australia, Julie Goodwin, continues to expand her media obligations with news she will be joining Channel Nine’s Today show.

Channel Nine state she will be doing a five minute cooking segment once a week.

She starts tomorrow by making pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. I will definitely be checking the segment out.

Nine MSN also say in the article that being on Masterchef Australia had put a strain on her marriage, but thankfully they have gotten through it.

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Masterchef runner-up Poh Ling  Yeow will be quite happy when she see herself on screen tonight, as it was entertaining, it was a bit like a conversation going on in your living room.

But was it a cooking show? Well technically yes, and it certainly borrowed a lot in style from the Maggie Beer show that it replaced The Cook and The Chef, where they kept on going back and foward between Poh and guest chef Emmanuel Mollier cooking.

This made it a bit difficult to keep track of the recipe, however this did not really bother me as I had no intention of cooking either of the recipes. Emmanuel’s almond croissants were far too time consuming, and the same with Poh’s cake even though it did look delicious.

I also wonder if we can only expect one recipe from Poh each week. Poh is a natural on screen, and I will definitely tune in next week, however I am not sure how long this series will hold my attention.

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Masterchef Australia’s runner-up Poh Ling Yeow’s food show commences tonight on the ABC at 6.30pm.  The reviews are coming in, today in the Daily Telegraph (hard copy only) it was given the thumbs up, but did say there was not as much cooking as they expected.

On the SMH site TV writers Michael Idato and Doug Anderson discuss the show, and are generally positive about it.

David Knox from the pre-eminent TV blog TV Tonight says Poh is a breath of fresh air in his review.

I suspect ABC are on a winner with this show.

If you cannot wait until tonight to see some of Poh’s cooking, you could try emulating her Deep Fried Meringue recipe which I found on food blog Not Quite Nigella..

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Clearly I have been living in a glass bubble as I honestly thought that Masterchef Australia runner-up Poh Ying Leow’s cooking show was going to be about Malaysian cuisine. I was wrong.

It appears the show, Poh’s Kitchen, is about Poh and her culinary adventures, helped along by guest chefs like Neil Perry. The YouTube clip above is a sneakpeek to whet our appetites.

I will still watch it however I am hoping she does do some of her Malaysian dishes.

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Last year on Season One of Masterchef Australia Julia Jenkins and Lucas Parson’s were fast tracked through to finals week of the show by ‘beating the celebrity chef”. Each week the challenge was to cook a signature dish of a well known chef, who would also be cooking it, and then the judges would blind taste it to score it. If the contestant won you left the competition and were sent straight to finals week, via some mentoring at some high profile restaurants.

Julia Jenkins beat Pete Evans very early on in the competition, and it ended up being her downfall. She was out of the public eye so could not garner a following, and also she missed on gaining the experience of cooking in high pressure situations.

This year the producer’s have tweaked the format and if you win the challenge the prize is immunity in the next round. As the executive producer Paul Franklin told TV Week – ” The prize will be the chance to save yourself from being eliminated in the next challenge.”

Other changes to the show are it will run for 13 weeks rather than 12, and that Friday night Masterclass show will be even bigger. In other good new the producer reveals “the contestants are so amazing this time around”.

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Julie Goodwin the winner of Season 1 of Masterchef Australia continues to reap the rewards from being on this reality TV show.

But how marketable is she? Obviously the powers the be, ie marketing gurus think she is very marketable.

Since the show she has been signed up by Woman’s Weekly for a column, plus she was on the cover for the very high profile December/Christmas issue. She also is the Masterfood spokesperson, she will be releasing a cookbook in April, and she is a GLAD product ambassador.

However the gig that has most surprised me is you can join Julie on a culinary discovery tour of Vietnam in March. Apparently she will be a special guest. Considering her knowledge of asian cuisine was pretty poor on the show, I doubt she will be talking about the local cuisine. However the tour operators Travel Utopia must think she is a drawcard and will put bums on seats. I am sure she is very likeable, but would I pay to go on a tour with her? No.

However I would consider going on a tour with Poh to Malaysia.

However if you are interested in heading to  Vietnam with Julie Ph: 1300 312 131 or go to www.travelutopia.com.au

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Masterchef Australia continues its aim of global domination with the show premiering in Britain on UKTV on the 18 January. Will Matt Preston have an international career? Don’t be surprised if this show gains traction over there, and I am sure George Calombaris is already scoping for a restaurant site. (Source UKTV)

Poh Yeow-Ling the runner-up on Masterchef Australia will finally be going to work with Curtis Stone later this month in LA. Celebrity chef Curtis offered her this mentorship at the finale. While she is there Poh may be able to give him some tips on being on a reality TV show, as he is a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice. (Source Daily Telegraph)

Child Reality TV Star found dead in India. Apparently she suicided after her parents stopped her from going to dance class. Full story on Adelaide Now.

The Contender finalists will be Garth Wood and Kariz Kariuki. The final will be shown next Monday the 11 January. They winner will receive $25,000, a car, the title of “Contender Champion” and the opportunity to fight Anthony Mundine this year with a $250,000 prize purse.

Popular American Idol contestant Jason Castro at 22 years of age has married his girlfriend in Texas. He proposed on Halloween. No news yet on whether she is pregnant. (Source: RTE)

Britain’s Got Talent Runner Up, Susan Boyle, wants to date Simon Cowell. Unsurprising but disturbing nonetheless, doesn’t she know he would never date a 48 year old. (Source Hollyscoop) She also talks to Who Mag about her amazing year.

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi may have slipped and told everyone she is having a girl in an interview with Jimmy Fallon. Padma who is pregnant with her first child has not revealed who the father is. Not that there is anything wrong with that. (Source Examiner)

 Nicole Ritchie will be a guest judge on the seventh season of Project Runway. No news yet on when Australia will be getting to see the sixth season of the show. (Source Digital Spy)

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The Herald Sun says that the relationship between Masterchef Australia’s bad boy Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins has stepped up a notch with them moving in together.

Chris who took out best Reality Sex Scandal in this year’s Raver’s 2009 Reality TV awards has never gone on the record to confirm the relationship.

I suspect that since both their post Masterchef careers have been a tad low profile that an article in a weekly gossip mag will appear soon.

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