
Genres: Ot
Starring: George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston, Sarah Wilson, Sandra Morena, Eugenia 'Geni' Papacostas, Kate Rodrigues
Director(s): Jo Siddiqui
Country: Australia
Year: 2011
Available Quality: DivX, iPod
IMDB Rating: 7.4 out of 10 (349 votes)
MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British version of MasterChef. It is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as the shows main judges. The first season was presented by journalist Sarah Wilson, however her role was dropped in subsequent seasons.
Movie Photos:
We have taken some photos of "Masterchef Australia - Season Three". They represent actual movie quality.
sashank_kini-1 (19 May 2012)
MasterChef Australia is cool as ice. The judges aren't a sorry bunch oftyrannical, boorish, acerbic and foul-mouthed yahoos but a suave,openhearted and almost selfless as they unreservedly share their ownexperiences, imparting their veteran knowledge to the amateurcontestants and most importantly, ready to give show much of theirprecious time to these cooks. 76 episodes may have been an ordeal ifthe show were the slightly supercilious Top Chef or the vulgar Hell'sKitchen. To watch MasterChef Australia is to relieve oneself from tension,stress or flaring temper. The show manages to inject a sense ofsatiation amongst its participants, irrespective of their fate on theshow. Gary, George and Matt are probably some of the kindest and mostendearing personalities in all the reality shows I have seen. There isnot hint of chicanery in them like in other shows where judges oftendramatize or feign certain reactions in order to generate appeal.The contestants are a kracker-jack of genuine people who treat theirco-contestants as friends and not like competitors or animals (WatchHell's Kitchen). Here we see adults, who may be zany but also are holda level of maturity and discretion that is scarcely seen anywherenowadays.The format is quite simple but there the dozens of second-chances givenand the scintillating cookery skills of the judges showcased during theshow really winnowed the contestants and made them better cooks.MasterChef US, on the other hand, is turgid, cynical and chiched. The dishes are diverse, impactive and authentic. The magnificentamalgam of cultures is very respectfully blended. Indian, French,Spanish, etc dishes are all given their share of respect on the show. MasterChef Australia is simply a lip-smackingly entertaining programthat follows the motto: "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
tedg (19 May 2012)
The basic idea here is that the fundamental story in life is as acontest. Everything is a competition, and every competition has asingle winner. The intrigue in observing such a story is the level ofcharacter brought to the context. We are supposed to glorify the effortif we judge it worthy, comforting 'good losers' as they affirm thehonor of having competed.With this notion, you can bring the idea of competition to the basicsof life. So it was no surprise to me on a visit to Australian TeeVee todiscover a contest brought to one of the most basic gifts in life: theability to enhance the human encounter by preparing food. Yes, I knowthere is a distance when the process is industrialized, where the chefis a paid craftsman producing for anonymous eaters in another room. Buteven then, the values are to serve the experience of the peopleconsciously gathering to share one of the three most intimateencounters we have.What we have is a setup that shoehorns cooking into a competition. Iunderstand these shows are popular worldwide, so that fundamental storyof life a contest trumps all. We have exotic locations and challenges.We have a self-important 'food critic,' carrying an obnoxious, superiorattitude as if we could really trust him. His authority is shored up byreal celebrated Australian chefs who are fine with the additionalcelebration and the role as winners in a higher level contest. The oneI saw is someone whose food I have eaten.This comment is on season three, episodes 11 and 12. In the first ofthese, contestants are flown to New York's Harlem to compete in cooking'soul food.' For international readers who don't know, the role thisfood plays is identical to food in any other ethnic community; it bindstribes with the only metric being how 'genuine' it is. It has to beprepared by black Americans using cheap, usually unhealthy,ingredients. Intuition and tradition are supposed to guide the cook,removing this food from any notion in a fine chef's world. In the sameway that it is 'genuinely black' to rely on folk wisdom instead of acollege eduction, cooking soul food is something like teaching an elitephysicist to dance. A soul food restaurant is supposed to simply be awise old woman's kitchen.So that show was weird, especially our bumpfy judge sitting amongst thenow dead wise old woman's family, judging the food.But that was tame stuff compared to the show that followed. Thecompetitors were to present meals to the Dalai Lama for his judgment!The disconnect here is amazing, and I spent a whole day wondering whatthis meant for the fabric of the universe. The tulku had recently cededhis political role to the thugs in Beijing, signalling the end of theonly spiritual government left. He also had made some  to me Âdisturbing pronouncements on torture, human rights and his ownanticipated future incarnation. Perhaps he had lost his mantra. Perhapsthose of us who are not serious practitioners but who understand hisworld would not even have what he represents any more. Was he reallycommitted to ending the dreams of a striving soul based on the relativelack of pleasure that soul could deliver on demand?As it turns out, his presence so completely overwhelmed the trivialconcept of the show that this was never an issue. He peacefully saidthat he was a simple monk, and all such monks were to be thankful forwhat was placed before him. He blessed the contestants and left.Apparently he was in Melbourne for some meeting of religious leaders,so some of them were his 'guests' at the table, with no compunctionabout being judges. Their role in society is as sanctimonious judgesand there was no problem satisfying the complex ordering: two best (onesuperior), two 'safe' and three 'at risk' one of whom wouldsubsequently be ruled unworthy. However, one of those had a propertyinherited (I think) from Dungeons and Dragons: elective one-timeimmunity in battle. Will she use it?The whole thing is disturbing. But I can see the appeal. The producersare happy for the main judge to be a man we despise, and they spendinordinate time presenting the innate goodness of the contestants, whowe are reminded are 'just like us.' Without much experience in sorting out which is the least damagingwaste of time on TeeVee, I can report (as sanctimonious judge myself)that this was interesting if seen as a contest for finding the rightform of contest. I am lucky to have seen how a great soul walkedthrough this. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
Review total: 2, showing from 1 to 2