Entering MasterChef is as much a test of nerves as it is of culinary skills. While there are few who at this stage don’t know their way around the kitchen, the show isn’t just about finding a brilliant chef – it’s about finding someone who has the stamina to survive the harsh culture of a reality show without crumbling under the pressure.
“Sushil’s scraped through so far – just!” laughs Simon Gault of the hapless but dedicated wannabe who flummoxed the judges with his avocado milkshake. “Seriously – does that even sound like you’d order it in a restaurant?” asks Simon.
But he hasn’t written off Sushil yet – far from it. “That’s because he has the passion to want to be a chef – he excites me with his obsessiveness. He just needs to stop showing off, and blow us away by getting the basics right first.”
“The pressure changes every week but it’s pretty intense – in general it gets harder,” adds
Brenton Thornton, who says working with top chefs Michael Meredith and Michel Louws were some of the most intense moments for him as a contestant last year.
“I kept wondering why I was there. I had no idea why I’d signed up for something so completely out of my comfort zone.”
For others, the challenge is far deeper. While it’s fair to say that editing plays a large part in what we see in the one-hour episode of MasterChef, many of the contestants don’t feel at home in front of a camera, and the judges’ critiques can often be far from encouraging.
As Paula said on the recent episode on Mexican food, “No-one at home can possibly know how it feels to be judged like this.”
“You’d think you get used to the cameras but it gets weirder and weirder,” says Brenton. “It’s not so hard at the beginning, but as the contestants dwindle away, the situation really sinks in. You’re in a big, empty house, with just TV crews around you. The dynamic completely changes, and it affects both you and your cooking.”
On a big challenge, there are moments when the judges hold the future in their hands. “As a judge we constructively dissect the dish so the contestants can take it on board, learn and make another dish,” insists Simon, who’s usually the cheerleader of the eminent culinary trio. During Michael’s ice cream failure, his cries of “Don’t let this beat you!” were the only words of encouragement for the contestant.
“We do say a lot of good things – you just don’t hear many of them,” says Simon. “But I do want them to succeed and learn.”
MasterChef New Zealand screens Sunday, TV One, 7.30pm
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