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Spoiler: TEN silent on ‘MasterChef scandal’

Spoiler: Nobody is confirming or denying a media report which suggests a MasterChef contestant has caused Producers significant headaches.

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Spoiler: Both Network TEN and FremantleMedia Australia are refusing to confirm or deny a story in today’s Herald Sun which claims a contestant has been kicked off MasterChef Australia.

The report claims Mat Beyer, 24, has been sent packing amid speculation he used a smartphone during his time on the show.

Under the show’s Big Brother-style rules, contestants are denied access to phones, computers, television, newspapers and family to avoid them gaining information and an advantage over their rivals. Using a phone such as an iPhone would enable a contestant to access recipes. The Herald Sun suggests he may have been using one for up to six weeks, but at this stage Beyer is denied the chance to defend himself.

Beyer is believed to have been booted off just days before a trip to New York, with a previous evictee invited back to the fold.

But it creates headaches for the show given it is filmed weeks ahead of it airing. TEN’s silence (which in media circles usually means there is some truth to it), is most likely to avoid hinting at the length of Beyer’s stay in the show, especially where it would impact on him in upcoming elimination challenges. But it also isn’t a great look for Producers.

Yet it will undoubtedly provide the show with great drama when it all unravels on screen, and based on what we know thus far, it sounds like the show has done the right thing to remain fair to all.

This will be the second time this year a contestant has been replaced, following one of the Top 24 declining at the last minute due to work commitments.

Last year both TEN and FremantleMedia were faced with a similar dilemma when a Biggest Loser contestant was facing police charges shortly before the season debut. It resulted in frantic re-editing and several lost storylines.

40 Responses

  5. Hope they don’t bring back Cleo, rules are rules, re-play it, everybody on the show heard it and so did millions of viewers that day. I like Jay, what he said is right “I have never bought any hamburgars from a guy wearing buggie smugglers” great light entertainment after along day at work.

  7. It’s not going to be just one person brought back, surely. They will make it into another grab for ratings and have a cook-off or some such competition to decide who gets back in. And I’d put money on it being Ch.10 who leaked the info in the first place to get people interested for the next month

  8. Instead of inviting someone back they should just have a non elimination round. that way they have stuck to the rules and gotten rid of mat. I have always found it unfair to bring back contestant after they were eliminated.

  10. @ Goonies. My point exactly about the Yorkshire puddings. Der!!! If he had the phone it didn’t help him much. You need to learn how to read tongue in cheek comments.

  12. Further to my previous post, my wife (who watches Masterchef) tells me that it’s a “crock-pot”, not a ‘hot pot’.

    Whatever… talk about handing TEN another couple of thousand viewers who will switch on to see who this Mat is and what happens…

    Clever!

  14. I don’t think it’s fair if they bring anyone back. If they bring Cleo back, does one person’s rule-breaking suddenly exonerate another’s? If they bring Jay or someone else back, that is also unfair because, apart from the obvious elimination evasion in the weeks they were out, it’s the judge’s playing favourites. They could have easily just had one less elimination that week or, as they did last year, have a conveniently timed tie in the elimination.

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