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MasterChef viewers accuse chef of racism, bullying.

Icebergs head chef cops a social media lashing after MasterChef favourite Sashi buckles under pressure.

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Stop bullying Sashi.

That was the message MasterChef viewers were sending to Bondi Iceberg’s head chef Monty Koludrovic last night.

Last night the four remaining contestants Sashi, Khan, Jess and Ben were challenged with creating a modern Italian course each for 30 guests at the prestigious restaurant.

Sashi Cheliah was first with Pasta which he conceded was not his strong point. As he fell further and further behind, including missing the start of service, Monty Koludrovic grilled him.

“Have you got anything to say to the waiters?” Monty asked.

“I haven’t poured out the mushroom broth yet,” Sashi replied.

“What about sorry I’m so late?”

“Yes I’ll do that when I….”

“Come on tell them,” Monty insisted.

“Service please!” Sashi announced.

“What you’ve got to say is ‘Please tell them I’m sorry I’m so late.'”

When Sashi said he was sorry for the delay, Monty added, “We’re all sorry for the delay, aren’t we?”

While head chefs searing contestants for Reality TV conflict is nothing new, viewers took to social media to accuse Koludrovic of racism. Many said the way he ordered Singaporean-born Sashi to repeatedly apologise to waiters was condescending and vowed to never visit the top-rated restaurant.

“Monty to Sashi was sickening, disgraceful, and racist. He should be ashamed. Have some human decency.”

“Sashi has to cook first, bullied by chef, belittled in front of waiters, not a level playing field!”

“Running a kitchen in a strict manner, fair. Being a condescending jackass in how you treat people working with you? D*** move. Monty can’t hide his disdain for the contestants, and Sashi has been copping this from him all service”

“Please understand that the reason people are upset and angry is not because Monty was yelling and being tough it’s because he humiliated Sashi in front of waiters on national t.v, forced him to apologise.”

“Ok this just a tv show. Forcing to apologize for a delayed service or bad dish? Unpleasant to watch, should have edited this out.”

“Monty of Icebergs has been nowhere as nasty and condescending to the other contestants as he was to Sashi.”

“I wouldn’t eat in that restaurant in a million years after watching this episode. There’s no need to treat people like Monty has treated Sashi.”

“Sorry producers, I know Monty’s bullying of Sashi is supposed to make good tv, but this has gone too far. That was ugly to watch.”

“Interesting that Bondi Icebergs insta has removed the post promoting Monty’s appearance on the show tonight. My guess is the poor Social Media Mgr couldn’t keep up with the comments.”

But not everybody viewed it as racially-based.

“It was condescending at times sure but racist? No. Bullying? No.”

“Monty was not mean to Sashi in the slightest!!”

“To be fair, Monty tried to give Sashi advice at the start when he heard that making pasta was not in his strong suit. Sashi ignored his advice. Many people would be put off by that.”

By the end of the night Monty said he was pleased with all the dishes but Khan was chosen as winner.

18 Responses

  1. Need to keep in mind that the viewer only sees what the producers choose for them to see. There would have been hours of footage, some of which may have shown the same sort of pressure being applied to the other contestants. Things are not always what they seem on camera.

  3. Kitchens are tough places…even small ones..they are not a democracy….Chef is the first and last word…old saying….If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

  4. I am a huge fan of Sashi and everyone in our household would like him to win. I saw no racism, pure bs from twitterati click warriors. I saw a bit of pressure applied which fely awkward at times. I saw the same to a much lesser extent with Ben, he cetaintly got a few sarcastic jibes. Monty was great with Jess and also Khanh. Sometimes the contestants have an off day and its reflected in the footage. The resilience of Jess is a big revelation over the past 4-5 eps. It’s going to be difficult to pick a winner this year.

    1. Ditto to all of the above. Clearly the Twitterists have no idea how a 5-star kitchen operates, and has to operate. If TEN had edited a lot of it out then there would be Twitterists attacking TEN for editing and favouritism. No decent head chef would allow a cook to be 15 minutes behind without revving them up.

  5. You’ve never worked in a kitchen,believe me last night was only about hurrying Sashi who wants to work in a kitchen.It reality I am sure plenty have moaned and complained about how long food is taking…
    Gordon Ramsay he was not,do not the judges also hurry them.along?

  6. I watched this with my wife and she said at the time that he would put you off going to his restaurant, which it does. It was pretty disgraceful behaviour, he came across as really mean. I imagine he’s dropped from ever returning after the backlash which I just heard about on here.

  7. I missed the episode last night but it was all over social media how this guy was treating Sashi. But there were a few people saying they switched off and a lot of questions directed to the show and the judges.

    But yeah when you read some of those comments on this page it does sound a little condescending. Sashi would have been feeling terrible as well about getting the food out.

  8. Completely disagree with most on twitter… Monty never one raised his voice the entire episode. He was stern when required – and tasked with getting the contestants to respect the artificial deadlines that are part of the show. He can’t even lend a hand to help them catch up as he could normally.

    His point to Sashi – that was completely lost in him and many viewers, was that he needs to brief the waiters to apologise to the diners for lateness… not that Sashi needed to apologise to the waiters themselves.

    Viewers have just gone a bit crazy cos Sashi is such a nice guy, and is a viewer favourite, but was clearly extremely late. The producers would have been conscious that if the first of 4 dishes goes very late it throws all the others out of kilter, and means the whole shoot is going to run very long. That’s many thousands of dollars for each hour of overtime the crew works…

    1. I have seen other contestants being late with their dishes on previous seasons and the chef never yelled at them or ordered them to apologise to the waiters. As for thousands of dollars of overtime, you are aware the LNP have slashed penalty rates and that many ‘upmarket’ restaurants have been caught underpaying or not paying their staff. And for the record, Monty didn’t pay Sashi one cent cos the contestants are not employees of Icebergs.

      1. “…you are aware the LNP have slashed penalty rates…”. How did we go from a story covering Masterchef to discussing penalty rates? If you wish to incorporate your political bent may I suggest you check your facts. Penalty rates were reduced by the Fair Work Commission, an independent body with power to carry out a range of functions under the Fair Work Act 2009.

        David I’m surprised you allowed this kind of comment to go unchallenged.

        2. The Fair Work Commission recommended cutting penalty rates. The Government chose to accept that recommendation and legislate the cuts. It can be reversed by a new Government.

  9. The way that Monty spoke to Sashi was a total disgrace. I assume those ‘customers’ weren’t paying for their meal? They are not going to care if their food is served a little late. Barking at Sashi while standing over him to hurry hurry hurry is only going to make him more flustered. Chloe was half an hour late serving last week & not only was not forced to apologise but she won the challenge.

    1. The customers don’t pay for their meals and the contestants aren’t paid for cooking the meals. The only people being paid are the waiters. Monty was probably peeved cos he had to pay overtime to the waiters….assuming they are paid in the first place. We’ve been seeing lots of upmarket restaurants fail to pay their staff properly. Heck George Colambaris has ripped off his workers too -and he would have continued to do so if the staff didn’t blow the whistle on him.

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