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“It’s a bit like looking at your ex’s Instagram”

Did Matt Preston really not watch an episode of MasterChef this year? Here's his answer...

In a recent chat with Matt Preston I decided to quiz him on whether he and Gary Mehigan, as has been reported, did not watch any of this year’s MasterChef series.

According to the Plate of Origin judge, he was looking forward not backwards.

“It’s a bit like looking at your ex’s Instagram. I don’t think there’s any joy going there. I spend more time looking at the the daily ratings, because I’m obsessed by numbers, on TV Tonight,” he said.

“But when you see really good numbers or really bad numbers, how do you feel? So I’m glad I felt really happy that the numbers were really good.

“I don’t think it’s disrespectful, it’s a sign of us moving on. With people like Poh or Laura, I don’t need to see them on TV. I see them in real life.”

Preston acknowledged he does see benefit in watching TV competition however.

“I probably watched more MKR than MasterChef because I wanted to see what they’re doing and if there are any tricks we should be learning from them,” he continued.

“It’s a really hard thing when you move on from 11 years, and I don’t think necessarily watching it is a particularly healthy thing to do.

“I don’t want the memory to be tarnished by any negative thoughts. I’m really happy it did well. It disproves this theory that was voiced by a few people, on your site, that food television was dead. It obviously isn’t. It allows the show to reinvent itself in terms of freshening up the format which is great.

“But that’s also the joy for us. We were more fixated on what we were doing, to try and make Plate of Origin the best possible show it could be and to genuinely be a show that looks to the heritage of (MKR & MasterChef) and cherry pick the eyes to bring you a show that’s joyous and about the food and the strengths of the teams that we have.”

Plate of Origin airs 7:30pm Mondays & Tuesdays on Seven.

9 Responses

  1. I am enjoying Plate of Origin…although not glued to the TV…..I flicked between it and the mask thing on 10…but wound up staying on 7…10 ads went on forever…
    Obvious though, that the judges are not actually watching the cooking…
    Night before last, shot of judges….pouring rain…coming off the roof like a waterfall…cut to contestants….wet ground…but not raining…

  2. Well if he closely follows the ratings numbers as much as he says he does, he would surely be disappointed. Interesting to read about his “cherry picking” comment – I interpret this as taking the best of both Masterchef and MKR, but not really adding anything new…

  3. Unfortunately after being associated with POO their “star power” will have diminished and they wont be in hot demand. I could see Gary fronting his own cooking program maybe even with Manu or Matt, travelling the world; cooking and tasting different cuisines from around the world, just maybe not fronting a competition style show for a little while.

    1. All MCA judges have a big international following. I doubt India and South Africa care much about George’s business problems, for example. In India they are rock stars… you just wouldn’t want to head there yet.

  4. Such a disingenuous statement. Of course he watched (some of) MasterChef, just take the high road and admit it. This in an elaborate statement to hide pettiness.
    Now for you David to ask if the new MC judges watched POO… here’s hoping they did so they know what not to do next year!

  5. I’ll always love Matt and Gary (and George) but I simply have not been tempted to even try Plate Of Origin. It just doesn’t seem like a good fit for them. I hope they get something else more worthy of their beautiful talents.

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