Gary Mehigan: MasterChef now “too professional”
Former MasterChef judge questions the level of cooking on 10 show and denies 'greedy judges' were behind famed exit.
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Former MasterChef Australia judge Gary Mehigan has called the show “too professional” in its aspirations for restaurant-level cooking.
Speaking to media during a visit to India, he said, “To be honest, it’s far too professional for my liking. I think it the first season for me is always special because it was unexpected and I think the level of home cooks seemed genuine and certain for their hunger … The first good chunk of the 11 years that I was on it we really found honest, genuine, you know, mums and dads and people that wanted to change their careers and they were honest, their food was quite simple.
“I mean the the finale dessert Season One was a chocolate tart with a chocolate heart piping that was made from tempered chocolate and the drama around that was incredible,” he said.
“And then you fast-forward 10 years and then I can remember Kirsten Tibballs, who’s one of our best pastry chefs in Australia, setting a dessert. I even got bored reading the recipe. There was so many processes. I’m just like, you can’t follow it. I’m not interested. Do you know what I mean? It was just like beyond.”
Mehigan said an honest home cook with simple cooking was preferable than aspiring to restaurant quality food.
This doubtless contradicts the judging of a number of his 11 seasons on MasterChef Australia, ending in 2019 when 10 cut ties with him, Matt Preston and George Colambaris.
He also revealed negotiations broke down principally over the 7 months of filming they were required to spend on MasterChef -this has been referenced preveiously amongst the media fallout in 2019.
“We did 16 seasons all up, including Junior, All Stars, etc,” he continued. “And I remember asking the head of Channel 10, which is the Free to Air network we worked for, ‘How long do you think the show’s going to go for?’ And he said,’ I reckon another 10 years.’ And I looked him in the eye and I said, ‘But surely not with us, like, you know, we’re just going to be sucking food through a straw by the time we get to that!’ …. I think he was quite shocked to find out that.”
He added, “I promised myself very early on that once I felt that it wasn’t my thing, that it was time to move on. I mean, the way we parted from Channel 10, that was a little bit different. Channel 10 decided to take the narrative and make it about the, you know, the ‘greedy judges’. But it wasn’t.”
Mehigan also said the show’s ‘secret sauce’ was “the positive style of the show, it’s not bitchy or nasty, and we have always wanted people to thrive whether they leave in the first elimination or the last.”
10 declined to comment.
Source: India Forums
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20 Responses
I’m really disappointed in these comments from Gary – a bloke whose down to earth, positive support throughout his tenure set the tone for what made (and continues to make) the show so special. There were countless ludicrous challenges in his time but let’s face it, if it was just home cooks making beef stir fry and spag bol, it would lose its appeal pretty damn quickly. I would have hoped he’d be more charitable towards how the new judges have honoured the legacy of what Gary built with George and Matt, especially seeing as one of his proteges now stands at the helm. But adding to the insult, that Gary had a stint on MKR (the absolute opposite of everything that Gary helped build on MC) is particularly grating.
Is he seriously mad that the cooking is too good? This is a natural evolution of the show and of Australia’s home-cooking culture (which the show itself has massively influenced). He should be proud of the impact that he’s had on this, but I guess he’s a little salty about something else.
Yes we thought that the show was showing too much professionalism. It got away from being more for the average cook.
It reads to me like sour grapes from Gary Mehigan that he and George Colambaris no longer have gigs on TV or in the media(Matt Preston is on ABC radio in Melbourne and on DWTS currently too).
I think the standard on Masterchef this year is quite good, Declan and Brent and Theo are very inventive and clever cooks.
How they replace Jock next year is the million dollar question.
It sounds more like he’s commenting on his later seasons than the one actually on air.
But like a reality shows, after the first season contestants understand the show and it’s never quite the sane (not always a negative).
Gee I seem to remember he & the other judges telling contestants their dishes weren’t ‘MasterChef’ enough when they did something deemed too simple. Current judges are just as bad & contradictory. They told Declan last week his dish was too simple & this week told him to keep it simple. No wonder they get confused & try to do too complicated dishes in little time.
I started watching MC during the pandemic, so I couldn’t compare to older seasons. I only know with the current judges, but the standard this year was woeful. Home cooks quality, but then I read on Twitter that it was exactly like that in first seasons. How interesting!
If he hasn’t watched it in years how is he to comment. It is exactly how it started with home cooks they just happen to do amazing things which cooks have done in the seasons he was there too. He said he didn’t want to do it forever well he got his wish. Stop complaining!
Of course the standard of cooking is going to be higher – people study previous series and practice and practice. If the standard stayed the same there would be no point in watching the show.
And as for Mum & Dad cooks, the contestants are all amateur home cooks – it’s part of the application process.
Having said that, however, the standard this year has been questionable at best, which is sad given the circumstances. On a recent episode one cook was struggling with boiling water and when fish is cooked well it’s like a hallelujah moment.
I agree about the standard of cooking this year. In my opinion terrible and boring. The challenges are weak. The mystery boxes weak. The “celebrity” chefs mostly unknown. The judges picked their favourites early on and their exaggerated praise for the chosen ones is embarrassing. Why have Kirsten Tibballs come on to the show without one of her magnificent creations? She just watched them cook below par desserts. Very disappointing. The only secrets and surprises of the season is Melissa’s wardrobe and who hates her enough to provide those clothes.
Yes need to agree I don’t think the standard has been as high as previous years. I’m bored, really not following as close as I would in previous years, I’m not sure if it’s the Jock Zonfrillo factor as you watch and hear some of the things he says and watching his demeanour and just wondering what was going on and how has this been re-edited to take away any issues, we will never really know. At this stage would like to see Theo or Brent with the title and move onto the next season. I do hope the producers can find the right replacement or replacements.
To be fair she was cooking on a outdoor stove & I assume she had it on the highest it could go but it took ages to boil. That is not her fault & not something she had any control over. She did tip some out but it still didn’t boil. Twitter was very nasty about her that night. Not sure what the problem was as we weren’t there. Did those taps have hot water or only cold? When I boil water I usually use hot water so it boils quicker. People on twitter saying she doesn’t know how to boil water is ridiculous.
It was actually indicative of how chaotic she is in the kitchen. She put on a massive pot of water with a huge amount of octopus to cook when she only needed to cook enough for one dish. Wouldn’t you think it would be a better idea to put on a small pot of water to boil given there was such limited time? I know it’s easy to say that from the comfort of the couch and not under the pressure of cooking on TV, but that contestant has been utterly chaotic from day one and doesn’t seem to have shown much growth.
Yeah good point, she should have used a smaller pot.
I agree with him. The first several series of MasterChef were engaging because the cooks were more similar to me. I saw things in the MasterChef kitchen that I could do at home. Except for the croquembouche. But I could still admire it.
Now I see very little that I could do at home. In fact, I haven’t watched it for some years.
“Now I see very little that I could do at home. In fact, I haven’t watched it for some years”.
Um…say that again?
Oh dear, sour grapes, much? Did he even read tvtonight.com.au/2023/04/masterchef-australia-2023-meet-the-cast.html
How many of them are “professionals” or even work in the industry? None. As for “we really found honest, genuine, you know, mums and dads and people that wanted to change their careers and they were honest, their food was quite simple.” But Gary, remember Plate of Origin?
https://tvtonight.com.au/2020/09/plate-of-origins-3-hr-finale.html
“Seven will screen both the semi-final and grand final back to back, which will doubtless be one night of low ratings instead of two. Where the show -and more to the point its handsomely paid judges- go from here is anyone’s guess.”
Couldn’t agree more with him with especially some of the desserts that have been used in the finals of the show.
Almost like who can create the most ridiculous concoction with some taking 4 to 5 hours to prepare and many pages of the recipe to sift through.
“This doubtless contradicts the judging of a number of his 11 seasons on MasterChef Australia, ending in 2019 when 10 cut ties with him, Matt Preston and Gary Colambaris.”
It’s George Calombaris, not Gary Calombaris.
It’s interesting to read as I prefer the professional level for cooking shows. There’s My Kitchen Rules and Come Dine With Me that are more amateur level.