After prolonged debate, it was decided in late July that series 21 of MasterChef would air, despite its being mired in scandal, because otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to the contestants (though one of them asked to be edited out anyway). Now the day is upon us for the first episode, and the first three are already on iPlayer. “So weird… this is weird,” says contestant Thea, right at the beginning, of being in the MasterChef kitchen. Yep, us too, Thea (get that editor another drink!). But once you get over the initial weirdness, it’s business as usual, and though there is perhaps marginally less presenter action, if you hadn’t read the news you’d be hard pushed to notice that anything had changed.
The contestants from episode one (Photo: BBC/Shine TV)When the story broke late last year, Torode sought to distance himself from Wallace, and kept his presenting role on the upcoming celebrity version – but then the report found that a complaint against Torode, for using the N-word on set, had also been upheld. Torode said he had no recollection of the incident (and he was cleared of nine other allegations involving abusive, racist and sexual language). BBC Director General Tim Davie said the organisation was “drawing a line in the sand”, and after, it seems, protracted negotiations with the production company, Banijay, Torode was for the chop a couple of weeks later.
Penelope makes hogget shank (Photo: BBC/Shine TV)
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For fans of the show, this creates cognitive dissonance in exactly the environment that you don’t want it (just imagine how this year’s contestants feel). Torode has always seemed, to me, a good guy, supportive and empathetic to contestants; while it’s easier to imagine Gregg saying, for example, a dish “tastes like [his] aunt’s vagina”, it’s still difficult to reconcile the deep levels of discomfort and distress he’s caused people while unwittingly enjoying his anodyne cheeky chappy persona. (This becomes easier when you consider the ungracious way he has handled the allegations since they emerged.) Of course, this is exactly the argument for why the series shouldn’t have been aired.
Last year’s finalists make a welcome return (Photo: BBC/Shine TV)
One novelty is the increasing number of contestants who get into food through the internet, like this year’s Shaun, who has never eaten Hainanese chicken rice, but decided to make it after seeing a video online, and nabs himself high praise from Wallace and Torode and a spot in the next round as a result. Social media is not just inspirational, either, but aspirational – 32-year-old Gemma “dreams of travelling the world making food-based social media content”, and Pirathapan, last year’s winner, says his life since lifting the trophy has involved plenty of “content creation”.
Yet for us viewers, watching reels on Instagram still doesn’t hit the MasterChef mark. As formulaic as it is, I’ve learned so much about food watching it – plus, its high stakes, high emotions and, yes, highly skilled presenters, make it excellent telly. It’s far from the most important thing to come out of all this, but I can’t help but feel a bit sad on multiple levels that MasterChef – both now and in future, when new presenters are decided – has lost some of that familiarity and comfort.
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