Masterchef South Africa is the biggest television cooking game show watched by numerous South Africans. Not everyone enjoys cooking; however, only few would want to take up the challenge of cooking dishes that would appease the appetite of professional and renowned master chefs.
A master chef is a professional and highly skilled individual who is an expert in all food preparation of a particular cuisine. Chefs are well-trained and most are formally trained while others are trained by kitchen Heads.
Franc Roddam was the first person to come up with Masterchef in July 1990 with the UK Version. Subsequently, it was updated for the BBC in February 2005 by Franc Roddam and John Silver who were its first executive producers while Karen Ross was its series producer. Thereafter, Masterchef was re-developed in Australia.
It is on record that over 40 countries have their own award-winning Masterchef competition. South Africa is not left out. Masterchef South Africa is the South African version of the highly rated television cooking game show Franchise. The cooking game show is solely organized to encourage people with cooking skills, give room for development for amateurs and most importantly, entertain populous viewers at home – both in and outside South Africa.
Perhaps, you know little or nothing about Masterchef South Africa. Here are 10 Captivating Tips about this Award-winning biggest cooking television game show.
- Masterchef South Africa is filmed on the Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl, Western Cape.
- Masterchef South Africa so far has 3 seasons and 44 episodes. Also, It’s original language is the English Language, while its original Network is M-Net and it runs for 60 Minutes.
- Andrew Atkinson judged season 1 and 2.
- Masterchef South Africa was first aired from 20th March – 14th July 2012 with 18 finalists. The winner of the maiden show was Deena Naaido while it’s runner-up was Sue-Ann Allen.
- With 16 finalists in season 2, Kamini Pather emerged the winner of the show, aired on 11th June – 11th September 2013, while Leandri Van Der Wat emerged runner-up.
See Also: Five Greatest South African Dishes And Recipes You’ll surely Love
- Did you know that Pete Goffe-Wood, Benny Masekwameng, and Reuben Riffel were the judges for season 3? Yes, they replaced Andrew Atkinson who was the judge for season 1 and 2.
- Roxi Wardman won the competition title in season 3 with Siphokazi Mdlankomo emerging as runner-up. The wildly award-winning show lasted from 21st August – 11th December 2014 with 12 finalists who made it to the last stage.
- Masterchef South Africa contestants go through various challenges in the course of the game show. First is the preliminaries, where they are allowed to cook any dish of their choice- “signature dish” and each contestant is expected to earn at least a “yes” answer from two judges for further advancement into the competition. Also, a white MasterChef apron is issued to a contestant if he advances to the next stage.
- The second stage is called the Mystery Box Challenge and contestants are expected to make do or leave out some of the cooking ingredients received. In the end, results from the three judges will determine if a contestant will move on to the next stage or not.
- Masterchef South Africa also has the off-site team challenge. Here, contestants are expected to carry out a particular activity outside the competition ground. Lastly, is the Pressure Test where losers in previous challenges cook a particular dish within a specific time frame. In the end, judges comment on the dishes cooked and also vote or eliminate more contestants.
It would be recalled that another format of the show came on board in 2015 Masterchef South Africa Celebrity. Its first episode was aired on 8th February 2015.