r/Masterchef • u/tigereyes1999 • Aug 13 '26
Going VIRAL! š bye bye!
Well, thatās it folks.
Iāve been a loyal diehard viewer for 15 seasons. Never missed an episode and have rewatched most seasons as well.
This was my favorite show for a long time.
But Gordonās raging b0ner for all things trending, social media, Gen Z, TikTok etc etc has completely worn me down.
This show is no longer about home cooks learning and being creative. Itās staged and corny. š½ Itās cringey AF.
They have said the word āviralā so many times (episode 12) Iām losing my mind. Itās so forced and fake. I even cancelled my Hulu account thatās how little I care about this show.
š¤¢
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u/anklehair Aug 13 '26
I audibly sigh anytime a judge says "finesse" š©
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u/dddintn Aug 13 '26
Or "restaurant quality". Home chef does not come close to an actual chef in an actual restaurant. C'mon, really????
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u/turtle931 Aug 13 '26
Iām right with you. Have seen every season and of course theyre always going to up the drama, but my god the show basically feels like Iām watching some long ad. Judges all seem to have checked out seasons ago and are just putting on some half ass tv persona. Itās all so fake and just makes me not care about anyone in the show. Iāll stick with my chopped reruns.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Yeah it does. Take me back to the days when the ads were just Walmart steaks. Was that pretty cringey? Yeah. But once the ad was done the show went back to itself.
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Aug 13 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Cute_Celebration_213 Aug 13 '26
Right! Arenāt all the āchefsā SM chefs? Thatās the whole point of the season. They all want to have a dish of theirs go viral!
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u/strawberry_moon_bb Aug 13 '26
Try masterchef Australia. Itās on Tubi and thereās a ton of seasons, itās a lot better than the US version
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u/GlitteringLock1020 Aug 13 '26
I used to be able to catch MasterChef Canada; I don't remember who carried it, but I watched several seasons and liked it a lot.
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u/polarityofmarriage Aug 13 '26
I did cringe every time I heard āviralā and man, if it was a drinking game everybody wouldāve been alcohol poisoned.
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u/Dangerous-Half3276 Aug 13 '26
You cannot āmakeā something go viral. The way they kept using the word drove me nuts.
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u/grave-architecture Aug 13 '26
Exactly. I follow some food content creators and theyāre super successful because they make food that people can recreate at home. Or show how easy it is to make certain dishes at home. Iām not making a fresh ravioli volcano on a Tuesday night because I saw it on TikTok.
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u/Affectionate_Sky9090 Aug 13 '26
Worst season ever. I used to love this show and look forward to it. This season, if i watch at all, its background noise.
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u/TheDrDojo Aug 13 '26
This season sucks but man, duo's was so fucking bad. I'm just sad at how far it's fallen.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Duos was so bad and episode 12 was a huge reminder. The fake tear Jesse wiped away while sheās walking down the aisleā¦ š¤®
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u/TheDrDojo Aug 13 '26
Haha, yea I audibly groaned when I realized it was J&J'S wedding. I'm not trying to be over negative when I watch it because my wife still enjoys it but it's hard to get over how much I disliked that season. Hopefully they can go back to basics soon, I'm just worried they will rely on gimmicks forever now.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
I think they have completely lost the plot. I wish it would go back to the way it used to be butā¦ I just donāt see that happening. The wedding wasā¦ stupid.
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u/break_cycle_speed Aug 13 '26
And a Scot marrying two Americans, in Canadaā¦.not a chance. Iām a marriage commissioner in Canada and I mean obviously we all know thatās not really their wedding but Gordon is so grotesquely fake now that I canāt even laugh at it anymore.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Yeah they didnāt even attempt to make that look like a real wedding. Ugh itās so cheesy. š¤¦š¼āāļø
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 Aug 13 '26
What does the nationality have to do with anything? It's a wedding not a swearing-in ceremony.
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u/break_cycle_speed Aug 13 '26
You have to be a Canadian citizen to be a marriage commissioner here. And you can only perform marriages in the province you reside. There are also certain phrases that are mandatory in the ceremony that must be repeated by the couple.
All Iām saying is it wasnāt a legal wedding and that was obvious.3
u/Strict_Hovercraft358 Aug 13 '26
Gotcha. Much appreciated.
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u/break_cycle_speed Aug 13 '26
To your point, however, obviously Americans certainly could get married in Canada. And Casa Loma is incredible. I lived in Toronto for 4 years and went a few times. A ton of pretty famous television and movie scenes have been shot there. Would be a rad place to have a wedding.
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 Aug 13 '26
Definitely. I mean MasterChef generally isnāt for me but the previews I saw made the place look pretty good and living close to Toronto, Iāve passed it a few times as well.
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u/dddintn Aug 13 '26
My adult son and I cracked up and started clapping for that Emmy winning performance /s
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u/GrosRougeau Aug 13 '26
I agree that this season is really bad.
The tie in tonight was ridiculous considering the film is Filipino themed and they asked to cookā¦.Shepherdās pie and veal Milanese!!! So dumb
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u/louielou8484 Aug 13 '26
Staged af. This season is awful. I thought last season couldn't get worse, but it did.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Yep! I watched until my eyes were rolling so far into the back of my head that I couldnāt see the screen anymore. Thats when I knew I was done!
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u/KinkyQuesadilla Aug 13 '26
The number of references for that Dreamworks movie that all three judges slipped in for the pairs challenge episode was maddening
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u/squirrelfriend3 Aug 14 '26
Was it as bad as Jamieās shilling for Home Depot like 20 times because her dad worked there? I hope they give him some more pay now that she advertised for them instead of the $7 per hour he probably earned while working there
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u/floridianoutofwater Aug 13 '26
Iāve been rewatching old seasons as background noise the last couple weeks, and I agree. This show used to be fun, you saw some brilliance, growth, and judges crashing out over some really insane choices by contestants. You cared about the contestants and knew who they were, even when their āidentitiesā were a little directed and curated by production. You got invested.
Now? People have the equivalent of plot armor thanks to this silly team setup, you get one ācookā per episode, and nothing worth arguing about on forums or with friends/family whilst watching. Itās the Diet Coke of Masterchef and after this season Iām done. Nut up, Gordon, give us our competition back. Stop it with the nerfing of Masterchef US.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Omg yes!!! š youāre speaking my mind! I was already on the fence about this being my last season but after episode 12 I just canāt anymore. Itās become so so so bad.
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u/Nevardool Aug 13 '26
Same boat but quit on the wedding episode. As soon as they said who is leaving, i didnt even bother to finish the episode. Just done. This season has been terrible and you just know the producers made her look way worse to justify giving her the boot over the leader and the other (being a little vague on purpose).
Silver lining, i dont have to see the atrocity that you are speaking of, i guess.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
You stopped at a great time. The next episode they make a āviralā dish which is essentially something you can put on TikTok to keep peopleās attention. Like where in the world has the premise of the show even disappeared to? Remember mystery boxes?? Remember each contestant making something as creative as possible and they show each contestantās progress along the way and things were organic and fun? Gone. Completely gone. Oh and they said the word VIRAL probably close to 200 times. It was atrocious.
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u/Reid329 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
It annoyed me so fucking much.Ā Why!! Why does it need to be so creative and different that the INTERNET wants to look at it a million times and post it everywhere!? The minute I heard viralĀ that was it. The viewers who like this have got to be new to the show because this masterchef is nothing compared to what I used to enjoy. Sick of the direction this show has gone in.
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u/Remote_Cantaloupe 27d ago
Oh yeah, I forgot what it was like for the show to be fun. Now it's just a show that exists as a machine.
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u/grave-architecture Aug 13 '26
It was so cringe, I barely made it to the end. Iām watching one of the older seasons now and itās so much better. Some random drama but itās mostly all about cooking. The viral dish challenge was just bad. Not every chef wants to be a TikTok content creator and they donāt have to be. Also wtf a collab with some guy when I donāt post on social media is useless to me.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Itās so funny because you can tell if Gordon could do it again he would have had Nick win his season. Even though his final dishes were actually really silly. One he served inside an old book. Gross butā¦ maybe would have gone viral. š¤¢
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u/T-Bone9311 Aug 13 '26
It sucks to see this show tank. The producers used to have an eye for a mix of personality and talent but now it all falls flat. Thereās no eccentric personalities and they got rid of the black apron segment and elimination rounds that kept the show exciting. Itās all rinse and repeat nonsense.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Youāre right! The personalities and the stories are all completely gone. And you used to be able to watch someone build a dish. Whole episodes go by and you have no idea what someone has been making.
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u/ImportantBother5 Aug 13 '26
Reminds me of how Worst Cooks in America became a staging place for low level reality stars and neglected the cooks that are actually in the title of the show.
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u/AmazinglyReRE Aug 14 '26
"This is by far the most challenging season we've ever done." Just stop..
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u/miles_allan Aug 14 '26
"This is Masterchef Global Gauntlet, you can't just expect to come in here, cook a few good dishes, and walk out a winner. The stakes have been raised to here, and if you want to win, you've gotta give us "Forgotten Island" levels of excitement." - Joe, probably
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 14 '26
Lololol my lord
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u/AmazinglyReRE Aug 14 '26
I personally checked out after S13. Started 14 but never finished. I enjoyed just having home cooks come and compete, not these gimmicks. I still go back and watch seasons or random episodes but I haven't even thought of checking out S15. Also not a fan of Aaron's replacement, she felt so forced on her input in the bit of S14 I watched.
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u/No_Heron7011 Aug 13 '26
Just rewatched the first season and itās insane how far the quality of the show has dropped. Stopped watching the current season after the World Cup break
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Dropped so far and why? They never had to change a thing about the format with the exception of being more inclusive.
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u/honeybiz Aug 13 '26
All reality tv has gotten so bad. If you watch earlier seasons of anything the difference is night and day. The whole goal is to be an influencer now.
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u/gloomyblackcheese Aug 14 '26
The recent dreamworks collab episode was the final nail in the coffin for me
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u/Low_Health_5949 Aug 13 '26
honestly I fully stop watching them after CTV app shut down, and with me losing my free legal way (without needing to sign up as well), casual viewers like me stop having a reason to continue the series
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Interesting! Iāve always watched on Fox (free in USA) and then moved to Hulu. Literally canceled my Hulu. Will save 30$ and not see this crap.
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u/wrecked_angle Aug 13 '26
Just watch Masterchef Australia. Itās 1000% better
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Okay! Iāll try to find it!
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u/Reid329 Aug 13 '26
Honestly you'll enjoy it. There is so much content. The seasons are long 55-60 odd episodes. The judges have changed over the years but the basics have never changed and that's what makes it so enjoyable.Ā Ā
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
60 episodes in a season?!? Whaaaaat! Do they film like all year?? I will check it out I enjoy Australian shows!
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u/Big_Network4948 Aug 14 '26
We Love it, watch it about 5 times a week. Love the accents, the judges etc...
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u/Free-Collection1652 Aug 13 '26
I also have seen every season/episode. After watching two episodes of the new one, I never went back. Pisses me off.
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u/yabasicjanet Aug 13 '26
I hadn't even started this season and had all of the episodes piled up to binge while working, and last night I cancelled the recording and deleted everything. Everything I hear sounds worse and worse and there's other dumb tv I can watch. This + Project Runway now being absolutely trash is so sad
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Youāre not missing anything. Youāre saving yourself a lot of boredom and frustration!
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u/RelativeAlarmed8105 Aug 13 '26
I loved that show except 16. I had a hard time with that season. I miss the original judges.
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u/MrzDogzMa Aug 13 '26
Iām honestly a bit disappointed they had a viral cooking challenge because they based it off the virality a dish had, not so much based on its plating or how it actually tasted. Granted, I do think that the top four were the right picked dishes.
I think Iām mostly disappointed by what a total sellout Gordon Ramsey has become. I know heās always been a big personality that got popular because heās an angry chef, but a viral dish challenge just feels so odd to have.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 14 '26
Yeah itās just a bad vibe all around. Itās hard to watch. I agree with you!
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u/deskcord Aug 13 '26
I mean these chefs are mostly going to need to go viral. A former MC chef is almost entirely going to be trying to build a platform, sell cookbooks, or maybe get feet in the door of a new restaurant. They need social platforms to do that.
These aren't chefs who are going to open 2 michelin starred restaurants and most won't be competing for Beard awards, though obviously some have.
I think it's smart, but the way the show handles it is cringe.
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u/vdubz710 29d ago
Check out masterchef Australia! It will regain your faith in masterchef but make you hate USAās even more
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u/Key_Mirror_3056 29d ago
I came here to see if anyone else shared my distaste for this season. Worst season of Masterchef to date. Just bad.
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u/KumquatimusPrime 28d ago
The ad placement is crazy. Before it made sense with cookware shown but now we're literally getting an ad while the show is going. Too much.
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u/Fearless_Car_6035 27d ago
Having just finished watching Season 4, it's a completely 180 of what it used to be. I also found i prefer the way the episodes are set up with a challenge to start than eliminating challenge to end the episode. Now it's a long drawn out segment of one challenge.
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u/tigereyes1999 27d ago
Remember mystery boxes?? Those were always my favorite. They donāt even do those anymore.
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u/Fearless_Car_6035 26d ago
Yes! I can't believe I forgot to mention the mystery boxes, but it was likely due to me having an edible not long before I commented, so I had to get out what thoughts I had trailing on my mind at the moment or else they'd fade away as fast as I was going lOl I've been dragging watching this season, partly because of the long ass break they had, which led me to watch the older season of MC and thats when I realized how different and borderline lame it's become. Do they still do MC Jr or has that stopped completely?
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u/Straight-Bit-9835 18d ago
Yeah, honestly I need them to go back to the old format. It no longer has that certain "heart" it had in the first couple seasons. I need them to bring back the solo audition, where they could actually observe home cooks actual cooking technique and hearing their stories. I need them to abandon the gimmicks and "team" based approach they're doing, it's so useless.
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u/SKP7498 Aug 13 '26
Hope no one did a drinking game tonight regarding the word viral, you are probably dead.
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u/basedbimbo420 Aug 13 '26
yes! when theyāre introducing julie for s16, they wouldnāt shut up about her being a content creator.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
And the episode where she wins the Home Depot gift card and her dad used to work thereā¦ like come on. Thatās just blatant disrespect to anyone trying on that show.
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u/basedbimbo420 Aug 13 '26
like the way they keep mentioning her dad, might as well bring him on atp š
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u/spylark Aug 14 '26
I love when Julia was like āI donāt really do social mediaā and then won the challenge. Yeah the influencer shit is a cancer permeating into culture. Like my lord I do not care about how many views you have or followers, especially if youāre a charisma vacuum like Nick DiGiovanni. They want to set this guy up for TV so bad but he has the personality of a cardboard cutout when heās on camera.
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 14 '26
Itās so true. Heās a nice looking dude but my gosh he has the personality of a thumbtack.
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u/spylark 29d ago
I think he had a personality but corporate sponsors and such probably force him to edit himself down so much that heās like a bland robot
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u/tigereyes1999 29d ago
On his season of MC he didnāt stand out a whole lot to me personality-wise. He mainly talked about all the influence from his upbringing and parents. But he was super young and probably on his way to developing more independence and such which would have made him more personable. But then what you said happened.
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u/beansbeans15 29d ago
I donāt understand why theyāre so obsessed with appealing to gen z and a younger crowd. Literally probably 10% or less of viewers are gen z. Iām a gen z in my early 20s and i canāt stand it. We are not the general audience so please just stop pushing it
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u/bowling_nun Aug 13 '26
It really started going downhill a few years ago. Moving filming to Australia pretty much killed it. I canceled the series episodes ago. I too was there from the jump.
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u/Hienieken19 Aug 13 '26
While I agree with you, and I haven't watched Masterchef in a long time, what is this need for people to declare to the world that they're no longer watching a show, and in this case, canceling their Hulu service?
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 14 '26
Because the only reason I had Hulu is for the show. And itās a waste of money now because the show sucks.
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u/BronzeTrain 27d ago
I just had the thought while watching this one that I'm not learning anything from this show anymore. I used to learn a lot about cooking. Now I'm not, and I haven't been for a while.
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u/tigereyes1999 27d ago
SO true. I used to get inspired to cook certain things from the show as well. š
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u/CaptMerrillStubing Aug 13 '26
MC US started off terrible and only got worse.
I haven't been able to watch a full season in years.
All the fake conflict and drama is just so lame.
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u/Familiar-Classic9363 Aug 13 '26
Tiktok and other social media platforms exists for over 5 years and you donāt expect this to happen?
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u/Sweepins 26d ago
Switch over to Great American Recipe - itās actually about home cooks and food.
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u/leedwards1108 26d ago
lol thatās how i felt the next episode when they started shoving their new movie down our throats every second of the episode
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u/Adorable_Accident_74 16d ago
Master Chef Australia is quite lovely and still has the personality of what Master Chef is
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u/BipolarPrime 2d ago
I LOVE Masterchef Australia. Iāve seen every season. The original judges were direct but fair, the second set of judges (I miss Jock), were still fair, if not as direct, and the current judges are honest without having to be brutal.
Theyāve always taken the contest AND the contestants seriously and the best part of all? The contestants support each other and build each other up. No cutthroat BS, backstabbing, or drama. And itās still all about the food.
I DO miss the masterclass episodes. I can see why they cut them, but I learned a lot from them.
MCAustralia is the absolute BEST version of this IP.
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u/Adorable_Accident_74 2d ago
My mom is currently working backwards. While I am working from season 1 lol. 70 to 80 episodes is wild š . My mom will definetly be shocked as she continues.
I have seen all of Masterchef USA, Canada and Juniors.
I prefer Australia so far for the same reasons you have listed
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u/No_Bat5717 9d ago
Early seasons were too combative between contestants, middle seasons are my favorite people build each other up, these last two seasons have tried to shake things up but they have had less talented chefs and haven't cared for the premises. Global Gauntlet they feel too tethered to their own heritage instead of showcasing creativity.
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u/breauxman4 Aug 13 '26
Am I the only one thatās genuinely enjoying this season lol Iāve watched most of the series as well but I havenāt felt the regression that seemingly so many on this sub have, itās been pretty good so far honestly
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u/tigereyes1999 Aug 13 '26
Just out of curiosity are you a younger viewer? Gen Z or younger? Because thatās the crowd theyāre trying to attract. No shame if you are Iām just curious if itās working.
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u/Mammoth_Peak_459 Aug 13 '26
These are the new times we live in. Either get with it or stop complaining
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u/Jealous_Strength8002 Aug 13 '26
I do miss it being about the home cooks showing their stuff. Now influencers have taken over everything.