Shady Travels: Live, Explore, Learn: Master Chef Australia & Pavlova

Since I’m addicted to Bravo’s Top Chef, it was really disheartening to know that I wouldn’t be able to get it in Australia, much less Korea. To replace my hunger for reality TV cooking competitions, I found a suitable replacement; Master Chef Australia.

It is also a reality TV cooking show that has an interesting media formula. Being a communications major, I constantly critique any media I use. Like most reality competitive shows, it has contestants, hosts, and judges. Usually, contestants face off each week during a prime-time slot in 1-2 challenges; one being minor to win an advantage while the other being an elimination challenge. At the end of each week’s show, a contestant is eliminated. The winner at the end wins money and extra promotional prizes. Master Chef Australia takes these concepts and full-out assaults the media landscape.

First of all, it airs 7:30-8:30pm from Sunday to Friday! That’s a show that airs 6 days a week! Each day is a different challenge.

Sunday: Challenge Night. It is a night with two challenges. The first being a Mystery Box of ingredients. Afterwards is the Invention Test where contestants are to prepare a themed dish with a main ingredient chosen by the winner of the Mystery Box challenge. The bottom three competes the following night for elimination.

Monday: Pressure Test. It is where the previous night’s bottom three are to replicate a dish. The worst of the three is eliminated.

Tuesday: Celebrity Chef Challenge. It is where the winner of Sunday’s Invention Test competes against a celebrity chef in the celebrity’s cooking style. The amateur is given a head start. If the contestant scores higher than the celebrity, he or she is given a MC pin that can be used for immunity for future eliminations.

Wednesday: Off-site Challenge. It is where the contestants are split up into two teams having a task, budget, and specific time frame to finish the challenge. The losers face off in an elimination the following night.

Thursday: The bottom two of the losing team during Wednesday night’s challenge cook head-to-head. The loser is eliminated.

Friday: Master Class where the head judges Gary, George, and a celebrity chef teaches the amateurs new techniques. This is a nice end to their schedule because they have gone through the stress of an elimination and can now sit back and watch their heroes showcase their expertise; unlike Top Chef where we NEVER see the judges cook. By demonstrating their own talents, the judges create a sense of audience approval. We know they are good chefs (otherwise they wouldn’t have been asked to judge/host), but now we really know they are good because we see it. Furthermore, they create a sense of community with both the contestants and the audience. The judges are inviting like university professors and the audience and the contestants find that they too can cook like the judges.

They began with 50 then the judges whittled them down to the Top 24 where they face-off in 14 weeks of competition. The winner gets 100,000 AUD and a book deal.

In addition to all the publicity the show has at its coveted time-slot, the show has had developed spin-offs, a magazine, an exclusive Cole’s (biggest grocery store) advertising deal, shout outs from almost every talk show and newspaper, and an enjoyable rising rate of cooking school enrollments. This show has really taken the Australia media universe by storm! Whether I’m walking around Cole’s or glancing at free newspapers on the train, I cannot miss one Master Chef personality dominating the communications mediums across Australia.

I’ve really enjoyed this show a lot especially since I only have 5 free channels and this show airs at the perfect time almost every night. Because I’ve been following these contestants every night, I feel like I’m right with them through the entire process. Furthermore, I feel like I’ve gotten closer to understanding and appreciating Australian characteristics; sense of humor and colloquialisms.

Some words I’ve discovered from hearing them on Master Chef.

Cracker-Really Good
“That dish is a cracker!”

Motor-Move Quicker
“Guys, we have no time. We’ve really got to motor.”

Reckon-Think
“I reckon that dish needs more seasoning.”

Fiddly-Tedious Work
“You hardly see crabs on the menu because they are so hard to clean. Crabs are fiddly.”

Quibble-Complain About
“Judge _______ is the expert. I can’t be one to quibble about it.”

To top off my experience here, I’ve had my first celebrity sighting! She’s not the biggest celebrity, but since she’s on a show that Australia loves that airs 6 days a week, this is pretty exciting. I was walking around Chinatown looking for my first Chinatown meal when I walked into a bakery still looking for Pavlova. Right outside the door, a group of 6 young women were sitting at a long outdoor table at a Chinese restaurant. There, closest to the wall I saw her. Courtney Roulston. She was eliminated and brought back onto Master Chef. I knew this was her, by her hairstyle, face shape, clothing style, and of course her voice! Unmistakable! I kept looking back at her without being too obvious. Tempted to take a picture, I withheld my urge since a) that’s completely inappropriate and b) I don’t know how to turn off the flash on my cell phone. Either way, it’s the final week of the show, and I got to see her out and about in Sydney’s Chinatown enjoying herself looking like any one of us.

Courtney Roulston of Master Chef Australia
Top 6 Contestant

So the Pavlova search…

In the first episode of Master Chef, the top 6 of 50 contestants were chosen to do a Pressure Test. They had to replicate Donna Hay’s (Aussie Martha Stewart) Pavlova. It is a meringue cake with a soft eggy interior and a sugary crust topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits. It named after a ballerina who toured here in the 1920s and is part of the national cuisine often served during the holidays. Since seeing it on the show, Dave and I have been on a hunt for it. Being a national dish, I expected to easily find it. Reading blogs, posts, and classified, we went to bakeries all over town and failed. After seeing Courtney Roulston and having my first Chinatown meal, I desperately wanted some sweets. That Chinese Soy Sauce/MSG really gets me. Across the street from where we ate was a small lowly bakery with two slices of Pavlova in the window! Probably the worst standard of the national dessert (they used canned fruit and it was insanely sweet), I didn’t hesitate to order it. Mission accomplished! Next food adventure…kangaroo!