chandlerfreakusmc This show has went wayyyyyy downhill. You clearly can hear all the cookie cutter lines and ego buffing. This show used to be about the contestants....now it's just to fuel Gordon's ego. Terrible. Long time fan but I just can't watch anymore.

kevinacharles-74815 US MasterChef, what can I say about this show? I only stumbled across it recently whilst channel surfing. Being from the UK and knowing and loving the original MasterChef, I was intrigued to see what it was like. At first, I enjoyed the different format, but once I saw a few of the episodes, it frustrated me more and more.The overly dramatic music; the over-the-top contestants and pathetically staged bickering between them; the judges constantly ripping into the "home" cooks as if they were professional chefs; the constant reminders of the contestants' backstories and them always crying; and finally, the way in which contestants are eliminated, where you see stronger ones being knocked out and weaker ones surviving. The show's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I do not consider it a serious cooking show. To use an overly used phrase on the show, "make the food the hero of the show, not the fake drama.If you want to watch a decent MasterChef show, watch the UK one, or surprisingly the best one IMO, the Australian MasterChef, which mixes the best parts of the UK and American show.

AlexZander45 Though I can watch this show and enjoy it a little bit. The fake Fox-Produced drama has worn thin. It has gotten worse each season of this American version. I get sick of the contestants always degrading and yelling at each other. Very disrespectful to each other. And there is no doubt in my mind that Fox producers pushes these contestants to be that way. There was probably 3 or 4 contestants out of all the seasons that I was actually rooting for.I find the Australian Masterchef version to be superior in just about every way. 1. Many, many more episodes. A journey 2. Several more challenges. Including a multitude of top chefs to compete against to try to win an immunity pin. Pressure tests for another chance to survive. 3. Contestants that I actually care about and several each season that I root for to win. 4. Contestants that actually use teamwork and have respect and care for each other. 5. No fake-produced drama. Real emotion displayed by the contestants. 6. And several Mentor elite Chefs to help contestants learn.I do like all the judges from both the U.S. version and Australian version. But the Fox version is a fake-drama filled 'Express' version of a reality show.(no big surprise there.) Masterchef Australia is an 'Epic Journey' to truly find a top amateur chef, with contestants to truly care and root for. I highly recommend watching the Australian version.

tubastuff One could just about name the winner of this show by about the third episode. Eliminate the trash-talkers and the physically unattractive and the contestants with the personality of a wet tortilla and you have your field. Add points if there's some sort of a sob story behind the contestant.If you think that the judging can't be rigged, then you must think that TV professional wrestling is the real, true and honest thing.Consider the following (which have been addressed with other countries' versions of this series, but not the USA): 1. The judging isn't blind--the judges are perfectly aware of who cooked what and are perfectly free to feign criticism or praise.2. The actual prep work performed by the contestants is shown in very carefully edited clips. As this series has progressed, less and less of preparation has been shown, so you really don't know what's being done by anyone.3. Apparently, the rules do not allow a kibitzing Joe, Gordon or Graham to be told to go away during prep. It's amazing that fingers haven't been lost. But if you want to throw a contestant off balance, just try jabbering at her or him while he or she is trying to cook.4. The judging criteria aren't made public beforehand, so something that the judges will allow to pass in one round becomes a fatal error in another.I gave up on "Hell's Kitchen" because of Ramsay's screaming and cursing and the penchant of the show's producers to select contestants who are incredibly stupid, smoking (what chef really wants to abuse the most valuable tool in his arsenal--his sense of taste?) trash-talking and mean-spirited.I'll go back to watching Jacques Pepin, thank you.