New Masterchef Australia (2011 series??)

[5ofus]

Anyone watching this?

Usually I don't watch Masterchef UK but this has me hooked. 14 contestants to go from a "shortlist" of 50. I think the series has finished now but they're showing it on Watch I think 4 times a week.

I can't be the only MNer watching?

I think we could use their names maybe after the afternoon repeat? Surely that's fair! I thought the winner's dish looked muh better than the runner up's.

OLT - I thought it did too - looked closer to the original, and all the way through that person has extracted more flavour from their cooking than the runner up, so a worthy winner.

I missed the bit about the scholarship so that's great news!

Can we talk about the winner openly yet?!

I loved this show and though it went on a bit too long I found myself rather lost this evening without it! Before I'd seen the prizes I was amazed by how many chefs and restaurants were willing to be featured, but given the extent of the prize it's clear the production is a great deal better funded than the UK version - where the prize is ? winning the lovely trophy and the profile ? Do they get anything else?

Anyway in case of spoiler, I thought the winner was v worthy particularly because of the way they learnt from all they'd done & seen and very obviously put those techniques into practice.

I'm going to put it out there! I'm so happy that Kate won :o She clearly worked so hard and absorbed every technique that they were shown. She was also more methodical and less prone to panic.
I was worried as the judges had shown Michael such blatant favouritism over the series so thank god she cooked such a great second dish. Michael had moments of greatness but was sometimes waaay off the mark.

Yay! I am so pleased Kate won, too. Agree that she was the better cook, worked hard and kept her nerve.

Really are scheduled to show series 2 from the beginning of January, for those with withdrawal symptoms.

Oh great, I loved series 2.

Bugger!!! I just spied that Kate won and Mum and I are still ploughing through the series!!!! arghhhhh. We're at the final 7 now I've got to forget that Kate has won...I wanted Billy to win.

Lucy - that's great news - I will go and find it asap and set it to record the whole series. You've made my NYE with that news!

Our Sky+ box has been really empty since it finished! I'm also liking all the extra free time from no obsessive tv watching. Should I commit to series 2?

It starts on monday, on Really, as lucy said (can't remember what time, brain fogged by Baileys). I have sky plussed it already - I cannae wait!

We have just, at last, watched the last few episodes. I love the format with the Big Brother style House, lots of great and original challenges, blind tasting by the judges, trips abroad etc. We will miss it and already saw series 1 & 2 so repeats won't help, argh! Mind you, it is very interesting how many people skip Masterclass, we do too, I thought we were being lightweight.
However, I DO think that the standard is far below the UK winners, none of them compare to Druv Baker for instance, or his competitors in the 2010 final. I don't remember that American Tim bloke that well......!