Masterchef

[wem]

I've only watched a couple of episodes of this series and I won't be watching any more after the one I saw last night.

They've started this series in a different way to normal, with a blind tasting test. In both of the two episodes I've watched so far this has resulted in loads more women getting through to the first round than normal. I noticed this and thought it was interesting and although it showed up previous discrimination, at least it was a positive step.

Then at the end of the episode I watched last night they sent home two women to whom they had both given positive comments and pointed out errors, and kept in a man whom they had totally slated. One of the judges even seemed to shout at him in frustration at how badly he'd done. After they kept him in I realised this shout was because he couldn't bear to send him home and have, god forbid, more than 50% women go through to the next round, even though the opposite happens every single other series.

I know this is fairly trivial, and probably all in the editing, but it's pissed me off and I won't be watching it again in protest at the blatant discrimination they showed.

I was watching the French one last year and same thing happened. There were always 3 women getting the best comments and winning all challenges, but for the final, they kept just one of them and a man, who had been totally average and rarely got any better comments than "fine". I'm still wondering if I'm just paranoid and seeing ghosts everywhere.

At the end of last weeks episodes I'd come to pretty much the same conclusion as wem that there seems to be more women getting through. They've probably got to up the share of women on the show to make it fairer but I doubt they will last very long if the previous years are anything to go by.

Good to know I'm not alone in seeing something dodgy going on. I couldn't believe it when they didn't send the bloke home. You could see he was couldn't believe it either!

I've noticed that they often put men through because they show 'potential' whereas women make mistakes...

Exactly. Their pathetic comment to one of the women as they left, 'too many errors' when in fact they had been really complimentary about aspects of her dish. They seemed to hate the food the man gave them, but were 'willing to take a risk' with him. Pah.

Totally agree with the OP. It's so frustrating and I would like to have watched the two women's progression. The guys just aren't good enough and it's a form of positive discrimination, which men hate! It just shows that men get into positions of power because they have a willy.

How very silly. The women were rubbish. Ds1 and I had already picked them out as the obvious people to go. Do you look for sexism in everything?

I wouldn't normally 'look for feminism' in Masterchef, no. But it was particularly noticeable that there were more women coming through the blind tasting than would normally be in the early stages, so my awareness was raised, as it were.

The women weren't great, but no worse than the man. And having taken an extra person through in the previous episode they could easily have got rid of him too, except, oops, that would have meant 5 women and 3 men so far, and that ratio is clearly not acceptable.

'Look for sexism' obviously

Actually scratch that. It's not about looking for it, but once you start seeing the sexism in our culture it's very hard to stop.

Absolutely Wem, once you are past the feminist primers, you see sexism everywhere.

@hannahsaunt - would you weigh into a conversation that was discussing racism and write "How very silly. The person of colour was rubbish. Ds1 and I had already picked them out as the obvious person to go. Do you look for racism in everything?"

Which version of Masterchef are you watching?

I've been watching and I didn't see any sexism, they sent home the people I thought they would to be honest. In the middle episode I think they could easily have sent five home though.
I do see sexism in masterchef - every woman with children is introduced as a "mother of ...." even if she also has a career. No man is introduced as a father of two before they say what his job is.
However, I think the eliminations have been fair so far.

It's a blue pill/red pill thing isn't it

I love masterchef so almost blank out things that I notice that seem sexist

What I do notice though is whenever there's a big bloke with a manual job, Greg really really likes them and wants them to do well, gets all matey, and it makes me wonder if that affects the judging at all.

I would say though that I think Masterchef the Professionals seems better with this as Michel Roux Jr seems very fair, and obviously actually likes women (not saying the other two don't but I mean he takes them seriously).

Masterchef is a digrace! We want more women in the kitchen.

This is something i've noticed and which actually reminds me of a problem a lot of people talk about in higher education - in a lot of cases, men perform better in university examinations (in arts/essay type subjects) because their answers appear to show more "potential"/"risk taking" whereas women's answers are more likely to be consistently correct and measured. The men are more likely to be noticed (positively or negatively iyswim). There was recently an article in which a female student said she'd been given advice to "write more aggressively, like a boy" in order to get a first.

I don't know whether the phenomenon is a kind of social conditioning in itself, or what accounts for it. But my hunch is that it definitely happens.

Sorry for non-mastercheffy digression

ROFL @ lollygag

First and last probably time

Good one though

I quite like Masterchef for showing a good variety of women (age, background, character) and showing them excelling at stuff, rather than being given makeovers and told to look younger. It shows women being creative, coping well under pressure, and pushing themselves to reach very ambitious goals.

As to the judging, I've not felt it being particularly biased towards women or men. Generally, they prefer the slightly erratic but brave chefs over the solid but boring types and that may have been what happened in this case.

Ciske yes it is a quality show, with people showing real skills.

I tell myself that's why I watch it anyway

I loved the Masterchef Professionals last series. I think Michel Roux Jr is great. Perhaps it was going back to John Torode that has highlighted things.

Very funny lollygag, but there is a serious point there too (sorry!) Women are supposed to cook for their families, but when it becomes 'chef', a tough, demanding job, that's for the men...

Michel Roux Jr is fab isn't he. Really professional, knowledgeable (obviously!), enthusiastic, fair, supportive to the contestants, really brilliant. I love watching that series.

I like monica as well, although I think they make her gurn too much, her and greg both gurning manically gets a bit much sometimes

I got very cross the other day when John Torode was talking to the Iranian woman (whose name I have forgotten), who had already been clearly identified as a "mum", and she was saying how she really wanted to cook her food, and that's what inspired her, etc. Torode replied with "But you could do that at home!".

I understand that they were trying to get her to express how "passionate" she was about cooking/food, but it really angered me that they should imply that as a woman she should only pursue her hobbies at home. I'm not sure they would have made the same comment to a man (or even a woman who wasn't a mother)... or am I reading too much into it?

"Torode replied with "But you could do that at home!". "

I noticed that as well, it jarred with me, I was a bit taken aback.

These are all amateur cooks - they all cook at home

I think that comment was as much ageist as sexist.

John Torode and Greg Wallace have a talent to make even the most calm, organised kitchen appear like chaos. I would have thrown them both out of the tent during the Jane Austen cook off, could they be any more stressful or annoying? Stop standing in the way, let them cook!