My Other Self

Joe will not be returning to MasterChef next season.

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/masterchef...153200245.html

DJariya

Joe has the left the show. New judge is Christina Tosi.

Here is here profile

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/shUQAMAXakM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Noonan

Really glad for the change. I've been a fan of hers for a while and have both Milkbar books. She just won a James Beard award too. Joe is now judging the Italian version of MC.

DJariya

Here's a clip of Joe on MasterChef Italia. Weird hearing him speak Italian.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WHDAyBrWcmk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


I guess he just needed a change of scenery.

barelypure

Joe isn't completely done. He is a producer and star on CNBC's Restaurant Startup. Plus, he isn't completely done with MasterChef: Bastianich still serves as a judge on MasterChef Italia,

It looks like this show is going to be more gender neutral and color than past shows. Almost like they're going for shock and strange than talent.

DJariya

Really enjoyable 2 hours. I think I'm now already a fan of Christina Tosi. She brings out a very different dynamic compared to grouchy Joe and his evil stares and talking down to contestants. I know she's a very well respected pastry chef and I'm glad they got someone with that pedigree to replace Joe.

You could kind of tell the contestants the Producers of this show liked judging by their backstory and how much time they spent on them. It was a no-brainer that they liked Shelly. Same goes with Claudia. Single Moms are a draw for these shows.

I kind of miss the audition format that this show used for the first 4 seasons. I liked seeing the awful and weird dishes some of the contestants brought. You don't get the backstory on the contestants. The Top 40/Top 20 thing they did for the premiere was fine for the most part, but I only think I saw 8 or 9 of them cook & talk.

gr8vette

I deleted the show after the first two contestants. Call me a hard a$$, but I hate sob stories on COMPETITION shows.

I hated last year that the stripper won over the other girl who seemed to be a better cook.

I know all these reality shows are rigged, but this show seems to too over the top.

dex14

dex14

DJariya

Is anyone here still watching MasterChef? I see no one watched or had nothing to say about season 7 last summer. We're about 6 episodes into the new season. I guess most here simply don't care about discussing competition shows anymore.

I skipped season 7 last year because I was on vacation and also needed a break from competition shows. I had watched the previous 6 seasons before.

Anyways, I just started watching season 8 off Hulu and I'm enjoying it so far. I just finished the audition episodes. In a way, I'm kind of glad that Graham Elliott left. The show needed new blood. I'm already a fan of Christina Tosi. She was a good replacement for Joe. I like the new judge Aaron Sanchez. Not 100% sure, but I heard he appeared last season in some capacity.

In the past, the audition phase took forever and had many sob stories. Now they've really tightened it up and the auditions (started 2 seasons ago) are now only 2 episodes. They have also dropped showing terrible cooks.

I was really surprised the ballet dancer made it through. He was really annoying and that stereotypical guido-mafioso accent he had was pretty ridiculous. And I see he has an Asian Mom.

I did like the Cowboy who made the cupcakes in the 2nd audition episode.

BTW, I know she's not super model gorgeous, but Christina Tosi has been looking pretty good. I like the nice short dresses she wears. She's got some nice legs. She does wear some bad things every now and then. Episode 3 she's wearing this awful looking jump suit.

Well, I guess I'll be talking to myself since no one is watching.

McHawkson

Yeah, I heard you talking to yourself.

I love to watch Masterchef and Masterchef Junior.

This season of Masterchef is too early for me to choose contestant as my favorite.

Bill Needle

Yeah these are the same judges from last season. I agree that the audition phase is much better in its streamlined version.

I guess it's hard to have much to discuss about this show because it is so overproduced that each season is practically identical to the ones before it. It is enjoyable enough, but so little of consequence happens that it is like having a decent but unremarkable meal. I'm not hungry any more, but an hour later I couldn't tell you what I just ate.

DWilson

I prefer the judges on Master Chef Canada, who seem like a trio of "Bond" villains.

Bill Needle

That's a big part of what makes the US MasterChef so utterly bland. The judges, especially Christina and even Ramsay to some extent, fall all over themselves singing praises and telling stories.

Rarely do they actually critique anything other than in a very generic sense. Despite the name, if you are actually interested in the mechanics of cooking and food this is not the show for you.

Obviously this is an intentional decision to appeal to the broadest audience possible, but the result is a very watered down product and makes for a very monotone experience. What little conflict that does creep in feels manufactured. People bitched about Joe, but when he complimented something it actually meant something because he didn't say it about everything and first include sappy stories from the contestant's autobiography.

TimeandTide

This.

And if the show wasn't so over-produced there might actually be time left to provide some background video/info. about the contestants. The only thing that differentiates them otherwise are their weird quirks or cliches (over-excitable college student; cowboy hat-wearing Texan; flamboyant ballet dancer; etc.). Top Chef is so great because we get to know the chefs via their "stories" and thus have people to root for.

Still watching out of habit, but they'll need to do more than just introduce a new judge every now and then to keep me interested.

Question: Has anyone ever NOT plated their dish before time runs out? I can't remember that ever happening.

starseed1981

I'm watching. Aaron Sanchez sucks. Richard Blais should've been the third judge. Christina doesn't really annoy me anymore since it's so painfully obvious she has no clue except when it comes to baking. Solid cast this season though.

DJariya

The one thing that's really annoying about the editing (in the 1st 2 episodes) was the distribution of the aprons. No reason to make every apron handoff a big event going to commercial break.

Yeah when the challenge involves baking or desserts, I do notice that Christina's eyes lighten up and she's more into it as opposed to other foods.

Like I said earlier, I like Aaron Sanchez so far. This is my 1st exposure to him, but it seems like he knows what he's talking about. He did become more enthusiastic when one of the audition episodes asked the cooks to make tacos.

cleveburgh

The seventh season, when they booted the obnoxious Andrea (self-proclaimed Wunderkind and judges' darling) who ignored instructions to have her dish ready for presentation at the front table when time was called.

While she could cook, she was nauseatingly full of herself for age 21(?) and thought rules didn't apply to her. She was also nasty to other contestants.

That was me yelling "YES!!!" to the universe when they sent her home.

raven56706

i miss the italian guy named joe. He used to eat the food, give a blank stare, and then walk away

Noonan

He's on MC Italy now. Or, at least he was when he left the US show. Not sure if he still is.

And if you couldn't tell, he's also a giant dick from every report I've seen.

DWilson

Joe had a show on CNBC called "Restaurant Startup" which was another attempt to pull off a "Shark Tank-ish" food show (there's been a few). I liked it but I think it's dead (though re-runs are available on a CNBC channel I don't have access to).

Aaron ("Don't Call Me 'Dirty'") Sanchez is an old hand around the "Top Chef" and "Food Network" judging game. They dress Christina Tosi, -or she dresses herself, -to be as non-threatening as possible; I get it, -when I read comments about "Food Network Star" on TVLine , women say the worst things about Giada DeLaurentis because she shows some cleavage.

sauce07

Last season had Gordon and Christina with a rotating third guest judge who would come in for a few episodes (Aarón was one of them). I'm a little annoyed by the over use of the chefs demoing how to do something. It's like they realized these get ratings on youtube, so they have one in nearly every episode.

LiquidSky

I've been watching this season. So far, not rooting for any specific contestants.

LiquidSky

Just watched the current episode. I'm happy that a certain person is gone and I like the remaining three contestants and would be happy with any of them winning. All well-deserved.

McHawkson

Which one? The guy with shitty attitude?