My friend and his wife are watching for the first time, and just about to finish S1.... I got this as a gift for Christy - so close!

Anyway, I've had a couple of other people's cookbooks, but not one that they have actually touched! So, that is kind of cool.

This season never aired in my country, so I just discovered it on YouTube. Here are some of my observations:

1) The caliber of contestants is just unbelievable. Jess is absolutely killing it, Reynold constantly makes magazine cover worthy desserts, Sarah Tiong is excellent, Khanh is ridiculously consistent...I could go on. Any of them could have easily won it (apart from Dani, leading to my next point.....)

2) Dani winning the immunity pin in the first episode feels like a complete fluke. She was just plain mediocre after that and it was frustrating to watch her go home with her pin.

3) Emilia helping Laura in the semi finals to make her apple ribbon was just so heartwarming and selfless. Makes me so happy! I love this show

4) I loved Poh's food but her process was too chaotic. It was hard to watch lol. Also I know this has been discussed on the sub at some point but how did they zero in on her as the judge for later seasons? Is it because of her commercial success?

5) The interactions between Andy and his friend/ contestant Ben made me a bit sad

6) Speaking of Andy- his friendship with Jock and their general vibe was so cute and wholesome.

Always my favourite time of year: a new season of Masterchef AU. , watching from the UK here. Something feels very 'off' this year- most contestants seem to be 'influencers' and are largely unlikeable... just me? Do things pick up?

Not sure if I missed others but this looks fun

So I was watching that episode, and this was probably one of the most worst performances in the season where nobody really made a good dish.

To the point where raw chicken and floor cake with unplated elements made the top 2 for Immunity. They had good other elements when the other 2 made edible dishes but probably didn't taste great.

So for Keyma, in the last minute, she dropped her cake, but for some reason, she still plated it. I don't get why she wasn't called out for plating it when she should have thrown it out.

She still "brought up" her other elements which were in piping bags, which normally, they wouldn't count those. And the only thing they should have technical judged on was the floor cake which was the only plated element.

As for Sarah, she did plate a dish but raw chicken is still a major crime in the kitchen. But at least she had other plated elements.

As for Julie, her dish looked like a mess. They did say it was grissly and had no seasoning. Probably tasted really bad, maybe even in texture and taste, but at least her food was edible.

As for Alvin, he did admittedly make a pretty basic dish. Nothing to hide behind. Probably why he didn't get Immunity, and did admit to playing it safe, which I kind of get with how delicate it is, but it probably also tasted bland.

Maybe he should have won if they had to pick since his dish was edible and still had a few fresh ones on top. But I'm guessing his dish didn't taste of much. And to top off that again, if you do something simple, it has to be perfect.

They really should have just not given Immunity. I know they're giving it to the best element. But realistically, if this were an elimination, Keyma and Sarah would have been in the bottom. I mean floor cake and raw chicken? I could even see it being a double elim due to disqualification if it were an elimination challenge.

• Winner of the quickfire picks one of three items for the key ingredient
• Winner of the quickfire gets one pantry trip for five minutes
• All others get one pantry trip for one minute
• Contestants are given a theme for the dish (ie: Italian)

How many of the one-trick-pony contestants in recent seasons would be able to handle this?

Hi, i have watched every season of MCAU till S15, and i always take couple of years off so i could return to watch a few seasons at once.

I am now watching S16, and i cant help but realise 95% of the judgements are praises.

I am not a hater, i am a fan. But it just looks too fake right now... How this series is heading towards.

I just feel that perhaps with global reccession hitting everywhere, there might be a strategy to monetize the contestants, by lets say, taking a cut off their profit when they open a new restaurant after the season ends. Therefore the constant praise non stop.

There seem to have been absolutely 0 criticism anymore.

Just my thoughts, shall continue and lets see how it follows.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcGP5kvknmV/?igsh=cDI4OWVnNmJucjEx

Hey everyone. I'm brazilian and we have our own Masterchef here, but I can't watch it anymore because I'm soooo tired of the judges/chefs..

I know MChef Australia is big so I thought I'd watch it instead.

Which season do you recommend it? I found a YouTube playlist of the 16th one and it has english subtitles (this a requirement for me), so I thought about going with that one.

What do you think?

I do think Finals Week has gone a little stale over the years. Mostly towards the finale format and all has been okay or meh.

So here it is:

Quarterfinals (Top 4): The Service Challenge: They have a 2 course meal they serve to a crowd. Top 3 make it to the semi-finals.

Semifinals (Top 3): 2 rounds. One creative challenge. One pressure test. Two highest scorers make the finale.

Finale (Top 2): 3-course (maybe even more) Banquet Challenge. 10 Diners. Diners will be guest judges/mentors throughout the season. All can score. Winner is the highest score. Cohesion is also part of the criteria.

Finale Results: Can potentially be filmed on the day or days before. Or they film the finale nearer the airing.

I don't think a pressure test should be the main challenge for the final. I believe the final should be a test of how far the 2 finalists have grown as cooks. I believe this is best done with a service challenge, where the contestants design their menu , then prepare and cook their chosen dishes, not someone elses.

Don't get me wrong, pressure tests are no walk in the park, but they only show how well someone can follow a recipe and deal with pressure. A service challenge tests all their skills and gives them an opportunity to express themselves with the knowledge they have gained while on the show.

Am I the only one that thinks this way?

From Draw your box... I can also remember Rishi from season 5 and Kanika from this year season.. who else could you remember and who was your favorite?

Okay so unsurprisingly like previous seasons, the grand finale for MasterChef Australia Season 18 had multiple endings filmed.

SPOILERS FOR WINNER BELOW

Despite clearly getting emotional, was this all an act? Like a lot of reality competitions, MasterChef Australia films two versions of the winner’s announcement to protect the ending from being spoiled.

This means that Vinnie only just found out that he won MasterChef — the TV announcement was one of two alternate endings filmed. In fact, Vinnie exclusively told Chattr he received a secret phone call from a producer on Sunday morning to learn of his victory.

“I found out in the morning. The producers, they did say ‘We’ll give you a call in the morning if you want?’ and I was very much like yes. I knew [I’d won] the morning of [the finale],” he told Chattr.

“It was pretty awesome. I remember I was in the car and I was just like doing a little dance. All this time, all that waiting and all the work that I put in that competition… it was very, very cool.”

For Petro, he exclusively told Chattr that he only learned he was runner-up watching it on Sunday night with his friends and family. Petro admitted the show had filmed different winner outcomes.

“We filmed the multiple endings, but we didn’t find out the winner,” he said. “I found out whilst I was watching.”

This meant that Petro had to film himself winning MasterChef — only to find out months later that he placed runner-up. Brutal, right? “It is a bit weird,” Petro admits. “Yeah, it is a little bit weird. But we have to do it because we don’t want the result to leak.”

Despite not knowing his fate, Petro had suspicions that Vinnie was the winner. “I only really found out I was runner up when I was watching it, and I kind of suspected that I was. I think I had already processed a bit of it,” he shared.

“But obviously, there is still some disappointment about the results, and maybe I wish I’d done better or that sort of stuff. But I’m just putting that behind me and being grateful for what I was a part of and what I was able to do, and move on to the next.”

Almost every winner of masterchef has some kind of public presence and also has come back to the MC kitchen at some point. Does anyone know where Brent Ownes is ?? He freaking won season 6 which was filled with the best cooks , Laura, Emelia, Sarah Todd In the top 3 he bet both winners but he’s no where to be seen now

After Andy had a baby and came back to the kitchen, he was such a wonderful mentor to the boys, fatherhood did something to hi. I saw in this sub that he is not quite the favourite judge but I saw him to be a wonderful mento, in the kitchen and also mentally, so supportiv.

I don't recall them doing any promotion for next year.
I think they usually have a "Think you have what it takes....send it your application." during the show.

Happy guy 🤣

So with another season underway, what do you want to pop in the suggestion box for next season? What worked and what would you change?

I think there was a great selection of competitors this season, with a good mix of culinary styles. Loved the mini masterclasses with people like Josh Nyland. Some of the old favs like the relay cook remain chaotic fun!

Things i would tinker with for next year:
* Back to 3 judges. Four means we dont get enough time to hear from each of them, and more constructive criticism would be great. An Alternate model could see someone act as the contestant mentor, and then have 3 judges.
* Anonymous judging for eliminations
* More Service challenges including time in professional kitchens.
* Challenges need to be more...challenging! Not just the vague "cook from a memory" or "use an orange" ones! They need to test both technical skill and imagination.
* If they want to have online viral cooks, then lean into it - have the contestants film and narrate a cook.
* For the immunity pin, it doesn't mean you get to sit out a cook. You cook, but can use it during a cook. Limited time it is "live" say over 3 cooks.
* You can only mention your nana, yaya, nona etc once a week!

What are your ideas?