Genre CookingGame show Country of origin Australia First episode date 30 September 2009 Number of episodes 10 | Opening theme Hot n Cold Original language(s) English Final episode date 25 November 2009 Number of seasons 1 | |
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Similar MasterChef Australia, Junior MasterChef Australia, Masterchef (UK), Junior MasterChef, MasterChef | ||
Josh thomas on celebrity masterchef australia 2009
Celebrity MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show. It is spin-off of MasterChef Australia, itself an adaptation of the British show MasterChef, and features celebrity contestants. It began production in early September 2009, and premiered on Network Ten on 30 September 2009.
Contents
Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan returned as judges for the show; however Sarah Wilson did not reprise her role as host from the first season of MasterChef Australia. Instead Calombaris and Mehigan will also serve in a general hosting capacity.
Former world-record holder & Olympic medalist Eamon Sullivan won the series, taking home $50,000 for charity Swim Survive Stay Alive.
In February 2010, executive producer Mark Fennessy stated that he doubted the spin-off will return for a second season.
Format
In contrast to its parent show, the celebrity version is based around a heats and semi-finals format similar to MasterChef Goes Large, and is aired only once a week in an hourly format.
Celebrities are split into groups of three as they compete in a heat round featuring two challenges, with one celebrity making their way from each heat into the semi-finals. The heats consist of an Invention Test, in which they prepare a dish of their own concoction, and a Pressure Test, in which they must complete a dish from a professional chef. Due to the difficulty of these dishes contestants are given a single "lifeline" in which the chef is able to aid them for 90 seconds.
The six remaining celebrities will then face further challenges in order to secure their place in the final.
Contestants
Celebrity MasterChef Australia features 18 celebrities as contestants. Network Ten officially revealed the first batch of contestants on the 3 September 2009 episode of The 7PM Project. However, several contestants were revealed before Ten's official announcement of their participation.
The contestants include:
Ten initially announced that actor Steve Bisley would also be a participant, but he later withdrew from the show. Ten cited a scheduling conflict for his departure, though the ABC have claimed that Network Ten are using it as an excuse as the announcement of his participation on the show was on the same day the actor was charged with assaulting his ex-wife Sally Burleigh during an argument between the former couple. Rachael Finch previously auditioned for the first series of MasterChef Australia, but did not make past the initial rounds.