Genre Cookery Original language(s) English | Country of origin United Kingdom | |
Created by Franc Roddam
Karen Ross
John Silver Presented by Loyd Grossman (1994–1999)
John Torode (2010–)
Donal Skehan (2012–)
Nadia Sawalha (2010) Narrated by India Fisher (2010, 2014)
Sharon Horgan (2012) | ||
Junior MasterChef is a British TV cookery competition, broadcast by the BBC, in which nine- to twelve-year-olds compete to be crowned "Junior MasterChef". It is a spin-off from the main UK series of MasterChef.
Contents
Junior MasterChef first ran from 1994 to 1999, presented by Loyd Grossman. After a long hiatus, it was revived in 2010 in a revamped format, presented by writer and actress Nadia Sawalha, who won the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, and professional chef John Torode, who also presents MasterChef. The revival series was commissioned by CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist and produced by Shine Television, and was broadcast on CBBC and BBC One. A further series was commissioned in 2012 for broadcast on CBBC and again in 2014.
Original series
Based on the MasterChef format, and using the same set, the original Junior MasterChef was for cooks up to the age of 16. It ran from 1994 to 1999 and was presented by Loyd Grossman.
Revival series
Junior MasterChef was briefly revived in 2008 for a Children in Need special. It was won by Billy.
The first new series, for children aged 9 to 12, began on 10 May 2010 as part of the children's programming block on BBC One. India Fisher provided the voiceover as usual, while the judges were John Torode and former Celebrity MasterChef champion Nadia Sawalha. Georgia, who had become 13 yrs old by the time the finals occurred, was the 2010 winner. From the 2012 series, Sawalha was replaced by Irish cook Donal Skehan.
Age limit rules
The online application form for the CBBC series filmed in 2012 clearly shows that applicants had to be between 8 and 13 years old on 6 August of that year. Filming of the early heats would start on that same date.
CBBC version
There were over two thousand applicants for the first series of Junior MasterChef. Out of two thousand, only thirty one chefs were successful and made it through to the heats. From each heat, one chef was chosen for the quarter- final and then from the quarter- final group, two chefs proceeded to the semi-finals. The four chefs in the semi- final were 11-year-old Amber, 12-year-old Georgia, 12-year-old Hajra and 11-year-old George. In the first part of the semi-final, the chefs were asked to cook both the Doctor and his Companion, Amy Pond, from Doctor Who's favourite dishes. The task in the second part of the semi- final was to make food for the British boy band, JLS based on their favourite dishes and also to cook food for three authors: Andy Stanton, Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Charlie Higson.
In the grand finale, the four chefs, who were the same as those from the semi- final, were asked to make their own three course meal for the presenters. They received very good comments from the judges. The eventual winner was 13-year-old Georgia Bradford from Leigh-on-Sea.
The second series, which features cooks aged between eight and 13 years old, consisted of 15 half-hour episodes: eight heats, two quarterfinals, four semi-finals and a final cook-off.
International adaptations
Legend: Still in production No longer airing
In the Taiwanese version, the series is based on the same concept as Junior Masterchef, but there are no mystery box challenges, and there are no eliminations (but there had been cases where a contestant has quit the competition for health reasons). After the first individual challenge, there are a series of team challenges, where team captains cannot enter the pantry, the person who earns the most points (doubled as a winning team captain in team challenges) wins. The eventual winner will receive home appliances instead.