Puneet Varma (Editor)

MasterChef Australia (series 2)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Country of origin
  
Australia

Original network
  
Network Ten

No. of episodes
  
84

Original release
  
19 April (2010-04-19) – 25 July 2010 (2010-07-25)

Series 2 of the Australian cookery game show MasterChef Australia premiered on 19 April 2010 on Network Ten, concluding on 25 July 2010 when Adam Liaw was named the winner.

Contents

The series finale was predicted to be such a ratings success that it forced a national election debate between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to a different time slot due to a fear of low ratings.

The "Winner Announced" was watched by an average national audience of 5.29 million, peaking at 5.74 million. The consolidated 5 city metropolitan audience was 4.03 million (the second highest rating program since the current ratings system began in 2001) and the consolidated regional audience was 1.26 million.

Changes

The second series of MasterChef Australia brought some changes to the format of the show. Most notably, Sarah Wilson, host of Series 1, is not present in the second series, with producers opting instead to use the show's three judges as hosts.

Furthermore, Series 2 began with the 'Top 50' component of the show, as opposed to the auditions phase. This allows for the audience to begin to identify and connect with contestants, and also allows for more time to be spent in the actual competition phase of the show.

Another change to the show is the reward for winning a Celebrity Chef Challenge. In Series 1, the winner would receive a free pass through to the final week of the competition. This was problematic in that it removed the contestant from the show altogether, meaning they didn't keep themselves in the pressured situations that the others had. Instead, in Series 2, a successful contestant will now receive an 'Immunity Pin', which they can use at any time during the competition to save themselves from elimination. Out all the Celebrity Chef Challenges, only Marion managed to win the immunity pin by defeating a Celebrity Chef (Adam also won the immunity pin, but not by defeating a Celebrity Chef).

Also different in Series 2 is the elimination after a team challenge. In Series 1, all the contestants from the losing team had to vote off someone from the competition. This was problematic in that contestants might vote off the best contestants in hopes of improving their chances of winning the show. Instead, in Series 2, the elimination process has changed. A variety of different challenges have been used to determine which member of the losing team is eliminated:

  • Basic Skills Test – contestants perform tasks testing basic skills, such as separating egg yolks and whites, making a pesto sauce or naming herbs. Such challenges may be split into rounds, with a 'best of 3' method used, the judges may choose the worst performer or else a sudden death elimination process is used.
  • "Fix that Dish" – contestants are given a badly prepared dish, and are tasked with fixing it. The judges eliminate the contestant whose dish is least impressive.
  • "Name that Dish" - contestants are given an array of dishes of the same type, for example, cakes, and asked to name them to gain safety, incorrect naming results in elimination or sending to the next round.
  • Taste Test – contestants take turns naming ingredients in a provided dish (such as a bouillabaisse or a curry). The first contestant to either name an ingredient that is not in the dish or to fail to name an ingredient is eliminated.
  • Mystery Box – in a variation of the regular Mystery Box Challenge, team members are tasked with preparing a dish that also fits a criterion (for example, complementing a bottle of wine)

    • Furthermore, the selection of members from the losing team to face elimination has varied. In some weeks, the judges select the worst two performers, in other weeks the entire team must compete in the elimination challenge. In one week, the team members had to nominate three members themselves.

    From Week 4, Donna Hay replaced Gary Mehigan on the judging panel during the Celebrity Chef Challenges. This was done to allow Mehigan to act as a facilitator in the kitchen during the challenge (this was ex-host Sarah Wilson's role in Series 1).

    During the filming of Week 7, Mehigan injured his leg, and consequently was unable to film episodes. During the time in which he was injured, Matt Moran acted as a fill-in judge starting from Celebrity Chef Challenge 6 and continuing until Mehigan returned during Week 8.

    Euro Week

    Airing from 20 June, the remaining eight MasterChef contestants travelled to London for the first stop in "Euro Week". Later in the week they went to Paris, where they competed in what has been called the "ultimate super-challenge". Celebrity Cooks who have appeared include Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal, Martin Blunos and Brett Graham. The Icelandic volcano eruption in 2010 caused filming to be delayed.

    Contestants

    The top 24 contestants were chosen throughout the first week of challenges amongst the top 50. The full group of 24 were revealed on Sunday, 25 April:

    Special guests

  • Donna Hay – Top 50 Pressure Test 1, Celebrity Chef Challenge 3–6, 8, 10 onwards, MasterClass 10
  • Matt Moran – Top 50 Pressure Test 2, MasterClass 1, Celebrity Chef Challenge 6, MasterClass 7, Celebrity Chef Challenge 7, Finale Night
  • Neil Perry – Top 50 Pressure Test 3, Team Challenge 8
  • Luke Nguyen – Celebrity Chef Challenge 1, MasterClass 2
  • Luke Mangan – Team Challenge Reward 1
  • Peter Gilmore – Pressure Test 1, MasterClass 6, Finale Night
  • Philippa Sibley – Celebrity Chef Challenge 2
  • Nathan Darling – Team Challenge Reward 2
  • Shaun Presland – MasterClass 3, Celebrity Chef Challenge 12
  • Justin North – Celebrity Chef Challenge 3, MasterClass 4, MasterClass Reunion
  • Tony Bilson – Team Challenge 3
  • Michel Roux – Team Challenge 3
  • Tetsuya Wakuda – Team Challenge 3
  • Guillaume Brahimi – Team Challenge 3
  • Giovanni Pilu – Team Challenge Reward 3
  • Kumar Mahadevan – MasterClass 4
  • Adam Humphrey – Celebrity Chef Challenge 4
  • Lovaine Allen – Celebrity Chef Challenge 4
  • Aaron Eady – Celebrity Chef Challenge 4
  • Curtis Stone – Team Challenge 4
  • Ty Bellingham – Team Challenge Reward 4
  • Peter Kuruvita – MasterClass 5, MasterClass Reunion
  • Stephanie Alexander – Pressure Test 4
  • Frank Camorra – Celebrity Chef Challenge 5
  • Glenn Thompson – Team Challenge Reward 5
  • Rick Stein – Pressure Test 5
  • Maggie Beer – Celebrity Chef Challenge 6, Finals Week Elimination 3
  • Mark Jensen – Team Challenge Reward 6
  • Fergus Henderson – Masterclass 7
  • Damien Pignolet – Pressure Test 6
  • Ian Curley – Celebrity Chef Challenge 7
  • Kylie Kwong – Celebrity Chef Challenge 7, Masterclass 8, Signature Dish Challenge
  • Brent Savage – Team Challenge 7
  • Ryan Squires – Team Challenge 7
  • David Chang – Team Challenge Reward 7
  • Darren Purchese – Masterclass 8
  • Will Studd – Masterclass 8
  • Julie Goodwin – Invention Test 8, Masterclass 9
  • Josh Emett – Celebrity Chef Challenge 8
  • Warren Turnbull – Team Challenge Reward 8
  • Michael Klausen – Masterclass 9
  • Cherish Finden – Invention Test 9
  • Jamie Oliver – Invention Test Reward 1
  • Heston Blumenthal – Pressure Test 8
  • John Torode – Celebrity Chef Challenge 9
  • Gregg Wallace – Celebrity Chef Challenge 9
  • Martin Blunos – Celebrity Chef Challenge 9
  • Franck Poupard – Super Challenge
  • Shane Osbourne – Super Challenge Reward
  • Brett Graham – Elimination Challenge 9
  • Mitchell Orr – Celebrity Chef Challenge 10
  • Jan ter Heerdt – Masterclass 11
  • Margaret Fulton – Invention Test 10
  • Adriano Zumbo – Pressure Test 9, Finals Week Elimination 1
  • Adam Melonas – Celebrity Chef Challenge 11
  • Sean Moran – Team Challenge Reward 9
  • Lauren Murdoch – Masterclass 12
  • Christine Manfield – Pressure Test 10, Masterclass 13
  • Alla Wolf-Tasker – Signature Dish Challenge
  • Mark Best – Signature Dish Challenge
  • Jacques Reymond – Signature Dish Challenge
  • Hiroyuki Sakai – Invention Test 12
  • Shannon Bennett – Finals Week Elimination 2

    • Many of the guest chefs returned for the announcement of the winner.

    References

    MasterChef Australia (series 2) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA