Did we really expect it to be good?
Despite scandals galore, MasterChef season 21 shall go to the ball, if by ‘ball’ we mean an unedifying quiet launch on BBC iPlayer followed by an equally low-key airing at 8pm on BBC One tonight.
There’s a reason for that. This season comes hot on the heels of multiple scandals. In July, Gregg Wallace was sacked after more than 45 complaints about his behaviour were upheld following a BBC investigation. John Torode followed suit shortly after, when allegations surfaced that he used a racial slur during work drinks – something he claims to have no recollection of.
Now, with Wallace seemingly refusing to leave the airwaves in defence of his own actions – only to dig himself deeper – the BBC seems to be hoping that the whole thing will quietly blow over. May I take this opportunity to tell them that it probably won’t. Even one of the contestants has been edited out, after calling for the show not to be aired in the first place; how much of it is even left?
Watching the first episode therefore left a slightly sour taste in the mouth. Despite promises from the BBC that the show has been edited to ‘focus on the contestants’ rather than its disgraced presenters, it’s of course impossible to cut them out entirely.
After all, they’re the judges, to whom the contestants nervously present their dishes, approximately once every five minutes.
And so, we’re treated to the unedifying spectacle of watching Wallace and Torode waltzing around the screen like nothing’s wrong – which, of course, nothing was (for them) at the time this was shot.
Thanks to some truly savage editing, the presenters are off-screen more than they would be otherwise. We still see a lot of them though – Torode more so than Wallace, a decision which was presumably made in the editing room. No jokes here – the production team presumably being terrified that anything either of them says would be taken the wrong way. The result is stiff and po-faced in the extreme, though it does save us from the grim comments Wallace doubtless tried to make about chicken thighs. “I could dip bread in this all day,” he says at one point, gesturing to one of the contestants’ sauces. Eugh.
At least the contestants are lovable enough – to add an extra level of piquancy, most of them are visibly excited to be there. There’s New Zealander Penelope who lives in a cottage in Dorset, the nervous Thea, and wannabe foodfluencer Gemma.
“I can’t believe I’m sat in [an apron] right now,” their fellow competitor Gon squeals at one point after making it through to the next round. “I’d be lying to you if I told you I didn’t want more.” I bet they’re all feeling less excited about it now.
The rest of it – well, it’s MasterChef. The contestants sweat in the kitchen as they struggle to elevate basic ingredients to ‘brilliant’. Torode and Wallace say meaningless things like, “this is the sort of stuff that dreams are made of.” Four of them get given a coveted ‘apron’ and advance to the next stage of the competition.
But simply watching makes you feel complicit. Why are these men still on our TV screens? Airing the episodes despite the furore that has gone on over the last few months doesn’t exactly scream concern for the people who have spoken out about their behaviour.
There are reports that audiences are refusing to watch. Good for them.
MasterChef episodes 1-3 are now on iPlayer; episode 1 will stream at 8pm on BBC One
