Can You Cheat Your Way Through 'MasterChef'? Some Believe the Contestants Receive Recipes
Aug. 3 2022, Updated 12:03 p.m. ET
Now in its 12th season, MasterChef continues to draw in more and more viewers thanks to its fast-paced editing, suspenseful scenes, and, of course, a fair bit of roasting by legendary show host and award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay.
The format has changed considerably over the years, but one aspect has stayed the same. Contestants can only proceed if they manage to wow the judges, including Aarón Sánchez and Joe Bastianich. So, do they ever get the recipes in advance?
Season 11 of 'MasterChef' sees a group of home cooks battle for the much-coveted title of 'MasterChef.'
Annai Gonzalez, a self-professed gym-head and passionate foodie, Autumn Moretti, a video-game lover and talented chef, and Suu M. Khin, a proud home cook, are just some of the contestants ready to prove that they have what it takes to win Season 11 of MasterChef. Some contestants have already earned accolades. But what happens to the less skilled contestants? Do they ever get a copy of the recipe they have to cook?
MasterChef garnered popularity among viewers thanks to its adrenaline-drenched challenge scenes. But some skeptical fans have long wondered how realistic of a portrayal the show provides since not everything that takes place in the studio makes it to the edits. Nonetheless, the contestants are highly unlikely to receive a copy of the recipes in advance.
A whistleblower told 'MailOnline' that contestants do get to attend training and cooking classes.
As a 2014 article by MailOnline claims, some MasterChef contestants might have enjoyed the opportunity to perfect the art of whipping up a mean creme patissiere or create the perfect pie crust at cooking classes. The article is based on a blog post by a former contestant, but doesn't reference the post itself, which makes it hard to verify.
"[We took] baking component classes including how to make pastry cream, sponge cake, cobbler, shortbread, and pie crusts, etc. The entire show is not at all how it seems," the MasterChef hopeful reportedly wrote.
Judges have to wait a considerable time before they get to evaluate the dishes, Christina Tosi says.
Christina Tosi once told Lucky Peach that the judges appearing on MasterChef usually taste the food by the time it's already gotten cold.
"Because every dish you see on TV looks, well, beautiful, there is always downtime between 'Time's Up!' and when we taste," Christina Tosi, a former judge on MasterChef, told Lucky Peach. "And we don't taste all of the food at once because you just can't taste twenty dishes at the same time while they're all still hot."
"The second that time's up and we know there will be a lapse, we go directly to each cook's station and inspect each element so that nothing can be lost in the transition," she added. "Keep in mind that we taste the food at each cook's station as they work, so we have a good idea of who's looking good and who is going down in a ball of flames."
Catch new episodes of MasterChef every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.
