Friday, March 11, 2011

Junior MasterChef Australia

One of my favorite TV shows now is Junior MasterChef Australia. I find cooking shows interesting to watch because (1) I love food haha and (2) it's amazing to see people's creativity and what they can come up with in a kitchen and under time pressure. So when you see kids ages 8 to 12 put together dishes that look like they can be served in a top-level restaurant.

The cool thing about this show as well is that the judges are very positive in their critiques without being patronizing to the kids. It would be so easy to overpraise the contestants because they are so young, and obviously you do get to hear a lot of compliments given out for fantastic dishes. And obviously, the contestants are still in their pre-teens so it doesn't make sense for the judges to give out scathing critiques. Instead, you get to hear the judges provide very constructive feedback to help the kids improve, like "if you had a bit more time and kept the pastry in the over a bit longer, it would've been perfect." The show really does maintain a very positive atmosphere and it focuses on the actual talents and output of the contestants. I wish more reality TV contests would take their cue from Junior MasterChef.

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