Celebrity MasterChef Australia
Encyclopedia
Celebrity MasterChef Australia is an Australia
n competitive cooking
game show
. It is spin-off
of MasterChef Australia
, itself an adaptation of the British
show MasterChef, and features celebrity
contestants. It began production in early September 2009, and premiered on Network Ten
on 30 September 2009.
Matt Preston
, George Calombaris
and Gary Mehigan
returned as judges for the show; however Sarah Wilson
did not reprise her role as host from the first season of MasterChef Australia. Instead Calombaris and Mehigan will also serve in a general hosting capacity.
Olympic swimmer Eamon Sullivan
won the series, taking home $50,000 for charity Swim Survive Stay Alive.
In February 2010, executive producer Mark Fennessy stated that he doubted the spin-off will return for a second season.
Celebrities are split into groups of three as they compete in a heat round featuring two challenges, with one celebrity making their way from each heat into the semi-finals. The heats consist of an Invention Test, in which they prepare a dish of their own concoction, and a Pressure Test, in which they must complete a dish from a professional chef. Due to the difficulty of these dishes contestants are given a single "lifeline" in which the chef is able to aid them for 90 seconds.
The six remaining celebrities will then face further challenges in order to secure their place in the final.
. However, several contestants were revealed before Ten's official announcement of their participation.
The contestants include:
Ten initially announced that actor Steve Bisley
would also be a participant, but he later withdrew from the show. Ten cited a scheduling conflict for his departure, though the ABC
have claimed that Network Ten are using it as an excuse as the announcement of his participation on the show was on the same day the actor was charged with assaulting his ex-wife Sally Burleigh during an argument between the former couple. Rachael Finch previously auditioned for the first series of MasterChef Australia, but did not make past the initial rounds.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n competitive cooking
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
. It is spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of MasterChef Australia
Masterchef Australia
MasterChef Australia is a Logie award winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as...
, itself an adaptation of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
show MasterChef, and features celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
contestants. It began production in early September 2009, and premiered on Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
on 30 September 2009.
Matt Preston
Matt Preston
Matt Preston is a British-Australian food journalist and restaurant critic. He is best known for his role as a judge on Network Ten's MasterChef Australia and his weekly food column in the Herald Sun 'Taste' supplement...
, George Calombaris
George Calombaris
George Calombaris is an Australian chef and a judge of the Network Ten series MasterChef Australia. Prior to his role on MasterChef, Calombaris regularly appeared on the daytime Ten cooking show Ready Steady Cook. He owns three restaurants in Melbourne and one in Mykonos, Greece...
and Gary Mehigan
Gary Mehigan
Gary Mehigan is an English chef, restaurateur and a judge of the Network Ten series MasterChef Australia.Mehigan also co-hosts two shows on Australia's Lifestyle Food Channel, Good Chef, Bad Chef, and Boy's Weekend and will be appearing at the 2011 Good Food & Wine Show.Mehigan trained at The...
returned as judges for the show; however Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson (journalist)
Sarah Wilson is an Australian journalist and television presenter most notable for presenting the first season of the competitive cooking show MasterChef Australia....
did not reprise her role as host from the first season of MasterChef Australia. Instead Calombaris and Mehigan will also serve in a general hosting capacity.
Olympic swimmer Eamon Sullivan
Eamon Sullivan
Eamon Wade Sullivan is an Australian sprint swimmer.-Career :In April 2002 at the Australian Age Championships, Sullivan won the 50 m freestyle and came second in 100 m in his age group, and swam for Australia at Trans Tasman series with no dramatic result.In April 2003 at Brisbane in the Fisher &...
won the series, taking home $50,000 for charity Swim Survive Stay Alive.
In February 2010, executive producer Mark Fennessy stated that he doubted the spin-off will return for a second season.
Format
In contrast to its parent show, the celebrity version is based around a heats and semi-finals format similar to MasterChef Goes Large, and is aired only once a week in an hourly format.Celebrities are split into groups of three as they compete in a heat round featuring two challenges, with one celebrity making their way from each heat into the semi-finals. The heats consist of an Invention Test, in which they prepare a dish of their own concoction, and a Pressure Test, in which they must complete a dish from a professional chef. Due to the difficulty of these dishes contestants are given a single "lifeline" in which the chef is able to aid them for 90 seconds.
The six remaining celebrities will then face further challenges in order to secure their place in the final.
Contestants
Celebrity MasterChef Australia features 18 celebrities as contestants. Network Ten officially revealed the first batch of contestants on the 3 September 2009 episode of The 7PM ProjectThe 7PM Project
The Project is an Australian talk show television program airing weeknights across Australia on Network Ten. The formerly half hour long show premiered on 20 July 2009, and is hosted by Charlie Pickering, Carrie Bickmore and Dave Hughes, with a rotating daily guest panelist...
. However, several contestants were revealed before Ten's official announcement of their participation.
The contestants include:
| Contestant | Occupation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Eamon Sullivan Eamon Sullivan Eamon Wade Sullivan is an Australian sprint swimmer.-Career :In April 2002 at the Australian Age Championships, Sullivan won the 50 m freestyle and came second in 100 m in his age group, and swam for Australia at Trans Tasman series with no dramatic result.In April 2003 at Brisbane in the Fisher &... |
Olympic Swimmer | WINNER |
| Kirk Pengilly Kirk Pengilly Kirk Pengilly is an Australian musician, best known as a member of the rock group :INXS.-Early career:... |
Musician (INXS INXS INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax... ) |
2nd Place |
| Rachael Finch Rachael Finch Rachael Finch is an Australian beauty pageant titleholder. She finished as the 3rd runner-up in Miss Universe 2009 pageant.-Biography:Finch was crowned Miss Universe Australia on 22 April 2009 and subsequently represented Australia at the Miss Universe 2009 pageant held in the Bahamas on 23 August... |
2009 Miss Universe Australia Miss Universe Australia Miss Universe Australia is an annual national beauty pageant that has selected Australia's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 2004.-Titleholders:-Preliminary divisions:... |
3rd Place |
| Alex Lloyd Alex Lloyd Alex Lloyd is an Australian singer-songwriter. His most popular album Watching Angels Mend, which includes the songs "Amazing" and "Green", was released in 2001 went double platinum. His third album Distant Light released in 2003 featured three songs that made the Australian top 40 singles charts... |
Singer-songwriter | Eliminated Semi Final 3 |
| Michelle Bridges Michelle Bridges Michelle Bridges is a personal trainer on the Australian version of The Biggest Loser. She made her first appearance in 2007, on the second season of The Biggest Loser and trained the red team alongside Jillian Michaels. When Jillian left half way through the series, Michelle officially took over... |
Personal Trainer (The Biggest Loser) | Eliminated Semi Final 2 |
| Simon Katich Simon Katich Simon Matthew Katich is an Australian cricketer. He is the captain of the New South Wales Blues, and also captained, up until the end of the 2007 season, Derbyshire County Cricket Club... |
Cricketer | Eliminated Semi Final 1 |
| Faustina "Fuzzy" Agolley Faustina Agolley Faustina "Fuzzy" Agolley is an Australian television presenter who hosted the long-running music television show Video Hits until it was canceled in 2011... |
Television presenter (Video Hits Video Hits (Australian TV series) Video Hits was an Australian music video program that first aired on 15 February 1987. From 7 May 2011 it broadcasted on Network Ten for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning: 10am – 12pm on Saturdays and 8am – 10am on Sundays. Video Hits was the world's second longest running music show... ) |
Eliminated Heat 6 |
| Peter Rowsthorn | Actor | Eliminated Heat 6 |
| George Negus George Negus George Edward Negus is an Australian author, journalist, and television presenter. He previously presented 6:30 with George Negus on Network Ten, until it was axed by the Network on 19 October 2011.-Education:... |
Journalist | Eliminated Heat 5 |
| Ryan O'Keefe Ryan O'Keefe Ryan O'Keefe is an Australian Football League player with the Sydney Swans, and part of the Swans' 2005 premiership-winning side.... |
AFL Australian Football League The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football... player (Sydney Swans Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney... ) |
Eliminated Heat 5 |
| Wendy Harmer Wendy Harmer Wendy Harmer is an Australian author, writer, radio show host, and comedienne.-Early life and career:... |
Comedian and radio host | Eliminated Heat 4 |
| Alex Perry Alex Perry Alex Perry is an Australian fashion designer, particularly noted for his designs in womenswear. After graduating from East Sydney Technical College in 1984, Perry worked as a model agent representing Australian models for international modelling agencies. In 1992 Perry opened his first atelier... |
Fashion Designer | Eliminated Heat 4 |
| Anna Bligh Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia... |
37th and current Premier of Queensland | Eliminated Heat 3 |
| Simon Westaway Simon Westaway Simon Westaway is an Australian actor who has appeared in many television series, films and theatre productions. He is most remembered as portraying Domenic "Mick" Gatto in the crime series Underbelly. He currently hosts Channel Seven's Surf Patrol. He has three children: Jackson, Bella and Ruben... |
Actor | Eliminated Heat 3 |
| Peter FitzSimons Peter FitzSimons Peter John FitzSimons AM is an Australian journalist and author, based in Sydney. He is a former radio presenter and national representative rugby union player.-Early life:... |
Former Wallabies Australia national rugby union team The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the... Rugby Union Player |
Eliminated Heat 2 |
| Kathleen de Leon Jones Kathleen de Leon Jones Kathleen de Leon Jones is an Australian actress, dancer, and singer of Filipino descent. She was an original cast member of the ARIA Award winning Australian children's television program, Hi-5.-Personal life:Born in Manila in 1977, Kathleen moved to Australia with her family in 1978... |
Singer and Dancer (formerly of Hi-5 Hi-5 (Australian TV series) Hi-5, an Australian children's television program, was first shown on the Nine Network in 1999. Hi-5's new Australian cast was announced in Australian talk show Morning with Kerrie-Anne, in February 2009. Hi-5 is now shown in 83 countries. Hi-5 is known as a children's pop music group as well as... ) |
Eliminated Heat 2 |
| Indira Naidoo Indira Naidoo Indira Naidoo is an Australian author, journalist and television presenter.-Education:Naidoo was educated in England, Zimbabwe and Australia, where she attended Launceston Church Grammar School in Tasmania before matriculating as School Dux from Naracoorte High School in South... |
Journalist and activist | Eliminated Heat 1 |
| Josh Thomas Josh Thomas (comedian) Joshua Michael "Josh" Thomas is an Australian comedian. In 2005, at the age of 17, he became the youngest ever winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Raw Comedy Competition... |
Comedian | Eliminated Heat 1 |
Ten initially announced that actor Steve Bisley
Steve Bisley
Steve Bisley is an Australian film and television actor, who attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art .-Acting career:...
would also be a participant, but he later withdrew from the show. Ten cited a scheduling conflict for his departure, though the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
have claimed that Network Ten are using it as an excuse as the announcement of his participation on the show was on the same day the actor was charged with assaulting his ex-wife Sally Burleigh during an argument between the former couple. Rachael Finch previously auditioned for the first series of MasterChef Australia, but did not make past the initial rounds.
Special guests
- Matt MoranMatt MoranMatthew Moran,commonly known as Matt Moran, is an Australian chef also known for being a guest on various TV cooking shows.- Early childhood and education :...
- Heat 1 Pressure Test - Brent Savage - Heat 2 Pressure Test
- Kylie KwongKylie KwongKylie Kwong , is a prominent Australian television chef, author, television presenter and restaurateur.-Early life and education:...
- Heat 3 Pressure Test - Stephanie AlexanderStephanie AlexanderStephanie Alexander is an Australian cook, restaurateur and food writer.After studying to become a librarian and traveling the world at the age of 21, Alexander's first restaurant, Jamaican House, opened in 1964. In 1976, Alexander's next venture was Stephanie's Restaurant located in the Melbourne...
- Heat 4 Pressure Test - Tony Bilson - Heat 5 Pressure Test
- Katrina Kanetani - Heat 6 Pressure Test
- Steven Krasicki - Semi Final 2
- Adriano Zumbo - Semi Final 3
- Andrew McConnell - Grand Final
Episodes
| Ep# | Original airdate | Episode Title / Event | Total viewers | Nightly Ranking | Weekly Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heats | |||||
| 1 | Wednesday 30 September 2009 | Heat 1 - Indira Naidoo, Kirk Pengilly and Josh Thomas. Pengilly moved on to the semi-finals. | 1.363 million | #2 | #12 |
| 2 | Wednesday 7 October 2009 | Heat 2 - Michelle Bridges, Kathleen de Leon and Peter FitzSimons. Bridges moved on to the semi-finals. | 1.090 million | #10 | #31 |
| 3 | Wednesday 14 October 2009 | Heat 3 - Eamon Sullivan, Anna Bligh and Simon Westaway. Sullivan moved on to the semi-finals. | 1.187 million | #7 | #20 |
| 4 | Wednesday 21 October 2009 | Heat 4 - Alex Perry, Wendy Harmer and Simon Katich. Katich moved on to the semi-finals. | 1.279 million | #3 | #13 |
| 5 | Wednesday 28 October 2009 | Heat 5 - Rachael Finch, George Negus and Ryan O'Keefe. Finch moved on to the semi-finals. | 1.150 million | #8 | #26 |
| 6 | Wednesday 4 November 2009 | Heat 6 - Fuzzy Agolley, Alex Lloyd and Peter Rowsthorn. Lloyd moved on to semi-finals. | 1.224 million | #6 | #21 |
| Finals | |||||
| 7 | Wednesday 11 November 2009 | Semi Final 1 - The first semi-final consisted of the six semi-finalists competing in an individual Mystery Box challenge, and a Christmas lunch-themed Invention Test where they competed in pairs, with one member of the worst performing pair to be eliminated. Paired with Alex Lloyd, Simon Katich was the contestant eliminated. | 1.124 million | #6 | #23 |
| 8 | Wednesday 18 November 2009 | Semi Final 2 - The five remaining contestants were required to staff the kitchen at Altitude Restaurant in Sydney. Contestants were allocated a course, and following service they must present the dish they have prepared for service to the judges for tasting, with the contestant with the worst dish to be eliminated. Michelle Bridges was the contestant eliminated. | 1.076 million | #8 | #29 |
| 9 | Tuesday 24 November 2009 | Semi Final 3 - The four remaining contestants competed in a Pressure Test involving recreating a croquembouche Croquembouche A croquembouche or croque-en-bouche is a French pastry, a pièce montée that is often served at weddings, baptisms, and first communions. It is a high cone of choux filled with pastry cream that can be dipped in chocolate bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared... , with the contestant with the least accomplished dessert to be eliminated. Alex Lloyd was the contestant eliminated. |
1.083 million | #7 | #27 |
| 10 | Wednesday 25 November 2009 | Final - The final involved three rounds, a Taste Test, a dessert-only Invention Test and a Pressure Test, with points being won as the contestants progressed. Based on accumulated points, Rachael Finch and Kirk Pengilly came third and second respectively, with Eamon Sullivan declared the winner of Celebrity MasterChef Australia. | 1.297 million | #1 | #9 |