The first week sounds boring. I am so not into these “audition” episodes for the top 24. They are a waste of time. They need to jump straight into it.
Last time the show skipped the auditions was season 5 in 2013, and ratings suffered because many viewers complained they had little time to know about the background of the contestants.
The producers are giving the format a shake-up hey?
Pity they haven’t shaken it up by brining in a permanent female judge. The show is a boys club.
The Masterchef judges actually give proper constructive critiques. MKR is a lot of fluff.
That has nothing to do with why the ratings suffered in 2013. The ratings suffered for a number of factors including MKR hitting it’s peak and they had Masterchef: The Professionals prior so it was overkill. I’m a big Masterchef fan but these audition style episodes don’t excite me at all.
Stop and smell the herbs. MasterChef Australia is back!
To celebrate the launch of the 11th season of MasterChef Australia, Network 10 has launched two activations taking the MasterChef experience to the streets.
A MasterChef coil-shaped herb garden is on display today at Southern Cross train station in Melbourne where commuters can also take home packets of herbs such as basil, chives, parsley and coriander. The activation was developed in partnership with Urban.
In Sydney, pop-up MasterChef herb carts will feature at Martin Place and Town Hall stations, giving Sydney commuters a chance to take home herb seeds to start their own garden.
Network 10’s head of marketing Brad Garbutt said: “The return of MasterChef Australia signals the return to winter home cooking. Over its 10 seasons, the iconic MasterChef herb garden, shaped in the MasterChef coil, has provided inspiration for the over 250 MasterChef contestants who have walked through the MasterChef kitchen doors. With our herb garden activation, we’re hoping to inspire commuters to cook their own extraordinary dishes at home.”
10 has also partnered with AdFlow to create three delectable taxi wraps across 10 Rydo taxis in Sydney and Melbourne. Until the end of the 2019 MasterChef Australia season, travellers will be able to ride in either a Matt Preston Sprinkle drip cake, a Gary Mehigan Choc-Heaven cake or a George Colombaris Lemon Drizzle.
Mr Garbutt continued: “Imagine driving around and seeing a taxi wrapped in your favourite desert next to the face of a MasterChef Australia judge. It’d catch your eye right? That’s exactly what we we’re hoping for. This activation aims to make people smile as they’re travelling around their city - giving them a feeling similar to that warm fuzzy feeling they’d get while watching the show.”
Both activations are part of a broader national campaign developed by Spark Foundry. The campaign also includes large and small format out-of-home, radio, digital, social, TV and print.
The three judges are in Perth and appeared on The Project this evening to talk about the new season. That also means the show is filming in WA this week, marking its return to the state since season 5.
Gary appeared on Mix 94.5 breakfast this morning to talk about WA Week and also the new season.
MasterChef deal has key ingredients to tempt tourists to WA
State Government, through Tourism WA, to partner with MasterChef Australia
A week of episodes to be filmed at locations throughout WA
Western Australia will star in a week of episodes filmed for top-rating television show MasterChef Australia, in a deal struck by the State Government through Tourism Western Australia.
The popular cooking competition will feature key locations throughout WA, including Optus Stadium, Perth, the Swan Valley, Margaret River and Rottnest Island.
The WA episodes will be broadcast on Network 10 and the WIN Network to MasterChef’s huge Australian fan base, and in WA’s key international markets. MasterChef episodes featuring Western Australia are scheduled to air in July.
Tourism WA will also have the opportunity to promote the State as a desirable holiday destination in advertising content during the prime time, high rating program.
The advertising will feature travel offers developed with trade partners, encouraging holiday-makers to head to WA for their own culinary adventure like the MasterChef contestants.
The partnership with MasterChef will also promote WA’s unique food, drink and destinations, ahead of the new Western Australia Gourmet Escape in November.
Comments attributed to Tourism Minister Paul Papalia:
"MasterChef has been one of the top rating TV shows in Australia for the past decade and we are really excited to be welcoming the show to Western Australia for part of the 2019 season.
"The MasterChef WA week will be an incredibly valuable platform to promote Western Australia’s fresh local produce and dining experiences to viewers worldwide.
"Importantly, MasterChef Australia is one of the most popular overseas shows in India - another key tourism target market for WA.
"India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world and the McGowan Government is very focused on attracting an airline to fly direct from India to Perth.
“Raising awareness of WA in India will grow visitor numbers and assist the case for a direct flight.”
After 10 seasons, the producers have introduced new graphics for the show.
Matt Sinclair, Poh Ling Yeow and Billie McKay would be mentors during immunity challenge only, and the contestants wouldn’t know whom the mentor would be until he or she walked through the door.
Re @turdall’s comments about the lack of advertising for the show, just today at work I heard plenty of ads on the radio, driving around Brisbane during the day I saw 3 different digital dynamic billboards (which look amazing btw) along with various bus stop posters. I also accidentally opened the yahoo site from safari on my phone and was served the below ad promoting the show - without having searched or commented on anything relating to the show.
Whilst the premiere ep was well down on last year, 10 are coming off a much lower base this year after a rough few months so I believe this has a contributing factor to the lower ratings and I simply don’t buy the argument that they’re not advertising enough based on this and the activations they did in Syd/Melb and comments from other members about advertising they’ve seen.
Actually I saw a lot more ads around the city today as well. They certainly weren’t there last week which is my point. Great they have picked it up now but it could be because the show launched to much lower figures.
The activities they did in Melbourne was at Southern Cross station on a Sunday. Have you been to SOuthern Cross Station on a weekday when football isn’t on? Its dead. Should have done it on the Saturday or even during the week.
Interestingly this is correct throughout the whole year but the week before Masterchef last year saw lower figures at 7:30 and 8:30 than this year. So really 10 have had a larger audience this year in the lead up to Masterchef.
I just think its all excuses for 10 right now. I was new to Melbourne last year and I remember how prolific the promotion was for Masterchef. It is something I am always looking out for. The promotion was at my gym, billboards, radio etc. This year I have had to search for promotion for the show.
Here are the top 24 contestants of season 11:
State by state breakdown of top 24
NSW - 5
QLD - 3
SA - 3
VIC - 10
WA - 3
Last season NSW had 10 contestants.
Once again like most years there are significantly more female contestants.
We know what the judges think with… And it isn’t their stomachs.
Yeah it does - 15 females & 9 males this year.
I agree 100% Never watch the audition episodes
Nigella Week was filmed at the start of January this year before Nigella began her national speaking tour. That means only two competition weeks were filmed during December before the contestants had their Christmas break.
this season’s top 24 contestants is again a mixture of different ethnic backgrounds that represents the multi-cultural population of Australia .Its been like this ever since Season 1.Too early to pick a winner yet ,though.
Tonight was the first time so many contestants (22) faced elimination.
It was also revealed this season’s winner would receive a top-of-the-range Holden Equinox SUV (which I believe is the LTZ model).