MasterChef – More auditions, more hopefuls

Name the vegetable above, win a prize*

Reality shows.

Vilified by many. And equally anticipated by an equal amount of folks I’m sure.

Some of the best reality shows are ones which feature the general public — average, everyday schmoes like him and her — auditioning to see if they can make a name for themselves or get a foot in the door or make some sort of impression or put something out there no one has ever previously seen.

Auditions, naturally, are the nature of the beast when it comes to reality competitions. There are some real gems out there. They are, however, few and far between.

More likely than not, you’re going to get the boring and the bland and the milquetoast during auditions. (That’s where editing comes in, thankfully.) But … you’re also going to get the freaks and the weirdos.

And it’s not any different on the likes of MasterChef. The freaks and the weirdos come out, just the same as anywhere else.

Tonight’s were contestants ranging from a dude in a bandana with a monkey on his shoulder to a bad and insulting ventriloquist and right on over to a self-proclaimed witch. I posed the following in my previous post: “Right out of the gate we get a dish called ‘Frog Leg Egg Foo Yung.’ Want to take a wild stab and guess whether or not the contestant who whipped that up made it through the initial round of the competition?” And now I’m basically going to ask the same thing of Monkey Boy, The Ventriloquist and The Witch: Think they made it to the next round? Do I really need to answer that?

The fun, the kicker, the eye-openers of these reality shows, however, are some of the bold personalities that daringly do their thing with little fanfare. They’re the ones who haven’t a clue, but fearlessly (sometimes foolishly) tread where the more seasoned person would dare not go. Two of these were Mike Hill who proffered a venison dish while proclaiming he hadn’t had a cooking lesson in his life. Another was the bearded Bubba who also had a venison dish (bacon wrapped, flanked by tasty mustard greens and “root-a-baygers”). These two men (who some might call “clueless”) did their things before Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich with confidence and swagger enough to put them through to the next stage of competition. Their dishes weren’t dead on nor were they ones that bowled over the trio but, between the combinations of the *umph* of their personalities, their passions and their cookery, they did the job and are jockeying for position during the next phase.

That’s what’s fun about a show like this. The surprises that raise their heads sometimes make it all worthwhile. And, speaking of surprises, one of the most jaw-dropping (to me, anyway) was the advancement of Frank The Stockbroker whose dish none of the three liked. Nary! A! One! Of! Them! Graham saw passion in his effort. Gordon outright said “No” to him. Joe? Joe threatened him with a MasterChef apron while reprimanding not to make him look like a chump in front of the obviously-disappointed-Joe-let-him-through Ramsay. Imagine that! A dish no one liked, yet the contestant who cooked it up got a chance to show what he can do anyway! Ain’t that a kick in the ass?

Notoriously, reality competition shows are also known to prolong their audition processes with pregnant, overly-long, weeks-on-end trials and tryouts that test the patience of even the staunchest reality viewer. Thankfully, there are but a handful of auditions for MasterChef. The final one debuts and completes next week.

See you there.

* The vegetables above are rutabagas

Quotes:

“I’m prayin’ that he’s not cookin’ that thing …” — Graham commenting on Mike Hill coming in on a horse

“Don’t take things for granted. Don’t get to cocky before things even start … ” — Graham to 1st contestant Felix on her tartare and crispy risotto

“I want that apron like a fat kid wants cake.” — Contestant Craig who didn’t advance

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Jun 06, 2012 @ 00:48 EST5EDT