Whether it's from the contestants themselves, the judges, or perhaps an ingredient or dish
itself, MasterChef has had its handful of scandals around the world — some of which
shook the series to its very core.
In 2013, MasterChef judges and producers were accused of harassment of various types by
former contestants.
Many of these accusations came from a blog post by former contestant Marie Porter, where
she describes how friends she met on the show were allegedly physically harassed by judges
and producers.
She claimed such actions cause contestants to become depressed and suicidal, and said
one contestant was harassed so much that she asked to be edited out of the show completely.
While some contestants such as Ben Starr refused to get involved, there was widespread media
attention in regards to Porter's claims.
The production company behind MasterChef, Shine America, released a statement refuting
all claims of harassment.
The statement read:
"Contestants on MasterChef are treated with the utmost respect and professionalism and
we care tremendously about their well being.
The recent comments posted about the treatment of contestants are completely without merit."
While NDAs prevent contestants from saying much more than they already have, like whether
or not settlements were made, we may never know what actually went down behind the scenes.
Imagine messing up so bad that you get your coworkers of 11 years fired alongside you.
Well, that was the reality for restaurateur and MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris.
What did he do?
Oh, just underpaying employees of his restaurant company in the amount of $7.8 million AUS,
or nearly $5.4 million USD.
When the news broke in July 2019, viewers were immediately petitioned for Calombaris'
removal from the show, yielding over 25,000 signatures.
Network Ten, which airs MasterChef Australia, soon announced they were letting all three
judges go and while it didn't outright name the scandal, they didn't deny it either.
Citing commercial reasons, Network Ten said it had been unable to agree on a new contract
deal with Calombaris and his co-judges Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan.
The announcement was made just one week after Calombaris was fined and the scandal exploded,
so we can see the correlation.
Calombaris did eventually come out and say there was no excuse for the underpayment,
citing issues with classification of workers, plus him not being on top of things.
Considering he had first been informed in 2015, some say he took too long to address
the problem.
No matter what kind of chef you are, chances are good the MasterChef kitchen will cook
up something you've never had to deal with before.
This was painfully true for Sheetal Bhagat.
A devout and practicing Hindu, Bhagat had the misfortune of being on a 2010 episode
of MasterChef that involved killing a live crab.
In Hindu, it's believed that every living thing has a soul, so killing it was something
she felt she couldn't do.
"I'm a Hindu, I was raised Hindu and we don't believe in taking the life of an animal."
Host Gordon Ramsay offered to kill the crab for Bhagat, but ultimately the chef decided
she needed to do it.
It did earn her a top three dish and judge Joe Bastianich, proclaimed that the crab was
probably happy to have given up its life for her dish.
However, many felt this wasn't something Bhagat should have been tasked with, while others
chastised her for not sticking to her morals and beliefs.
If you know anything about reality television, it may not come as a surprise that reality
shows are fake or at least heavily scripted.
When it comes to cooking shows, it's relatively common, as producers don't actually want contestants
to be scrambling around the kitchen and failing miserably.
Still, it does take a bit of the luster off of the show as a whole.
Like all those shocked faces when the task is revealed?
All fake.
At least on MasterChef Junior.
A father of one contestant said the kids know about challenges for weeks and while they
may not have every single detail, they know enough to be able to practice their dishes
at home.
Combine this with accusations that some junior chefs have taken professional cooking and
acting lessons ahead of filming, and it does all come off as quite staged.
Still, things can go wrong in the kitchen under pressure, and they often do.
While no one will deny that the kid chefs on MasterChef Junior are absolutely amazing
and skilled, they aren't pulling that decadent filet with butter braised green beans out
of their hat in 30 seconds.
It just goes to show, don't trust everything you see on television.
There's an abundant variety of cuisine in the world.
We hardly need to tell you that, but apparently someone should have informed the MasterChef
UK judges of this phenomenon in 2018.
Viewers blasted judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace for their criticism that Malaysian
-born contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpin's chicken rendang wasn't crispy, and that there was
sauce on the skin.
But that's not the traditional Maylasian dish.
"Rendang, a dish that originated in the region, is generally a slow cooked curry made with
spices and coconut milk."
"... which leaves chicken anything but crispy."
This scandal caused quite the social media furor from international viewers and journalists
who complained about the judges' ignorance and only having a single-minded idea of what
makes good chicken.
What made this all worse was Olpin being eliminated in the round.
She defended her traditional dish and stated that she wouldn't have changed a thing.
Just our opinion, but maybe MasterChef UK needs a more diverse judging panel.
Josh Marks was the runner-up on the third season of MasterChef, a gentle giant with
a passion for cooking.
Despite having no formal cooking training, he earned one of the available spots for the
show.
He was immediately likable, with a big heart and smile.
Even though he didn't win his season in 2012, he was lavished with praise and everyone expected
amazing things from him.
Marks stated that he would never give up on his dream.
However, his world fell apart shortly after the show ended.
He began having panic attacks, hearing voices, eventually receiving a bipolar diagnosis.
An unfortunate incident with police culminated with Marks claiming Gordon Ramsay had possessed
him and turned him into God.
Marks spent weeks in jail with his mouth wired shut due to a broken jaw from the altercation.
The story of the incident was reported with no mention of the mental anguish the former
contestant was suffering.
Marks was released and given medical care, but spiraled further when he was diagnosed
with paranoid schizophrenia.
It wasn't long after the initial altercation that he was found dead by his mother from
a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Though his experience on the show was clearly a stressful one, the family refuses to blame
MasterChef for Marks' death.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).