MasterChef judges jump through hoops

Cape Town - It's not only the MasterChef SA contestants who had to sweat through gruelling auditions to be on the show.

At the MasterChef SA launch in Johannesburg on Thursday, judges Pete Goffe-Wood, Bennie Maseko and Andrew Atkinson were introduced to the media.

The three culinary experts shared a relaxed rapport as they guided media and celebrities present through the various challenges.



Goffe-Wood explained why he and his fellow judges got the job: "We have a great energy on set - Bennie, myself and Andrew - and it's like we've been working together for years.

"It's praise to M-Net and their audition process. We had to jump through all manner of hoops to get this done."

Potato, potaato

These 'hoops' turned out to be potatoes.

"On one of the longest audition days that we did, I was late, I missed my plane, and one of the producers said they wanted to see one last combination. We had nothing left in the pantry, we said 'what have we got? We've got potatoes'. So they said 'okay, let's do a quick 30-minute potato challenge,'" explained Goffe-Wood.

"So we got into the session a little bit more relaxed than we had previously because we were on camera before and now we were doing a little bit more humour, and that was the session that got us the audition."

A long history

This is not the first time Goffe-Wood and Andrew Atkinson have worked together.

"Andrew was actually my trainee in the kitchen 20-odd years ago," said Goffe-Wood.

"He's grown considerably since I first met him. He used to work in the vegetable section and he's become quite a competent chef in his own right. I've enjoyed watching his progress."

MasterChef SA will not have a host but will instead be facilitated by the three judges.

Tune in to M-Net (101) on Tuesday March 20 at 19:30 to watch the first episode of this local reality production.

- Channel24

SOURCE : NEWS 24