MasterChef Asia

MasterChef Asia
GenreCooking, Reality television
JudgesAudra Morrice
Bruno Ménard
Susur Lee
Country of originSingapore
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes17
Production
Running time60 minutes (including commercials), 90 minutes (season premiere, including commercials), 120 minutes (final, including commercials)
Production companyLifetime (South East Asia)
Original release
NetworkLifetime (South East Asia)
Release3 September (2015-09-03) –
10 December 2015 (2015-12-10)

MasterChef Asia is a regional competitive cooking game show based on the original British show MasterChef. The show is produced by Lifetime Asia. A total of 15 home cooks from various regions across Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam) competed in the first season of MasterChef Asia. The show is judged by Hong Kong-born, culinary chef Susur Lee; 3-Michelin starred chef Bruno Ménard; and Singapore-born Audra Morrice, a MasterChef Australia finalist. From the MasterChef kitchen to off-site and overseas challenges, the 15 episodes will culminate in one home-cook winning the title of the first ever MasterChef Asia.[1]

Guest Chefs

  • Chef Eric Teo, Chef Patron/Owner of ET Culinary Arts (1 October 2015)
  • Dato' Dr. Fazley Yaakob, Winner of MasterChef Celebrity Malaysia and Chef Patron/Owner of SukaSucre Bistro in Cheras, Malaysia (8 October 2015)
  • Chef Janice Wong, Chef Patron/Owner of 2am:dessertbar and 2am:lab in Singapore (5 November 2015)
  • Chef Gaggan Anand, Chef Patron/Owner of Gaggan in Bangkok, Thailand (10 December 2015, Season Finale)
  • Chef Juna Rorimpandey, Celebrity Chef, and MasterChef Indonesia judge on season 1 and 2 (10 December 2015, Season Finale)
  • Chef Justin Quek, Chef Patron/Owner of Sky On 57 in Singapore (10 December 2015, Season Finale)
  • Chef Bjorn Shen, Author, Chef Patron/Owner of Artichoke in Singapore (10 December 2015, Season Finale)
  • Chef David Pynt, Chef of Burnt Ends in Singapore (10 December 2015, Season Finale)
  • Chef May Chow, Chef Patron/Owner of Little Bao in Hongkong (10 December 2015, Season Finale)

Contestants

Contestants Age Country Occupations Status Winnings
Woo Wai Leong 27 Singapore Lawyer Winner 10 December 5
Marcus Low 24 Malaysia Banker Runner-Up 10 December 7
Jasbir Kaur 54 Malaysia Homemaker Eliminated 3 December 4
Priya Barve 39 India Marketing Manager Eliminated 26 November 5
Doan Phuong Ha 31 Vietnam Entrepreneur Eliminated 19 November 5
Lennard Yeong 27 Singapore Engineer Eliminated 12 November 5
Blanche Chu 28 Taiwan Model Eliminated 5 November 2
Sandrian Tan 41 Singapore Homemaker Eliminated 29 October 2
Lica Ibarra 29 Philippines Finance Sales Officer Eliminated 22 October 1
Vonny Lestari 20 Indonesia Student Eliminated 8 October 0
Rico Amancio 31 Philippines Paralegal Eliminated 1 October 1
Alice Peng 32 China Scientist Eliminated 24 September 0
Stefan Pratama 25 Indonesia Sales Representative Eliminated 17 September 0
Jake Aycardo 24 Philippines Analyst Eliminated 10 September 0
Sophia Zulkifli 30 Malaysia Homemaker Eliminated 3 September 0

Elimination table

Place Contestant Episode
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Leong IN WIN HIGH IN IN IN WIN IN LOW HIGH WIN LOW IN LOW IN WIN WINNER
2 Marcus IN WIN WIN WIN IN IN WIN IN WIN IN HIGH WIN LOW IN WIN IN RUNNER-UP
3 Jasbir HIGH WIN IN HIGH IN IN WIN LOW WIN HIGH IN WIN LOW HIGH IN ELIM
4 Priya IN WIN HIGH IN WIN LOW WIN LOW IN IN IN WIN HIGH WIN ELIM
5 Ha HIGH WIN IN IN LOW HIGH WIN WIN IN WIN LOW LOW WIN ELIM
6 Lennard WIN WIN IN LOW WIN HIGH WIN HIGH WIN LOW LOW ELIM
7 Blanche IN LOW IN IN WIN WIN PT LOW LOW LOW ELIM
8 Sandrian IN WIN IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN ELIM
9 Lica IN LOW IN HIGH LOW LOW WIN HIGH ELIM
10 Vonny IN LOW IN IN LOW IN ELIM
11 Rico LOW LOW IN LOW WIN ELIM
12 Alice IN LOW IN IN ELIM
13 Stefan IN LOW IN ELIM
14 Jake LOW ELIM
15 Sophia ELIM
  (WINNER) This cook won the competition.
  (RUNNER-UP) This cook received second place in the competition.
  (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Invention Test) and received an advantage in the next challenge.
  (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Offsite Challenge and was safe.
  (LOW) The cook was on the losing team in the Offsite Challenge and was not safe.
  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a Offsite Team Challenge.
  (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win.
  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in the challenge.
  (IMM) The cook did not have to compete in that round of the competition and was safe from elimination.
  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.
  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.
  (PT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team/Pair Challenge, competed in the Pressure Test, and advanced.
  (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team/Pair Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test.
  (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.

Episodes

No. in
season
Title Original air date Asian viewers
(millions)
1"Show Us Who You Are"3 September 2015 (2015-09-03)2.14

  • MasterChef Asia begins with the arrival of 15 of the best home cooks in the region who will begin a 15-week journey full of drama and excitement under the guidance of our three world class judges. The contestants’ first challenge involved cooking a dish to tell the judges who they are.
2"Food on the Fly"10 September 2015 (2015-09-10)N/A

  • In the first offsite challenge the remaining 14 contestants are divided in two teams to serve five different types of canapés to 80 VIP guests on Asia’s largest observation platform - the Singapore Flyer.
3"Quintessentially MasterChef"17 September 2015 (2015-09-17)N/A

  • 13 remaining contestants are tasked with two challenges - Mystery Box and the Invention Test. In the mystery box challenge, nine ingredients were on offer and the contestants must make a sweet or savory dish featuring at least one of the ingredients. For the Invention Test, Marcus who won the Mystery Box challenge gained an advantage of choosing the core ingredients for everyone to cook with (ginger, garlic or chilies). The challenge was to cook their version of Asian soup in 30 minutes.[2]
4"Taking It To The Street"24 September 2015 (2015-09-24)N/A

  • The remaining 12 contestants were divided into three teams of four and man their own stall at Singapore’s famous Lau Pa Sat (Telok Ayer Market) hawker centre. Each team was tasked to prepare one of the three main ethnic cuisines of Singapore – Malay, Indian and Chinese. As a winner of the Invention Test in Week 3, Marcus gained the advantage of choosing which cuisine he wants to cook, and have chosen Indian cuisine where he also became the team captain. Green team consist of Blanche (Captain), Lennard, Priya and Rico. Red team consist of Vonny (Captain), Jasbir, Ha and Alice. Although the Blue team received the most positive comments from the judges, the Green team took the victory with over 170 votes, Blue team with 131 votes and Red team with 119 votes. Alice was eliminated due to her mistake of choosing Sirloin over Chuck for the 5 Spice Beef dish which the team decided not to serve because it was too dry.[3]
5"Claws Are Out"1 October 2015 (2015-10-01)N/A

  • In this episode of Masterchef Asia the remaining 11 contestants must re-invent a classic Singaporean dish – Chili Crab. At the beginning of the show, guest chef Eric Teo demonstrated how to cook a classic Chili Crab and the contestants were given 90 minutes to reinvent the dish. By taking inspiration of the dish and combining it with one of her favorite dish, Blanche won the challenge with her Chili Crab version of Guo Bao. Rico was eliminated as he failed to capture the essence of Singaporean Chili Crab which is the sauce.[2]
6"One Stewed Pair"8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)N/A

  • Five teams fight over 5 cuisines and 5 home appliances, resulting in a bizarre combination and creative cooking. You’ve never seen the flavors of USA, Thailand, Spain, France and Italy like this before![2]

The pairs are: Leong and Lica, Lennard and Marcus, Blanche and Vonny, Jasbir and Sandrian, Priya and Ha.
Blanche and Vonny is the lowest team of the five, and they face to face with each other in the elimination challenge where they have to cook their best dish in 30 minutes ,using the remaining ingredients in all the 5 fridges at their disposal. In the end, Vonny cook the least impressive dish due to her short crust pastry dish is mainly too sweet and out of balance and was sent home.

7"For the Greater Good"15 October 2015 (2015-10-15)N/A

  • It was a mass cooking madness in the MasterChef kitchen where the contestants had to cook for 150 guests for a fundraising in conjunction with the World's Food Day.[2]
8"Lost in Transit"22 October 2015 (2015-10-22)N/A

  • Contestants compete for customers at Singapore Changi Airport, not just with each other, but also with the airport's numerous eateries. Those who survive the challenge are in for a big surprise.[4]

International Broadcast

The programme is being broadcast in the Philippines by TV5 every Sunday night at 8pm, starting 8 November 2015. In Indonesia, every Saturday at 3pm on Global TV. Malaysia, Every Monday at 6:30pm on Astro Ria. In India every Saturday at 10:00pm on Star World Premiere. In Singapore, on Channel 5, starting at 10.30 p.m, every Sunday.

References

  1. ^ "About MasterChef Asia". MSN. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d "About MasterChef Asia - Episodic Guide". MSN. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  3. ^ "MasterChef Asia Premieres on Lifetime Channel". 3 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. ^ "MasterChef Asia | Lifetime Asia". Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.