Making its first appearance on the TV screens in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, Masterchef had a humble beginning before it became a worldwide phenomenon. The show is now aired in 58 countries with their own versions. MasterChef has now become the most popular cooking competition all over the world. Having said that, the grand cooking show has no short of its own scandalous controversies.
Nerve-wrecking moments, judges gruntling on contestants, sexual misconduct to open-ended rumours, the MasterChef controversy treasure is filled with all sorts of dramas and mysteries. If you are still pondering over what Marie Porter said about the MasterChef US judges, then you are surely in for something more exhilarating.
Top MasterChef Controversies
Like any other reality TV show, scandals and controversies are bound to happen. MasterChef has had its fair share of phenomenal controversies. Whether it was from the contestants, the judges, or because of the dish on the table, each scene excited and left the viewers aghast all at the same time.
If you are in the mood to dip into some spicy and unexpected MasterChef controversy, keep reading as we shed light on the eight most sought-after controversies.
- MasterChef judges and producers accused of harassment
In 2013, former contestant and blogger, Marie Porter, accused MasterChef US judges and producers of mental, physical and sexual harassment. Much of the testament to the show’s cruel acts came from the blogs of Marie Porter. She narrated how her co-contestants were physically and sexually harassed by the judges and producers. In her blog, she cited an incident in which one contestant was harassed to the point where she asked the producers to be edited out of the show permanently. It went still that the level of harassment was so frequent and intense that many contestants became depressed and suicidal.
Another former contestant and Playboy model, Carrie Steven, confirmed the allegations after she commented on one of the articles that was covering the news. While some contestants refused to get involved, Porter’s claims got massive attention throughout the world. However, Shine America, the production company behind MasterChef denied all the allegations in a statement claiming that the company prioritised their participant’s well-being and labelled the accusations as without any merit.
- MasterChef Australia judges fired because of stealing wages
Restauranter and MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris was fired along with his co-judges after he duped his restaurant’s employees of around USD 5.4 million. The news finally broke out in 2019, and the viewers rallied that Calombaris be removed from MasterChef. Later, Network Ten, which aired MasterChef Australia, announced that it was dropping off all three judges and gave a brief explanation that the production company had contractual issues with the judges. After the train-ride episode, Colamboris came out and admitted his wrongdoing.
- A MasterChef contestant stole another’s idea
Another big MasterChef controversy that stirred up both the contestants and viewers alike was during an immunity challenge in 2017 when two contestants Sarah Tiong and Ben Devlin had to make a dish using shrimp and prawns paste. So what happened then? Sarah Tiong decided to grill the prawns over an open flame but Devlin had the same idea as well. In fact, he went over to tell her that it was a great idea and later on, he followed on and did the same thing as Tiong.
This incident alone ignited the viewers, they called out the judges and producers for showing favouritism towards Devlin. Eventually, Devlin went on to win the challenge by a point. Though, viewers let known their discontentment towards the judge’s immovable decision to declare Devlin the winner, no action was taken to address the incident.
- Animal Killing aired live on MasterChef episode
It’s all right to eat non-veg food but how often have you seen it taken to the extremes? That’s what exactly happened to Sheetal Bhagat in 2010 when Masterchef US judges asked her to kill a live crab. She wasn’t prepared for the task at hand as she was a devout follower of Hinduism. Host Gordon Ramsey offered to kill the crab but Sheetal finally took the task and managed to kill it. It earned her a top-three position. Many viewers felt that the emotional turmoil she had to go through was unnecessary. Some viewers even questioned why she was tasked to kill the crab in the first place.
Conclusion
Numerous such MasterChef controversies are out there that seem not only controversial but outright a complete hoax. We can recount many such instances like the Elizabeth Haigh case when she was accused of plagiarism. A year after that, Josh Marks, a promising talent according to MasterChef US judges, committed suicide through an unexpected turn of events. Reports confirmed that Marks was suffering from bipolar disorder and was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. And then comes the infamous food poisoning of the fans in MasterChef Spain which brought the show to the attention of the world for all the wrong reasons.
