Is the existence of Celebrity MasterChef excusable? Matt Brady discusses.
Celebrity MasterChef promises a "sizzling line-up" for its tenth year. At least, that’s the official BBC line on it.
Back in reality, most people will struggle to recognise half the contestants. And if you do recognise them, you’ll struggle to care.
I’ve never been a massive fan of MasterChef, though I don’t have anything particular against it either. But when it comes to the ‘celebrity’ iteration of the format, I do feel I have to pipe up and ask: “Is this really necessary?”
Who are ya?
Presumably the contestants have either put themselves forward because they think they are fairly good cooks and would find it an interesting and enjoyable experience. Or they are desperately lapping up all the publicity they can get. Having seen the list of names, I would put money on the latter.
The full list of Celebrity MasterChef contestants is below. I had to Google most of the names to learn who they were, only to find that I often wasn't any more enlightened once I had.
|
Scott Maslen (actor) |
Tish (Patricia) Potter (actor) |
|
Craig Gazey (actor) |
Amanda Donohoe (actor) |
|
Sheree Murphy (actor and TV presenter) |
Mica Paris (singer) |
|
Sarah Harding (model and singer) |
Kimberly Wyatt (singer) |
|
Tom Parker (singer) |
Chesney Hawkes (singer) |
|
Sam Nixon (TV presenter) |
Keith Chegwin (TV presenter) |
|
Andy Akinwolere (TV presenter) |
Yvette Fielding (TV presenter) |
|
Rylan Clark (singer) |
Syd Little (comedian) |
|
Arlene Phillips (choreographer) |
Samira Ahmed (journalist) |
|
Natalie Lowe (dancer) |
Danny Crates (athlete) |
Soap actors, one-hit wonders, and television ‘personalities’, those vacuous entities who have inexplicably become television staples, often after a stint on a reality TV show. Alright, there is some talent in there – notably Danny Crates, a former Paralympian who won plenty of gold medals and held a world record for the 800m event.
As for the rest? You might recognise a few if I put pictures next to all the names, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to get very excited about the line-up.
MasterChef v MasterChef
If the format is popular enough to warrant two series per year, why not host two series of regular MasterChef, rather than dragging out a host of ‘names’ to fill a dreary six weeks of camera mugging? Meanwhile, likely staged “catastrophes” will occur to keep things exciting. Yawn.
Perhaps I should wait until the series actually airs before slagging it off so much, but ‘celebrity’ shows are generally a platform for attempting to reignite exhausted careers, which as a rule will splutter, cough and die again before long.
Shoehorning 'celebs' into pre-existing show formats is an easy way for producers to not have to think so hard about new ones. They get a relatively easy method of filling up broadcast slots, but the viewers are treated to a few hours a week of culinary nihility.
Given the lack of contestants who are able to actually peak anyone’s interest, I don’t think that Celebrity MasterChef will be any different. You might not really mind who is on the programme, so long as there’s some nice cooking, but I can smell the waft of desperation surrounding the show already. It's anything but delicious.
Does the fact that I don’t know these ‘celebrities’ just show off my ignorance? Does it matter who is on the show at all? Go ahead and call me a killjoy in the Comments below.
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