MasterChef Junior is back with another scrumptious season on Fox tonight at 8p and you want to see what they have cooked up for us.
This season’s 19 contestants consist of two 8-year-olds; four 9-year-olds; three 10-year-olds; five 11-year-olds and five 12-year-olds. One of those 8-year-olds is the show’s youngest competitor to date and he is also the littlest one yet. So little, he has problems lifting up the box to reveal the items in that week’s Mystery Box Challenge. Before you feel bad for Riley, don’t because he is one tough competitor. All of these pre-teens prove to be excellent Chefs. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them can cook better than you and me.
On tonight’s episode, they start with a Mystery Box Challenge that ends with a MasterChef Junior first. Then for the elimination challenge, the contestants have to make a pasta dish from scratch. To anyone who has tried to make the pasta, you know it is not easy. Yet they make it seem that way. Finally, the show concludes with a multiple elimination and a lot of tears. So have the tissues ready. But it OK to cry a little bit because the rest of the episode makes you smile. MasterChef Junior is pure happiness, and we all need more of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxwm35KthnQ
Then at 9p, it is time for a show that instead of pumping kids up, it seems to destroy their spirits. That’s right, Dance Moms is back for season 5 on Lifetime, and it is time for this show to end.
When it first started out, it was fun because it was about the dancers. Now it is all about the conflicts.
First, they introduced Cathy. Then when Abby Lee Miller and her didn’t get along, they turned her into an evil witch that fights with Abby and the moms in every episode she appears in. When the show couldn’t do that every week, they created a new team to compete with the elite dance team. Proving to be a failure, they ended that. Another way to bring conflict to the show was to bring in other dancers so that their mom’s could fight with moms that were already on the show. But that wasn’t enough, when one of the original moms got into a confrontation with Abby Lee and it became national news, the show decided to do more of that. On the season 4 finale, Christi got into a verbal argument with Abby Lee over how she treat her daughter Chloe. Words were said by the dance teacher that were so awful, they walked out.
Did that mean they walked off the show permanently? In tonight’s episode, we find out yes they did. Now the remaining moms are saying that the two other moms are trying to shut down Abby’s studio and bad mouth them whenever they can. Well, it stops for a little while because one of the past dancers of the week returns to cause more friction between the moms. It works, but the show doesn’t anymore.
It is all so staged. I wouldn’t mind it, if it wasn’t such a hateful show. As the show has gone on, it appears to me that Abby Lee Miller has gotten so much worse to the girl. She belittles them all the time and destroys their confidence whenever she can. Unless their name is Maddie or Mackenzie. It is disgusting and I don’t know how anyone can be OK with that being their perceived persona. I wouldn’t want my image to be that of an older woman who seems to enjoy screaming at and harassing little girls. Would you?
Another thing that drives me crazy about her, is she constantly tells these girls, who are not even teenagers, to stop crying. It is for their pillows at night. But when the press shows up at her door, while she’s at a competition with the girls, she starts to cry in front of them. What is good for the goose, I guess is not good for the gander.
The other thing I hate about the perception I have of her, it is OK for her to bully these pre-teens, but it is not OK for anyone else to bully her. The second anyone does, she calls the cops or authorities.
I don’t know why I still watch this show, but for some reason I do. If you are stronger than me, then I am telling you to stop watching it. Maybe if you did, she would stop treating the kids the way that she does for television. I worry about the impact her words will have on them as they grow up. We have all been scarred by a teacher, but for most of us it ends after a year. These girls have multiple years with her.
So once again, I beg you not to watch. Because if you don’t, then maybe Lifetime will be put it out of my misery.
Although, I have a feeling this season with them going to LA might change the show enough that people will tune out. At least I pray it does.
One last thing, I am so sick of her saying how she has made stars. Who? There were kids from my JHS that were part of an Oscar winning documentary about dance called He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing. And you know the guy who won Dancing with the Stars this season? Well, Alfonso Ribiero, also went to my JHS. So I think I went to the same school with bigger dancers than the ones she produced. I am sure if I did the research, I would find out that a few Broadway stars also went to my elementary or JHS. Not bragging, just proving a point. I am not putting down her past dancers, BTW.
I don’t think she made these girls stars, the show did. I mean do you really think that Maddie would’ve been in Sia’s video if it wasn’t for Dance Moms? I am sure if the show didn’t exist the singer would’ve found another dancer to have star in the video for Chandelier. Don’t you agree?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=516i90KRvCE
Seth Rogen was on The Late Show yesterday and David Letterman wanted to know what he does with his wife. The Knocked Up star said that they spend a lot of time watching bad reality TV. In fact, he recently watched an episode with kid chefs (I’m assuming it’s MasterChef Junior because what else could it be) and he said it made him cry. Then he added that he wanted to “reach into the screen and offer them some weed or something.” He couldn’t leave a tender moment alone, but still it is sweet. And I would pay his wife a dollar to see that photo of Rogen crying as he watched the best reality show on television.
If you want to watch the show that made him cry, then check out the extremely scrumptious MasterChef Junior tonight at 8p on Fox. You don’t want to be left with egg on your face. When you watch the show tonight, you will get that means!
BTW MasterChef Graham Elliott Tweeted this to his fan, “Hey @Sethrogen thanks for watching @MasterChefJrFOX ~ hope tonite’s episode taps into your childhood emotions again! @GordonRamsay #EmoChef”. Seth responded by saying, “@grahamelliot @MasterChefJrFOX @GordonRamsay ha. Thanks man. I have emotional problems.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgFjAKVeJo4
Last week’s winners of the first MasterChef Junior challenge get to take part in the bestest one tonight at 8p on Fox.
The three kids, who won last week, have to cook as many pancakes as they can and the losers, who are truly the winners, get to pour 50 gallons of maple syrup on their assigned chef.
So how did MasterChef Graham Elliott feel about having that much maple syrup dumped on his head? He told me on a conference call, “We had to go run and take showers and there are a few things, I guess, in life that if you get doused over your head you can kind of wash it off, like we did the flour last year. But syrup is one of those that I would not put on my biggest enemy.” Then he added, “You know what, I won’t say who, but a certain someone I think had like a chemical reaction to it, so they got messy for the remainder of the day.” Who do you think had a chemical reaction to it, Gordon Ramsay or Joe Bastianich?
By the way, I could describe what happens at the moment, but it so much sweeter to see it happen live for yourself. So make sure to tune in for the best reality show on television tonight at 8p.
My favorite reality show, MasterChef Junior is back on Fox tonight at 8p, and you so want to watch the sweetest competition show on television.
What makes MasterChef Junior so yummy is the kids are so supportive of each other. When you watch adults on these shows, they are out to destroy their competition. Tonight, when one girl starts crying, another one stops what she is doing to help her out. Then Gordon Ramsay goes over to her, and makes her feel about herself. Later on in the show, one girl serves a bad dish to the judges and she starts to cry. All of the contestant rally around her to make her feel better. On what other show do you see that?
It isn’t only the kids being nice to each other, the judges, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliott and Joe Bastianich are more compassionate when they talk to these 8-13 year old homechefs.
It still blows my mind that these kids, who aren’t even in high school, can cook better than you and me. The dishes they turn out blow these MasterChefs’ taste buds and our minds.
So that is just a few of the reasons why MasterChef Junior is the most scrumptious show on television. You can add a few more to the shopping list, when you watch MasterChef Junior tonight and every Tuesday at 8p.
Tonight at 8p on Fox it is time for the MasterChef season finale and last week I spoke with Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot on a conference call about the last three standing. Will it be Courtney, Leslie or Elizabeth?
If you would’ve asked me on day one who would win the whole competition this season, I would not be able to tell you. What I could tell you that day is I thought Leslie would be out in the first elimination or the following week. As you know, I was wrong and I wasn’t the only one who thought he would be sent home early. Bastianich said, “I would’ve thought he (Leslie) wouldn’t have even made it. He would’ve been out in the first cut, so you never know.” However, there is someone he thought would be in the Top 3 from day one and that person is Elizabeth. He said she “is a great example of someone that you knew was smart. You knew she cooked. She was smart in how she played the game, so you figured she would go far.” Elliot agreed with his co-Chef, “I think Elizabeth just because of how driven they were and how much they’ve put into it, as far as their heart into the cooking.” Like Joe, he was surprised to see Leslie go as far as he did. He described the stay at home dad as, “you have somebody who’s the oldest contestant we’ve ever had, who’s abrasive and everybody hates at the beginning and now they all seem to have embraced him like the crazy uncle or someone that’s in everyone’s family.” A little note on Leslie and his family here, he is a family member of someone we know, he’s Melissa Joan Hart’s stepdad.
Now we know who surprised them by making it this far and who they knew would be there, but who did they think was going to make it that didn’t. For Graham it was Christian who came in 5th. While Joe thought that maybe Big Willie would go far, but then the MasterChef realized he “just lacks the evolution to go the full distance”. Big Willie’s flame might’ve burned out midway, Bastianich felt Leslie and Cutter, who came in fourth, were slow burners. He says they “learn a lot, ramp it up and then keep on getting stronger.” Strong enough to make it to Top 4.
Joe sums up day one expectations to the finals as, “What you see in the beginning is not always what comes out in the end.” Graham says, “You always have an open mind when you start, but then you start seeing these people come into their own. It’s really fun to watch them grow.”
Graham and Joe watched them grow throughout the season, so how would they describe the final three? Joe said, “Leslie, the New York transplant to Malibu, is a true home cook, cooks for his family.” Then he added, “He’s a little bit of an older contestant, has a very brash, forward style, unapologetic in his ambition to win and what he does and the way he conducts himself.” Graham was simpler in his summation, “Leslie, who is completely unfiltered and just does whatever he feels like.”
Next up is Elizabeth, who is my personal pick to win the whole thing. Joe says, “Elizabeth, who is more of a Brooklyn night, New York sophisticated young lady who probably has her pulse on what’s happening in the fine dining scene and trends the food world.” Then adding, “She’s culturally apt and really can kind of put all her life experiences and intelligence to play in every plate.” Graham agreed with his counterpart.
Finally, there is Courtney. Joe described the Philly native as “kind of the combination of a little bit of street smarts, ethnic cooking, a fierce competitor. She probably knows how to play the game as well as she knows how to cook.” Graham said she has the ability to beat anyone that she is put against.
Neither MasterChef said who they think the next winner will be, that doesn’t mean we have our own opinions. I am rooting for Elizabeth because she is the only I like that is left. Who do you think will win it all and get their very own cookbook?
You know, come to think about it, this is the first year I didn’t have a clear cut winner from day one. I knew Christine was going to win season three and Luca the following year. This year has been a complete toss up with no early favorite and personally no final one either. Do you concur?
