Masterchef - The Professionals.

Methinks your points (at 28) are pertinent, Fieldgate. Indeed, I agree with all that you write. But I suppose TV (today) is about engineering shock, sadness, glee, bullshit - and capturing it to feed the never-sated appetite of manipulated fools.

84 episodes of Masterchef has to be re-runs of Masterchef o'er the years - there were never 84 in one season. (Further to my earlier comments, I think Masterchef may have started as early as 1993.)

Masterchef Professional (MP) is new - I think this is the second season. I think the MP format in Britain is this: four sets of 10 chefs.

You watch a set of 10 and at the end of the 30 minutes programme all 10 remain, whatever happens. After this all programmes are one hour in duration, except the next three 30 minute ones - what happens is that you follow each set of 10 i.e. after two from the first set are through to the semi-finals, we see the second set of 10 from the outset.)

Then the 10 in each set are broken into two sets of five; then, each five is reduced to four, the skills test eliminating one from each five. Then, each four is reduced to three, one from each being eliminated after cooking Roux's classic recipe. Then, the remaining 3x2 of this set go through to quarter-finals. These six are reduced to four. The four cook for top food critics and are reduced to two for the semi-finals.

I trust the above is clear!

I roux the day I opened this thread to read it.

:))