Think of yourself as a chef in your kitchen? Well it’s time to put that to the test. The casting call for Season 3 of MasterChef has been put out.

Click here for all the details.

I suspect that the ratings juggernaut that once was the MasterChef franchise is on the way down. The most recent ratings shows that the second season of Junior MasterChef is floundering badly. In 2010, the program launched to ratings of 2.2 million, which would beat the pants off any show today. However the latest season has only been averaging 800,000 and on Monday night, only managed to get 741,000.

Even a repeat episode of Big Bang Theory managed to upstage Junior MasterChef.

I suspect the brains trust at Shine will be frantically trying to figure out how to rehash the series for next season.

Have you guys seen the ads? They’ve now started to show the ads for the new series of Junior MasterChef. I’m not sure if this will be the same hit that it was last year. For some reason they seem to have lost the shine from the series. After hitting massive rating highs from last year, that has dipped quite significantly for the most recent series that just passed. In fact it seems like we might be losing our appetite for these long running reality shows that dominate our screens for 4 nights a week. The Renovators which was produced by the same company had a massive budget and the ratings have been dismal for Channel Ten.

It remains to be seen how the new Junior MasterChef takes off. Remember that Matt Preston won’t feature and Matt Moran will take his place.

You’ve got to love reality TV……MasterChef producers, FOX who’s parent company News Corp is taking a battering over the News of the World scandal has come under fire for producing a fake crowd shot to give the impression more people were auditioning for the show than there really were. I mean seriously, is this what it’s come down to?

News Corp as the parent company ought to get their act together. The arrogance of Rupert Murdoch who was quoted as saying that they’ll rise about this is unbelievable. Very easy to manipulate the media and mislead the public. Not so easy to gain forgiveness for such arrogance.

Anyway these are just my opinions. Thanks to Andy Dehnart from Reality Blurred for the bringing to attention the fake shots.

Jeepers, after the massive controversy and hype leading up to last night’s episode of MasterChef Australia, the producers really let us down with a poorly contructed and anti-climatic scenes with the “eviction” of Mat.

But never fear, Mat will now feature on tonight’s episode of 7PM Project and explain further in detail. Um, couldn’t he have done that last night on the show?

Just read in the Herald Sun this morning that it’s because his mum has been a missing person for some years. Whilst I would never make light of news like that, to relate that back to his reasons for “cheating” is extraordinary. It’s amazing what kind of information we find out in bits and pieces so we get drawn back into wanting to watch the show.

2 years after accusations  were levelled at finalist Chris Badenoch for cheating, MasterChef Australia has been hit with a fresh new scandal. Victorian MasterChef contestant Mat Beyer has been kicked off the hit show after reportedly breaching the show’s rules by using a mobile phone which could be used to access recipes.

Apparently this has caused major inconvenience  to MasterChef producers as it’s believed there are a month of episodes to be shown before he leaves the hit show.

However I’m not sure that it’s going to inconvenience them too much.  Producers have refused to comment, obviously to build tension and hopefully get their ratings up. While the 2011 season has produced solid ratings, it is down on their 2010 juggernaut when they blitzed all rival shows. However this year, they have faced stiff competition from Channel 7 and their hit show Australia’s Got Talent which has continued to build on its popularity.

This most recent “scandal” might be the catalyst that Channel 10 is looking for to re-ignite the passion for their excellent and family friendly show. Look for Channel 10 to play this out and make a massive deal of it in upcoming promotions.

However only time will tell and I could be proven wrong!

Given the reception that the first season of MasterChef received, it’s no surprise that FOX decided to bring in the new season. And guess what? The second season of “MasterChef” on FOX gets cooking on Monday which is a lot earlier than last year when it kicked off in July/August.

The audition episodes are Monday, Tuesday and June 13. The Top 38 will be finalized on June 13, but by the next night, 20 contestants will sent home.

Thousands of contestants “not just from big cities but small towns and everywhere in between” tried out for local panels that whittled them down to the 100 who’ll cook for Elliot, Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich in hopes of getting a chef’s apron and a shot at a $250,000 prize.

It should be interesting so stay tuned. I am interested to see if the ratings continue to improve or if they drop off.

With his larger than life presence and cravat, Australian MasterChef judge Matt Preston is about to go global. He has secured a guest spot on the top-rating US version of MasterChef which is co-hosted by controversial celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.

Matt will travel to the US next month to film an episode of MasterChef USA which will likely air on the Fox network mid-year, giving the Aussie food writer-turned-media-powerhouse some serious exposure in the massive US TV market. Extending on is ever growing popularity, Matt Preston seems determined to strengthen his brand by experimenting with other shows on Network 10 and now heading overseas.

The US version which had its first season in 2010 aired to a weekly audience of around six million which by Australian standards would be a massive hit but in the US where the population is over 300 million was deemed a moderate success.

Let’s hope Matt’s personality and likeability rubs off on some of the negativity seen by the likes of Ramsay.

Well ok, not George himself, but his partner Natalie Tricarico is expecting their first child July 2011. Congrats to the couple and hopefully George won’t be teaching his kid to hold a fork the way he does on TV! Haha!

Now that that smoke has settled, I would love to get your opinions on what you thought about the entire series. Did you enjoy it? Was it too cheesy for you? Did the judges do a good job in adapting to kids instead of adults?
What did you think about the prize money awarded? Was it too little?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!