MasterChef

Tuesday

Julie Bindel

What on earth would you cook for Meghan?

From our UK edition

I am a big fan of MasterChef, and particularly love the Australian version. It features fewer foams and tweezer-assisted arrangements of wildflowers, and more actual food. They have fun – and they don’t take themselves as seriously as some British contestants do. So when I heard that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was to make a cameo appearance as a guest judge on the programme, I was appalled, and yet intrigued. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but the duchess is a woman who, if she had fewer brain cells and any less charisma, would need watering twice daily. I’ve often noted that vacuous people tend to enjoy vacuous food – but not, apparently, Meghan.

Monday

Alexander Larman

There’s only one reason Meghan Markle went on MasterChef Australia

Picture the scene. You have bravely battled onto the set of MasterChef Australia, hoping that your strawberry pavlova or similar hero dish is going to be the one that sends the judges into gasps of culinary ecstasy. Then the producers and host smile conspiratorially at you and reveal that the stakes (as opposed to steaks) have been raised. There will be a guest judge, they tell you, a figure who is “a global icon, a philanthropist, a humanitarian, a woman known around the world for her heart, her voice and her deep love for home cooking”. You draw a deep breath. Who on earth is this multi-faceted hyphenate, you wonder, an all-in-one combination of saint, queen and legend?

meghan markle

Wednesday

James Delingpole

How to win MasterChef

From our UK edition

‘Warmer, sharper and funnier than ever,’ claims one reviewer of ‘the BBC’s disgraced cookery show’ MasterChef. But this is nonsense. First, MasterChef was never ‘disgraced’. It was just the victim of some desperate sub-#MeToo media insinuations about the mildly laddish shenanigans of its two ex-presenters John Torode and Gregg Wallace. These insinuations were likely not unconnected with a) the show’s need for some publicity; and b) an excuse for a revamp after 20 years with those presenters now starting to look about as fresh and inviting as the trays of congealing fried eggs and uncrispy bacon you get in a hotel breakfast buffet. MasterChef was never ‘disgraced’.

Wednesday

James Delingpole

Why I’m addicted to Australian MasterChef

From our UK edition

Why is Australian MasterChef so much better than the English version? You’d think, with a population less than a third of ours, the smaller talent pool would make the Antipodean edition look like thin gruel. But a bit like with the cricket and the rugby, size clearly isn’t everything. UK MasterChef now resembles one of those joyless austerity dishes you cobble together from crusty leftovers you found languishing in the fridge. But the Aussie one has had my entire family addicted and yearning for more for the past fortnight. I suppose it’s partly down to the way Australia sees itself.