MasterChef South Africa


MasterChef South Africa is the South African version of the television cooking game show franchise MasterChef. It is filmed on the Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl, Western Cape and judged by Pete Goffe-Wood, Benny Masekwameng and Reuben Riffel, as of season 3. The series ran from March 2012 – May 2015.

Format

Preliminaries

Of all the amateur chefs who audition nationwide, one hundred are chosen to cook their signature dish for the three judges. Each judge takes a taste of the dish and gives his opinion before voting a "yes" or a "no". At least two "yes" votes are required to earn a white MasterChef apron, allowing the competitor to advance.

Mystery Box challenge

In the Mystery Box challenge, contestants receive a number of ingredients of which they are to make a dish of their choice. The contestants are allowed to use any number of the ingredients they wish, and are free to leave any ingredients out. Once the dishes are finished, the judges choose three of the dishes to taste. The winner receives an advantage in the following elimination challenge.

Off-site team challenge

The off-site team challenge involves the contestants being split into two teams, blue and red, which consist of equal numbers and are given a task, for example, running a restaurant or catering for a party or wedding. After the task has been completed, the teams are given the results, which can be determined by third party votes. Members of the losing team compete in an elimination challenge.

Pressure test

A "pressure test" challenge involves competitors who failed in a previous challenge. The competitors are given a dish that they then must create in a particular time frame. Once the contestants have finished cooking, the dishes are taken to the judges to be tasted, who then criticize, vote and eliminate one or more contestants.

Seasons

Season 1 (2012)

The first season aired in March 2012, ending with Deena Naidoo as the winner and Sue-Ann Allen as runner-up.

Season 2 (2013)

The second season aired in June 2013, ending with Kamini Pather as the winner and Leandri van der Wat as runner-up, while her sister Seline van der Wat came third place.

Season 3 (2014)

Season three of Masterchef South Africa aired its first episode on 21 August 2014. Abigail Mbalo-Mokoena was among the competitors.

Celebrity (2015)

Masterchef South Africa Celebrity aired its first episode on 8 February 2015.