Master Chef Junior...Fake!

     MasterChef Junior is an intriguing show starring Gordon Ramsay where kids are seemingly cooking some pretty impressive dishes. The program is a spinoff of MasterChef, but features children as the chefs from ages 8-13. It was also originally a show in the UK titled Junior MasterChef. 
     One wonders how 8-year olds learn all that. Like all reality shows, it isn’t real! It’s a lot more scripted than it appears and the kids are getting some help from real chefs. How else can an 8-year old do a complicated main dish and side dishes all at the same time and all in one hour or less? 
     Former contestants have made claims they were coached and helped a bit and there is a culinary team on the show that teaches the kids basic kitchen safety and also gives cooking lessons. Plus, the kids have access to cookbooks.
     They know well in advance what they will be cooking and have a chance to practice preparing the dish as many times as they want. Some have had private chefs visit their homes to teach them recipes weeks before they filmed the show. 
     One person spoke out after working as a culinary assistant on the show and confessed that the kids who were chosen wanted to be child actors, not chefs. Most of them were selected to be part of the show because they had a great personality, not because they had any cooking talent. 
     Guess what else? You see the kids cutting, slicing, dicing and stirring food, but they aren’t really cooking it...that’s done by a culinary team behind the scenes who actually do the real cooking and plating so they look nice. The kids do use knives and there is medic on the set just in case. The kids also also get help from the crew when they can't open a jar or something. 
     One person had his son audition, but the lad ended up taking another job instead. The man’s son was not an aspiring chef; he was a child actor and both parents were professional actors in New York. Producers liked the kid because he was a trained, but unknown actor. The producers would give him cooking lessons. One viewer swears he recognized two of the kids who were actors on TV shows he had seen. 
     Besides some small amount of knowledge/skill in cooking the kids also have to be actors and be able to take direction and do what they need to to make a good TV show.
     One person who claimed to be one of the chefs on the program revealed that the kid’s discussion with the judges over the food was all scripted and was a pain because there were so many takes. He called the kids “bratty little (expletive deleted)” and their parents “vulgar.” He did add that Gordon Ramsey is very charming.
     By the way, the other night on American Idol, another fake show, the judges used their “save” that allowed one of the two contestants booted off to continue, much to the cheers of the audience as the judges praised the person's talent. I don’t understand...if America didn’t like them the previous night, what makes the judges think they are going to like them next week? 

NOTE: I am amazed at the popularity of this post and judging by the number of e-mails I have gotten cussing me out, calling me names and demanding "proof" there are a LOT of people who believe this "reality" show is, indeed, real. For those who believe it is real no amount of proof to the contrary will be sufficient, but I suggest checking things out HERE.

How To Audition For MasterChef Junior 
View the application to be on the show