The Real Reason Some Fans Are Disappointed About MasterChef: Legends
After a break of more than a year, popular cooking competition "MasterChef" returned on June 2 for its 11th season as "MasterChef: Legends." Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Joe Bastianich reprise their roles as hosts and judges. According to Gold Derby, they will be joined by a roster of legendary chefs that include Emeril Lagasse, Curtis Stone, Sherry Yard, Michael Mina, Paula Deen, Roy Choi, Nancy Silverton, and Masaharu Morimoto. This time, only 15 home cooks get the chance to compete for the title of MasterChef, along with a $250,000 prize (via TV Insider).
Although the show just started airing, some fans are already expressing their disappointment. A Reddit thread on the show starts off asking, "MC Legends doesn't seem that different from a typical season? The legends appear to be guest judges that we normally get anyways..." One Redditor countered by noting that "guest judges are a lot more common than the average season" only for others to point out that in Season 7, they literally had rotating guest judges.
MasterChef has had "legendary" guest judges in the past
Despite Gordon Ramsay's claim at the beginning of the Season 11 opening episode that, "We're doing something we've never done before and opening the doors of the MasterChef kitchen to some of the biggest names in the culinary world" (via YouTube), the show has, in fact, opened the doors of the "MasterChef" kitchen to top culinary names, including Wolfgang Puck, Edward Lee, and Richard Blais, who rotated in as the third judge in Season 7, according to The Latin Times. The difference, in this case, is that the guest chefs will be in addition to the main trio.
So what are fans looking for? Another Redditor on the same thread commented, "I thought it was going to be ex finalists, most disappointing" with two others concurring. This sentiment was echoed on another Reddit thread, where fans discussed their hopes for an All-Star show featuring returning contestants. And while the Season 11 opener had a guest appearance by Season 10 winner, Dorian Hunter, and finalists, Sarah Faherty and Nick DiGiovanni, who share a few tips on how to succeed in the "MasterChef" kitchen, it remains to be seen whether they will have a more active role throughout the season. Stay tuned!