Masterchef

[Mr Pee]

I must say I do enjoy this series, the latest one as much as the previous. With the final cook off tonight,I would love to see Natalie win- she has i think been the most consistent of the three finalists, and her attitude is great as well. Reminds me a bit of a female Jamie Oliver, but a lot less annoying.

Dale would be my second choice, clearly very passionate about his cooking but prone to occasional mistakes and misjudgements.

Larkin has gone from hot favourite couple of weeks ago to an also ran, I think- he has produced terrible- by Masterchef standards!- dishes, particularly in the invention tests, and he just doesn't seem to care as much as the other contestants- when Marcus Wareing laid into both of them at the last invention test, Dale got very emotional whereas Larkin just gave a wry grin.

I am so impressed at how they all perform under great pressure, and good luck to them all in the future, but NATALIE TO WIN!!

[Tapiola]

I must say I do enjoy this series, the latest one as much as the previous. With the final cook off tonight,I would love to see Natalie win- she has i think been the most consistent of the three finalists, and her attitude is great as well. Reminds me a bit of a female Jamie Oliver, but a lot less annoying.

Dale would be my second choice, clearly very passionate about his cooking but prone to occasional mistakes and misjudgements.

Larkin had gone from hot favourite couple of weeks ago to an also ran, I think- he has produced terrible- by Masterchef standards!- dishes, particularly in the invention tests, and he just doesn't seem to care as much as the other contestants- when Marcus Wareing laid into both of them at the last invention test, Dale got very emotional whereas Larkin just gave a wry grin.

I am so impressed at how they all perform under great pressure, and good luck to them all in the future, but NATALIE TO WIN!!

Mr Pee,

I am afraid I am presently a bit of a Masterchef-widower; Mrs T is addicted to the programme. I have only caught a little of the series - regrettably the episode last week with those (mostly) hideously awful food critics, with very few manners between the lot of them! And that Torode makes my blood boil One can surely lead and advise in a kitchen (even under great pressure) without being so rude about it.

[Anna]

I’m a great fan of MasterChef. I was very impressed initially with Larkin but he’s not a natural cook. He’s produced some amazing food – when it’s something he’s been able to practice and refine at home, when it comes to the invention tests he’s all at sea, ditto when he’s in a professional kitchen. I now wonder if Saira should have gone through instead, I think it was a mistake to send her to the Indian restaurant in the semi-final, she should have been encouraged to branch out into more ‘mainstream’, i.e. ‘fine dining’ food as Larkin has bodged just about everything in the finals.

Dale is impressive now he’s conquered his nerves and shaking hands, very committed perfectionist and focussed but for me Natalie wins hands down for her inventiveness, skills and flavours and she’s the one getting the praise from the professionals although it could be very close between them tonight. It could be that they have a joint winner as they did for the last MasterChef Professional?

[ahinton]

I must say I do enjoy this series, the latest one as much as the previous. With the final cook off tonight,I would love to see Natalie win- she has i think been the most consistent of the three finalists, and her attitude is great as well. Reminds me a bit of a female Jamie Oliver, but a lot less annoying.

Dale would be my second choice, clearly very passionate about his cooking but prone to occasional mistakes and misjudgements.

Larkin has gone from hot favourite couple of weeks ago to an also ran, I think- he has produced terrible- by Masterchef standards!- dishes, particularly in the invention tests, and he just doesn't seem to care as much as the other contestants- when Marcus Wareing laid into both of them at the last invention test, Dale got very emotional whereas Larkin just gave a wry grin.

I am so impressed at how they all perform under great pressure, and good luck to them all in the future, but NATALIE TO WIN!!

Agreed on all counts (other than the inevitable reservations about everything in life having to be presented as though it must be "competitive").

[Barbirollians]

Not surprising she won - Natalie was in a different league to Dale and Larkin .

[french frank]

Not surprising she won - Natalie was in a different league to Dale and Larkin .

Thank goodness for that - someone has given the result. I was getting quite on edge reading this thread

[amateur51]

Thank goodness for that - someone has given the result. I was getting quite on edge reading this thread

I was getting hungry!

[Nick Armstrong]

Happened to catch the 'Professional Masterchef' programme this evening.

I'm no cook, but to see professionals who have never heard of / don't know the difference between taramasalata and guacamole, or have never opened a scallop (that guy runs a hotel kitchen in the Channel Islands) made my jaw drop slightly.

The poor bloke wrestling with dough and a pasta machine trying (failing) to make tagliatelle while his lardons carbonised and the judges gurned and fumed, must be one of the most squirm-inducing bits of telly lately...

[Richard Tarleton]

A whole series of culinary car crashes last night, and not confined to the skills test - the horrified expressions on the judges faces were wonderful (if things weren't going well, they would have been enough to finish you off). Marcus W resting his forehead on Greg W's shoulder in disbelief.... I think it was "never heard of taramasalata" who ran out of time in the "signature dish" round (by now wearing a blue plaster and finger stall after losing his tussle with the scallops ) leaving his sauce in the pan. Greg spoke very sharply to him when he attempted to pick it up anyway. Then there was strawberry risotto from the young lady who was about to make taramasalata without the cod's roe.

It struck me what a professional risk these people were taking - not so bad if you are a commis chef learning the trade but some of them are in positions of responsibility - fancy having to face your employers, or staff, having been so cruelly exposed by the skills test

[ahinton]

Agreed entirely with the last two posts; not merely horrifying but very worrying for those so-called professionals who had exposed their woeful inadequacies to all and sundry including their respective employers...

[Nick Armstrong]

It struck me what a professional risk these people were taking - not so bad if you are a commis chef learning the trade but some of them are in positions of responsibility - fancy having to face your employers, or staff, having been so cruelly exposed by the skills test

The thought struck me too....

And I meant to re-wind to see if Mr 'Never heard of it' had been wearing the finger bandages etc when he started or had indeed suffered a shellfish-related injury.

Car crash telly indeed - with a dose of the Carry Ons





.

And next week: Carpenters The Professionals, in which Wayne who has never used a saw will attempt to break a plank of wood over his head.

[Nick Armstrong]

And over-reaction of the day award goes to...

[ahinton]

And over-reaction of the day award goes to...

But without such over-reaction it wouldn't be tell, would it? It wouldn't even be ON telly, surely? Strictly come Bake-offchef an' all that. Aren't they all competing to see who looks the most shocked? and, assuming that they are, isn't that the intended and doubtless also choreographed spirit of that type of programme, in which competition is king and what's being competed for is subject?...

[Flay]

- with a dose of the Carry Ons

I spluttered in my coffee when I heard him say that. It was another Johnnie Cradock moment