MasterChef’s Justin Narayan reveals surprising behind-the-scenes details about the show

MasterChef’s Justin Narayan reveals surprising behind-the-scenes details about the show.

Video transcript

JUSTIN NARAYAN: You just know. It's on national TV. There's everyone behind me. I love-- I'm just going to cop this one.

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I would say it depends. Sometimes, there would be hints given. But sometimes, the hints would just be like, a complete joke. It's like the producer just messing with you. And he's like, hey. I hope you guys like cake. Have a good night. That would be-- and you'd be like, all right. I'm going to go cook a thousand cakes tonight. And then you'd walk in and it wouldn't be that. It would be-- or you'd walk in and like, if you got to the bottom of the elimination, you'd have to cook a cake or something like that.

So they were subtle. There was never like-- you never really knew. But you'd know it was a team challenge. You'd know the routine of the week. Today's mystery box. Today's team challenge. Today's-- so you could prep in that sense. But you what was under the mystery box or what was happening.

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No, not unless the challenge allows. So it's kind of like-- yeah, you got to just memorize, have a photo-- photographic-- I was going to say photogenic. Photogenic memory. Photo-- yeah, same vibe. Yeah, you get a pen and pad. So you just try and get it all out of your head at the start of the cook while it's, clear all the exact measurements and stuff. That's what I would do. And then because once you're in the cook, you're like, who knows what happens when time is short, and pressure's on, and something goes wrong? At least I've got some sort of a guideline here.

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It was in a whole group house. We kind of had shared rooms, but individual bedrooms and stuff because of COVID. But we all lived in the same apartment block. So we'd see each other, hang out, go to each other's apartments. But it was pretty strict in terms of when you leave and go out because they didn't want anyone to get sick. So it-- there's a bit of freedom, but not heaps.

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It's like you finish a dish, you can't touch it. And it's like, if you touch it, you're like-- you're going to get disqualified, or penalized, or something. They'll-- it's kind of hectic. So I think you just, yeah, you walk out, have a break, and then you come back in, and it's like empty kitchen, you don't know who's going to do the tasting next. And then, just and you're coming up. And you're like, oh geez. And you kind of know if you did a good job or a bad job. So that feeling, that's probably what I dislike the most, that feeling of taking up the dish and knowing--

Especially when you knew you did-- it wasn't good, you just know like, gosh. There's like-- it's on national TV. There's everyone behind me. I love-- I'm just going to cop this one.

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They do get to try it hot, when the-- you see it on TV as well. Sometimes, they come around, they're tasting things. So the judges are always writing notes. They've got some knowledge, an idea of what it tastes like hot. But it's just part of-- it's TV. They're used to eating cold food.

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