I was a Masterchef semi-finalist- filming starts at dawn, there’s a secret wine fridge and judges eat COLD food
MASTERCHEF scenes set our stomachs rumbling at the array of often-delicious food whipped up in minutes.
With picture-perfect dishes, an immaculately-stocked larder and witty John Torode and Gregg Wallace as hosts the BBC show seems a recipe for success.
Yet is the Masterchef experience all it seems?
Former MasterChef semi-finalist Anthony O’Shaughnessy, who appeared in series 14 in 2018, has spilled the tea.
Anthony served up Teesside’s classic chicken parmo when he appeared on the show - and viewers were thrilled.
The Newcastle lad told how, although the contestants were expected to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed to whip up their creations, they actually filmed at the crack of dawn.
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Talking of the early starts, he said: "Pretty much every train I took out to London was delayed as well.
"I’d get in around 2am and then it was up at 5am for filming. It was really tiring."
Yet there's a solution if they need a snack attack.
This comes hidden in plain sight, in the chic clean-cut surroundings of the MasterChef kitchen viewers are all too used to.
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Anthony told the same publication of the secret grub and said: "My favourite thing about that room is that there are lots of drawers and sideboards.
"What a lot of people don’t know is that they are actually full of snacks, like crisps and chocolate."
Opening up on the hidden wine fridge, he continued: "It’s really cleverly hidden out of shots and it’s full of bottles of wine.
"There were actually a lot of times when we were sat on the couch waiting and the camera was doing the pan shots, we had cans of Fanta between our legs and crisps hidden out the way."
Yet while contestants, mainly, whip up somew delectable dishes - poor Gregg and John have to eat them cold.
This is because the crew need time to photograph and film the nosh first.
He added: "When we come back in, the food is freezing cold by that point.
"You have to bear that in mind. I wasn’t aware of this before, but as the competition went on, I had to actually plan dishes around the fact that it was going to be cold."
So when ice cream desserts turn into a dripping mess, it might not necessarily be down to a kitchen blunder.
And while the fully-stocked kitchen includes goods bought by production, ingredients for the contestants' practice dishes at home comes out of their own pockets.
Anthony is a keen traveller and a self-taught cook who also previously applied to appear on the Great British Bake Off.
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Previously, he said he originally wanted to go to medical school and study medicine as a graduate, but after his TV stint is now more interested in pursuing creative endeavours.
He is now head of the Blackfriars Cookery School in Newcastle.
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