by Thinus Ferreira
On Monday evening the new collection of contestants in the 4th season of MasterChef South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) made an atrium entrance just like Donald and Melania did in 2015 - but this setting is Makers Landing inside a "MasterChef cathedral" with the goal to be crowned South Africa's masterchef of 2022.
By the end of the episode, viewers saw an emotional judge Justine Drake almost starting to cry, more than one contestant sent home at the end of the first episode already, beautiful food art, contestants already crying real tears during emotional moments, and a very cute and desirable Pick n Pay pop-up pantry where you get to pick without having to pay.
The first episode - as do all reality shows - started peeling back the backstories of the varied contestants - done beautifully with slow-motion scenes, mood-setting music and lighting, as well as emo-quotes that instantly endear and humanise them as competitors to MasterChef SA viewers.
Of course the first episode of a MasterChef SA season started with the challenge of a starter - but this one was mixed up in, and mixed in, a lot of emotion. The must-use ingredient was something truly homegrown, South African: rooibos tea.
"I refer to it as the 'blood against the wall episode," says content producer Errieda du Toit. "It was traumatic for them but that is about the start and about having this chance to good first impression."
Masterchef SA casting and cathedral
About the setting of Makers Landing, Homebrew Films producer Paul Venter says "Makers Landing was designed for this".
"We already had the electricity on the floor - all the plugs were there. The set design is part of the MasterChef Bible, the units are modular and you can build your own kitchen how you want it, there are loose gas bottles inside them, the water system is built-in so you don't have to do any plumbing".
Homebrew Films producer Jaco Loubser says "Makers Landing was perfectly suited for what we needed to do here because a lot of the back-kitchen stuff that we would need to build in other settings was already here. Ninety percent of what we needed was already here".
Paul says when Banijay executives visited the set they said it felt to them as if they're stepping into "a MasterChef cathedral".
"It's got this height and wow-factor, and space. It's much bigger than MasterChef Australia, so of course the 4th season of MasterChef SA is going to be fantastic in this setting of Cape Town's V&A Waterfront which just elevates everything further."
About the diversity of the MasterChef SA contestant this season, he says "it completely worked out like this naturally".
"We did not have a quota system, we didn't manipulate anything; it was actually the most amazing experience for us to literally see it work out the way that it did - the representation, the demographics - it just worked out amazingly well".
