The culinary battle in MasterChef Australia 5, begins with a Twist!

It is in vogue to be proficient in the culinary arts. Audiences too never tire of watching innumerable cookery shows on television which gives them scope to hone their culinary skills. Now the MasterChef Australia series, the world’s most popular cooking show which has been a hit with audiences is back again with the their 5th Season . The show now comes from the culinary capital of Australia, Melbourne, hence this season 5 arrives with a brand new city, a brand new kitchen and 22 brand new contestants chasing their dream to become Australia’s next MasterChef.

This season of MasterChef welcomes back restaurateur and Chef -Gary Mehigan, Chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston, the best known hosts and judges of the popular TV cooking series in the world. MasterChef’s veteran trio will be joined by a host of cooking luminaries such as Antonio Carluccio, Stephanie Alexander, Curtis Stone, Shannon Bennett, Maggie Beer and Guillaume Brahimi who will push the contestants to elevate their game.

Their theme of Boys vs. Girls for Season 5 makes the show all the more interesting with each gender trying to outshine the other.

Adgully caught up with Kevin Vaz, Business Head, English Cluster, Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies at STAR India, to know more about the initiatives planned for this season  to reach their target audience, the digital and on ground 

This season the focus is on digital and Star World is set to promote the show on this platform on a large scale. Elaborating on the new initiatives planned for season 5 of MasterChef, Vaz said, “We have taken a 360 degree approach to promote the show. We have activities happening on the digital front, on air and on-ground. For the first time, we have taken a fresh angle to promote the show i.e. Boys v/s Girls.”

Along with this, they had organized a 3 city cook off in association with DNA for their readers and Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel in Mumbai, Hard Rock Café in Pune and California Pizza Kitchen in Bangalore wherein they had called readers to come and cook dishes.

Star World has also created a micro site for MasterChef Australia 5. Tweets with the hashtags - #MChefGirls and #MChefBoys will feature on the micro site in keeping with the theme of the show: Boys v/s Girls. The audiences will be encouraged to tweet and share and show their support for the show.

For 10 days the tweets with #MChefGirls and #MChefBoys will feature on the burrp.com website. Audiences can also tweet from the burrp.com website itself instead of going only to twitter to cast their tweets.

Star World had organized a tweet up for twitter influencers at Smaash on 7th September. At the tweet up, a Boys v/s Girls cook-off had been organized for the influencers. There was also a special screening of the first episode of Season 5.

An application has been developed on Facebook where, when a person uploads their image on the app, their picture gets the MasterChef apron – the ‘apron of honor’ thus making the person a part of the MasterChef family.

This season, MasterChef Australia comes to viewers with a different concept hence when asked the rationale behind the same, Vaz said, “This season, MasterChef Australia has a fresh angle ‘Boys v/s Girls’. It’s an interesting approach and we have taken this theme keeping in mind the format of the show for the first 2 weeks. This season the communication is not restricted to love for good food but it has extended to a culinary battle.”  Both the 11-membered teams will be given a task of creating a three-course meal for their new 'family' i.e. the opposing team plus the three judges. 
There is no doubt about the fact that the genre is quite robust and has a lot of competition hence sharing his views regarding the emerging competition for the show, Vaz said, “MasterChef Australia is a reality show and food is just one aspect of the show. The message of the show goes beyond cooking. The show tells you that you can pursue and become anything you want to be.  Indian viewers are a big fan of food shows. They love to eat and cook.  There are a number of shows on TV that teach you how to cook. But none of them have ever attempted what MasterChef plans to do; to teach people how to make a simple dish interesting and then present it well without compromising on the taste, authenticity and flavors.” 

He was of the opinion that the love of food is what makes Masterchef Australia the no. 1 food show in the Indian market. The show serves as a platform to showcase different culinary cultures across the world. The popularity of MasterChef Australia opened avenues for other countries to launch their version of MasterChef such as MasterChef US, MasterChef India but the Australian version dominates them all.

Vaz also shared some of their marketing strategies planned for this season. “To bring this culinary experience closer home, Star World has associated with top restaurants in India such as California Pizza Kitchen, Shiro and Hard Rock Café to serve Masterchef inspired menus. The show enthusiasts can enjoy their favorite Italian Masterchef dishes at California Pizza Kitchen, Shiro will host MasterChef inspired brunches and the journey will end on a sweet note with the choicest desserts from the Masterchef Kitchen at Hard Rock Café,” said Vaz.

Vaz believes that digital medium too plays a key role for any channel to communicate with its TG. He opines, “The core target group is more active on the digital front websites.  Keeping in mind this growing importance we have a lot of activities on the digital front.”

Promoting Season 5 of MasterChef through the digital medium is another activity viz. ‘Sending the fan to Australia’ -- a contest that will run across the official Facebook page of STAR World India wherein the fans will be asked questions about the show and one lucky winner will get to travel to Australia.

It is believed that the last season of MasterChef Australia saw a drop in the ratings, when asked to share his view point on the same, Vaz said, “This season MasterChef Australia Season 5 takes a fresh angle. The show has changed its location and comes from the culinary capital of Australia, Melbourne. It’s a brand new city, a brand new kitchen and its starts directly with top 22 contestants. Along with this, for the first time ever the studio audience gets to experience first -hand teaching skills of all the three of our judges behind the stove.”

The sponsors for the show include Tourism Australia byt (bookyourtable.com), Society Tea, Tata Salt, Pigeon and McCain Foods and Grey Worldwide is the digital agency for the channel for season 5 of MasterChef Australia.

The 2013 season will not only bring viewers the classic taste of MasterChef Australia they know and love, but will take some new dishes to the table. They can watch contestants go to boot camp in the Barbosa, get in touch with their inner child in kid’s week and go red, white and green for Italian week- and that is just the beginning. With the line up of all these exciting activities, MasterChef Australia Season 5 is sure to create a lot of buzz.

Now audiences can watch amateurs turning professional while competing to be the next Australian MasterChef to achieve their dreams and change the course of their lives. Catch all the excitement of MasterChef Australia Season 5 every Monday to Friday at 9pm only on Star World.