MasterChef Singapore: Second helping for Season One judges
Singapore, 5 November 2020 – Fans of the first season of MasterChef Singapore will be happy to see three familiar faces back to sizzle up the screen in the second season. The three judges, Chefs Audra Morrice, Bjorn Shen and Damian D’Silva, will once again be on the hunt for the next amateur chef to take the most coveted cookery title in the Singapore culinary world.
Sapna Angural, Head, English Audience, Mediacorp said: “We are extremely proud to bring back Chefs Audra, Bjorn and Damian. With their invaluable culinary insights, their cooking tips and tricks they certainly know how to bring out the best in the contestants. I’m personally a huge fan of their chemistry and can’t wait to see them in action again in the new season!”
Chef Audra Morrice
Sydney-based Chef Audra Morrice who runs a catering business and has two cookbooks under her belt, is excited to be back in the globally successful cooking series. She is expecting more from season two contestants to provide better flavours, better combination and better plating. She explained: “The contestants don’t realise how lucky they are in Singapore. Their backyard is their playground with a myriad of ingredients, cultures, and a rich heritage from which they can tap into. Singapore is like no other country from that perspective so we should be proud to showcase the great flavours that people love!”
She still remembers vividly her stint in MasterChef Singapore Season One, in particular during the episode when finalist Diana Ismail was eliminated (i.e., Episode Four), which struck a chord with her. “The whole MasterChef process makes you vulnerable, it exposes your strengths and weaknesses, but through the entire process, you learn so much about yourself and by the end, you discover who you truly are. And that is the MasterChef experience.”
As a finalist in MasterChef Australia in 2012, Chef Morrice offers some advice for contestants: be authentic, creative, bold and think outside the box. She said: “This is a once in a lifetime experience so go big and dazzle us judges!”
Chef Bjorn Shen
After Season One ended, Chef Bjorn Shen, owner of Singapore’s first modern middle-eastern restaurant Artichoke, has since opened an experimental kitchen called Small’s that serves an omakase menu. He was last seen critiquing amateur cooks in culinary show "A Rookie and a Recipe". To him, it takes more than being a good home cook to compete in MasterChef Singapore. “What I hope to see in contestants for Season Two is the same as the last season,” he said. “I want to see a balance of tradition and new inspiration. Rustic comfort foods are great, but once in a while, I want to see contestants pull out the stops by elevating their dishes using creativity and technique.”
For a taste on the kind of pressure contestants might face in Season Two, Chef Shen felt that The English House challenge with Chef Marco Pierre White in Season One, Episode Seven, perfectly illustrated the intensity in the kitchen where the contestants had to beat the clock.
Chef Damian D’Silva
A champion of Singapore heritage food, it goes without saying that Chef Damian D’Silva would like to see contestants showcasing more local heritage cooking with local ingredients or with a local twist. “It is MasterChef Singapore after all,” he quipped. “Contestants in the second season who watched last season should be more aware of the challenges and I am expecting a much higher understanding of execution from them in this season.”
He was particularly fond of the Singapore Sports School challenge from Season One (Episode Three) as it showed competitiveness, camaraderie and cooperation all at the same time. He also revealed that the friendship and experience he developed during the course of the competition was admirable and heart-warming. After Season One has ended, Chef D’Silva has since moved on to helm Kin, a restaurant where he continues to focus on celebrating Singapore’s diverse ethnicities, offering heritage cuisine that harks back to Singapore’s past.
More heat for Season Two
Contestants and viewers can look forward to a beefier second season which will celebrate and promote ‘hyperlocalism’ through our unique local multicultural cuisine. This season will also be expanded to 10 episodes, up from last season’s eight. Produced by Beach House Pictures, the second season of MasterChef Singapore has started production and will be shown on meWATCH, Channel 5 and YouTube in February 2021.
Season Two attracted applicants in the hundreds from all walks of life including a singer, athlete, doctor, teacher, florist, scientist, taxi-driver, puppeteer, fitness coach and architect, with the youngest aged 19 and the oldest, a septuagenarian at 79. MasterChef Singapore is only open to those not currently working as a professional chef or those who have ever worked as one.
The Top 24 home cooks will be chosen to fight it out in a series of high-pressure cooking auditions. The Top 12 are then rewarded with the opportunity to compete in the MasterChef kitchen to become the next Singapore MasterChef.
MasterChef Singapore would like to welcome the following main sponsors and partners who will be accompanying the contestants in their journey throughout Season Two.
Contestants will be using kitchen appliances by Swiss heritage brand and luxury household appliance company V-ZUG, and cooking with food supplied by online grocer RedMart which is the Official Pantry Sponsor for Season Two. Other Main Sponsors include DBS Bank, Nespresso and Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing Pte Ltd, and they are joined by the Singapore Food Agency. Senoko Energy is the Co-sponsor.
Viewers interested to relive the excitement from MasterChef Singapore Season One can catch it at mediacorp.sg/MasterChefSG
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Media contact
Winston Chong
Communications Specialist
Mediacorp
winstonchong@mediacorp.com.sg
