Hey, friends! Thought I'd duck in for any questions that might have been posted...
"How is it seeing yourself on TV?"
Kooky. I guess I'm really overly dramatic in real life, but I get kinda annoyed seeing myself make all those faces. It's also surreal re-living traumatic experiences, while the people next to me are watching an entertaining show. I can't count the number of times I've been cringing and crying, while the people next to me are laughing. It's bizarre!
"And how much creative editing do they do to make things seem more dramtic than they are?"
Probably as much as you can imagine. I certainly won't deny that it's INCREDIBLY intense and dramatic when it really happened. But we don't break for commercials in the middle of cooking!
"Ben, what did you make for the lobster challenge? We never got to see your plate."
For the lobster challenge I did a Thai-style red curry with lobster and red peppers. I have a blog at benstarr.com that gives all the behind-the-scenes stuff...if you're into the show, you'll get a kick out of reading it. I always describe the dishes I made, whether they show them on the episode or not.
"I always wonder whether the chefs on masterchef come up with the recipes out of their head or if there are computers or cookbooks off screen to consult or if Gordon provides some lesson before the competition. I don't doubt the skills of the chefs but it seems like if you have NEVER made something before, like hollandaise, you would have something to guide you."
There is a resource room that we can study and socialize in when we're not filming. Some limited classes were provided, sometimes they had components that related to future challenges, sometimes they didn't. We were never blatantly taught how to make something that we later had a challenge on. It's impossible to prepare for something like a mystery box, when you have no idea what ingredients will pop up. And it's also practically impossible to prepare for an elimination test, when you have no idea what the themed ingredient will be, and what types of ingredients will be available in the pantry. As hard as it may be to imagine...we are largely "on our own" in the challenges.
As a shrewd contestant preparing for the show, one realizes they should be schooled in the fundamentals of classical cuisine. I had never made an eggs benedict until halfway through the audition process when it started to look like I might get on the show. So I practiced all the "mother sauces" (including hollandaise), re-learned the basics (making pasta, poaching an egg, cooking steaks to temp, filleting fish, etc.) Most of the other contestants did the same.
That's it for now! LOTS of excitement and drama to come. We're down to 8, I think!
