After dinner, I settle on the sofa, and Quinn clambers up beside me, putting her big heavy paws on my lap. My girls take their seats. So does my husband Andy. Then Nora appears and sneaks onto Gemma-Rose’s unguarded chair when my youngest daughter gets up to turn on the TV. Gemma-Rose lets the dog have her place and, instead, climbs onto sister Imogen’s lap, remote control in her hand, ready to direct this evening’s viewing.
It’s Masterchef time.
We’re at the beginning of Masterchef Australia: we’re watching season one. We already know the winner. We even know the runner-up. But knowing how the story ends doesn’t seem to matter.
Tonight, three contestants are up for elimination: Sam, Trevor and Tom. They each have to cook a sticky date pudding. The desserts must be good. The person who cooks the worst one is going home.
Sam, Trevor and Tom weigh, stir, spread, cook, snap, arrange and sprinkle. The Masterchef clock ticks and ticks, its hands moving very quickly. Far too soon, time runs out. Stand away from your benches! Three contestants wipe their brows. They look at their puddings. They did it. They retire to the lounge while the judges taste each of their dishes.
The judges compare the sticky date puddings’ flavour and texture: This one has the best caramel sauce. But this one has a tastier praline. And this other one is so gooey and soft. It’s going to be a tough decision. But it has to be made. Finally, the judges decide. It’s time to call the contestants back.
Sam, Trevor and Tom sit and wait to hear their fate. They fidget. They tap their fingers. They can’t keep still. What if this is the end of their dream? With tears threatening to spill, they promise to do better if they get another chance.
Then the judges say, “Tom, you’re safe.” All the tension oozes out of Tom. But Trevor and Sam are still wound up tightly. Which one of them will be going home?
”Trevor, you’re safe.” Trevor smiles widely. He and Tom shake hands and hug and offer each other their congratulations.
And Sam? He crumples. He’s heading home. But, no. Wait. He’s staying too? No one is being eliminated? All three puddings are so good, the judges can’t decide between them.
That’s unfair!” shouts Andy. “It’s a competition. Someone has to be eliminated. I think Sam should go home. He got a lot of help from the other contestants up in the gantry. He couldn’t have cooked his pudding if he’d had to make it on his own.”
I smile. Not at the judges’ decision. I’m amused by Andy’s heated reaction. It wasn’t so long ago that my husband refused to watch Masterchef with the rest of the family. He had better things to do. However, he got drawn in too. Now he’s getting indignant about something that happened eleven long years ago.
“I wonder what happened to Sam,” I say. We know he didn’t win this Masterchef season, but did he become a chef?
Andy takes out his phone to do some googling, but before he finds out the answer to my question, he discovers something much more interesting. “Did you know that Aaron (another contestant) was accused of embezzling over 7 million dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle?”
We raise our eyebrows.
“He doesn’t look like an embezzler.”
”What does an embezzler look like?”
”Can you tell what someone is like on the inside by looking at their outside?”
”What if you start out good but change? Does your appearance change too?”
We can’t decide.
”People’s features seem to match their dispositions. Happy people’s mouths naturally turn upwards. Angry people end up with furrowed foreheads.”
We all agree.
Aaron has a small down-turned mouth. That should have alerted us. But to what, I have no idea.
So Tom and Trevor are still in the competition. And so is Sam. Whether we think it’s unfair or not, he survives to cook another day.
Was the decision unfair? It really doesn’t matter. Life moved on for all the contestants. It will move on for us as well.
We won’t always gather at the end of yet another isolation day to watch the next instalment of the Masterchef story. Eventually, our old life will reappear.
But for now, we compete with the dogs for comfy seats in front of the TV screen. Then we watch as the contestants cook. We witness the drama. We discuss the judges’ decisions. We have our own opinions.
And we wonder: who will be eliminated next?
“We know it won’t be Poh or Julie or Cris.”
”Could it be Aaron?”
Poor Aaron. Why do we think he’s going next?
Photo by Heather Gill on Unsplash
