''MasterChef'' is a Spanish competitive

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

cooking show based on the British television

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

of the same title. It premiered on La 1 on 10 April 2013. The show is, nowadays, presented by Pepe Rodríguez,

Jordi Cruz Jordi Cruz Mas (born June 29, 1978 in Manresa, Barcelona) is a Spanish chef. He is considered one of the best chefs in Spain and directs ''ABaC'' kitchen in Barcelona. Early life and career Cruz completed his studies in the Escuela Superior ...

and Samantha Vallejo-Nágera, who are also the judges of the competition.

History

In the first season, only 15 people were chosen from among the 9,000 in the initial casting selection and competed for the title of ''MasterChef''. The winner was given 100,000 euros, the opportunity to publish his own book of recipes, and the chance to attend the esteemed culinary school ''

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...

''. The initial selections began on February 4, 2013 in five areas of the country. All types of people came, including high-level executives, housewives, and construction workers. All of the candidates came together over their love of cooking. They had to be amateur cooks without culinary experience, but at the same time very talented. The contestants competed against each other in individual challenges in the kitchen and also in group challenges outside of the set kitchen. The judges were Pepe Rodríguez, Jordi Cruz, and Samanta Vallejo-Nágera. The first season aired on La 1 of

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

starting on April 10, 2013, and was hosted by

Eva González Eva María González Fernández (born 5 November 1980) is a Spanish actress, television presenter and beauty pageant winner who represented her country at the Miss Universe 2003 pageant. Early life González was born and raised in the town ...

. In October 2013, MasterChef received the

Ondas Awards The Premios Ondas (Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio ...

for ''Best entertainment program in Spanish television''.

Show format

* Caja misteriosa (Mystery Box Challenge). The contestants receive ingredients with which they have to make a dish according to the specifications of the judges. The contestants have a certain amount of time in order to do this. Once they are finished, the judges ''deliberate'' and the two to three best dishes determine who will be the captains in the following challenge. * Prueba por equipos (Team Challenge). This challenge takes place outside of the kitchens of ''Masterchef'' and involves cooking for celebrities or other groups of people. The captains have to decide on the dishes that they are going to prepare and which of the other contestants will be on their team to help them. The losing team then faces off in the elimination round. * Prueba de eliminación (Elimination Test). The winning team observes the losing team from the gallery from in the final challenge. The losing team has to cook the recipe chosen by the judges. The judges «deliberate» and the contestant that has made the «worst» dish is eliminated from the program. * Prueba de presión (Pressure Test). This is the most difficult challenge. A celebrity chef visits the set and instructs the contestants on how to make his most famous dish. The contestants have to then recreate it. * Reto creativo (Creative Test). The judges dictate which dish the contestants have to make.

First season (2013)

Fifteen amateur chefs competed in different challenges cooking alone or in teams, both in the set kitchen and elsewhere. Throughout the first season of ''MasterChef'', the contestants were visited by the best chefs in Spain who gave them exclusive cooking classes. These included

Juan Mari Arzak Juan Mari Arzak Arratibel (born July 31, 1942) is a Spanish chef, the owner and chef for Arzak restaurant. He is considered to be one of the great masters of New Basque cuisine. He describes his cooking as "signature cuisine, Basque cuisine ...

Pedro Subijana Pedro Subijana Reza (born 5 November 1948) is a Spanish chef who runs the restaurant Akelarre in San Sebastián, Spain. In 2006 his restaurant received its third Michelin star. Early life He studied at Madrid's Casa de Campo Hospitality Schoo ...

, Joan Roca,

Paco Roncero Paco Roncero (born 1969) is a Spanish chef. He won La Real Academia de Gastronomía's National Gastronomy Award in 2006, and he was a judge on the reality television show MasterChef Colombia. He is the head chef of Sublimotion, known for its h ...

, Dani García, Quique Dacosta,

Eneko Atxa Eneko Atxa Azurmendi (born September 14, 1977) is a Spanish Basque cuisine chef, known for his sustainability practices. Career Eneko started in the culinary world at the age of 15 at the Culinary School of Leioa in Biscay, but was initially trai ...

, and Andoni Luis Aduriz, among others. The finale featured Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, considered the best ''chef'' in the world, as one of the judges.

Contestants

Second season (2014)

During the finale of the first season of MasterChef, Eva González told viewers that the program would be renewed for a second season in May 2014, after MasterChef Junior. Starting in late October 2013 Televisión Española and Shine Iberia started casting for the second season. It premiered on April 9. During the week before, Radiotelevisión Española aired various cooking specials to lead up to the show.

Contestants

Third season (2015)

Televisión Española and Shine Iberia started casting for the third season in December 2014. It premiered on April 7, 2015.

Contestants

Fourth season (2016)

Contestants

Fifth season (2017)

Contestants

Sixth season (2018)

The casting of the sixth season finished on January 15, 2018, 150 of the 23.000 participant was chosen to be challengers, in which only 15 will be candidates to win the program. It was released on April 22, 2018 in La 1. It will be the most demanding season. Despite being pregnant,

will not be replaced, although she will be absent after the 6th episode.

Contestants

Seventh season (2019)

Contestants

Eighth season (2020)

The show begun on April 14, 2020. Almost 30,000 people attended the castings but only 50 went to the final phase where the judges decided which one attended the first task. For the first time in the series, due to no eliminated contestant managing to cook a decent enough dish in the repechage episode, no one was brought back by the judges. Instead, they gave candidates eliminated in the last casting process a second chance to join the kitchens. Carlos won and entered the show.

Contestants

Ninth season (2021)

In episode 6, two frontline workers that couldn't participate in the last casting stage due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

were given a second chance to enter the game as they'll battle for a white apron and the chance to enter the game. José beat Nando, and entered the kitchens.

Contestants

Tenth season (2022)

Contestants

Eleventh season (2023)

Contestants

Ratings

;Colour key (nominal): : – Highest rating during the season : – Lowest rating during the season

Awards

, - !rowspan=3, 2013 , Premios de la Crítica de

FesTVal FesTVal is the main Spanish annual television and radio festival which takes place in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Country of northern Spain. The festival, an initiative of the ''Asociación Cultural Fila 2'', began in 2009 and runs d ...

, ''Best interesting program'' , rowspan=6, ''MasterChef Spain'' , rowspan=6 style="background:#9EFF9E;color:#000", Winner , , - ,

Lovie Awards The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences or IADAS is an international organization founded in 1998 in New York City to help drive the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and evolving forms of interactive and ...

, ''Best TV program'' , , - ,

Premios Ondas The Premios Ondas (Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio ...

, rowspan=2, ''Best entertaining program'' , , - !2014 , Premios Zapping , , - !2018 , Premios Iris , ''Best production'' , , - !2020 ,

, ''Best entertaining program'' ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masterchef Spain Spanish TV series 2013 Spanish television series debuts Spanish reality television series La 1 (Spanish TV channel) original programming Spanish television series based on British television series