EXCLUSIVE: Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins detail how the reality show has changed over the years.

MasterChef’s Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins reveal how the cooking show has changed since season one. Photos: Channel 10

MasterChef Australia has undergone several significant changes since its premiere in 2009. Not only did season one feature Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan, and George Calombaris as judges, but it was also filmed in Sydney and had journalist and author Sarah Wilson as the show’s host.

Arguably, one of the biggest changes to the series, however, is the overall difficulty for the contestants. While you might assume MasterChef has become more challenging over the years as the culinary world has evolved, season one finalist Chris Badenoch tells Yahoo Lifestyle this isn’t exactly true.

“The cast has a hell of a lot more equipment, time and scope [now]. We had no equipment – not enough for everyone, that’s for sure!” he details. “Everyone now is set up to succeed and to show off their skills. In season one, it felt like we were set up to fail, and only a few would fight their way through it.

“I remember when Gary would call a dish ‘crap’. Now, the judges seem complimentary toward everyone. Bring back the carnage!”

Chris competed on season one in 2009 and season 12 in 2020. Photos: Channel 10

‘Flying by the seat of its pants’

Fellow season one contestant Julia Jenkins, who has been married to Chris since 2013 after they found love on the show, adds that MasterChef was “really flying by the seat of its pants” during the first season.

“We had no equipment – there was no fridge until the last couple of weeks of the show – and no time. It literally was, ‘This is the challenge, go grab your ingredients, now cook’, all in the space of a few minutes,” she shares.

“Now, the contestants are given so much scope to create beautiful-looking food. They’ve got time to concept and plan, time to grab ingredients, time to cook, so much equipment, gorgeous plates – our choices for plates were white round or white square if you were trying to be fancy.”

MasterChef’s Chris Badenoch and Julia Jenkins reveal how the cooking show has changed since season one. Photos: Channel 10

How the challenges have changed over the years

Chris, who came second on MasterChef All-Stars in 2012 and returned for Back To Win in 2020, notes that the challenges are now “a lot more vague” with a larger scope and a more straightforward premise than when he first competed.

“Season one was hyper-specific, with so many more constraints. No time to plan, no time to shop, no time to cook, no time to think, and no equipment,” he shares. “Make an Italian dish with rabbit; you have one minute in the pantry, everything in the pantry has been moved around, one hour to cook, and you have maybe one pot and one frypan if you’re lucky – and no fridge.”

He adds that many of the early challenges were “laughable”, but the cupcake Mystery Box challenge in week six was the most ridiculous.

“We had 45 minutes to make a cupcake, with a recipe supplied, and all but a few failed miserably,” he recalls. “They had to restart the challenge to give half the group a chance to put something on the plate. That was a real eye-opener for me.”

Chris says it feels like the season one cast were ‘set up to fail’. Photo: Channel 10

Has MasterChef become ‘too hard’ for amateur chefs?

In addition to receiving more equipment, time, and simpler challenges, Chris points out that it’s much easier to compete on MasterChef now because contestants can study previous seasons.

“In season one, we had no idea what we faced minute to minute. The constraints of a challenge could change in the middle of a challenge, and the producers were literally making it up as they went along back then,” he remarks. “The cast now have over 15 years of reference material to draw from, so they know what works on the show.

“Basically, if you can follow a recipe, have some modicum of culinary creativity, and are good on TV, you can make it on MasterChef.”

Julia adds that MasterChef is meant to be hard for home cooks, and it wouldn’t be an entertaining show if everyone thought it was easy.

“The equipment, the time constraints, the recipes, the pressure, the challenges, they’re all completely unique to the MasterChef environment, not meant to be recreated at home,” she explains. “Once you’re on the show, though, your capacity to rise to the challenge would surprise you. So basically, if you’re good enough to make it on to the show, it’s not too hard, just hard.”