MasterChef Junior

I watched a few episodes of Season 1, but didn't really get into MasterChef Junior until Season 2, starting from about the 3rd or 4th episode.

First off, I must say that all these children can definitely cook. It's inspirational and shocking to see them so talented at such a young age, and to even think about what they could become in the future is jaw-dropping. Throughout the entire series, you can see their imagination and creativity flourishing in the dishes they make, and even their accomplishments wow the judges to no end.

However, even though I do enjoy watching these kids cook, and the judges aren't as strict and mean as they are on the adult version of MasterChef, I am not enjoying the arrogance and personalities portrayed by some kids.

On national television, TV personalities and in this instance, these kids should be role models for the youngsters watching this show. Yes, they can cook, which is inspiring, but there are many phrases and comments they say that should not have been in the show at all. They should have been edited out. Like others have said, bullying was present along with these kids giving each other snide, hurtful remarks. These are not scenes that you want your children to look at and learn from - after all, it is a show tailored towards kids of all ages. From the show, some of the kids act like they are know-it-alls and better than the rest, and when the judges praise them for their performance...that indirectly states that they're okay with that behaviour.

In an already tough and stressful world, we don't need more generations learning from such behaviour on television, especially a reality one with kids as a main audience.

If they could tone down the arrogance and spiteful remarks that these kids have for each other, and just keep the fun, playful and competitive components, then this show could have a lot of potential. As of Season 2, the amount of arrogance and bullying seen in the episodes has turned me off of watching future seasons.

Great fun program but in season 1 one of the children made me feel a bit worried. Sarah a 9yo really needs some attitude check by her parents. I get it is a competition but that's when you can see what they are really like as people interacting with others. She seems to lack empathy for others, enjoying when they mess it up and thriving when they get eliminated whilst the other kids get emotional showing sympathy for the other kids. Her saying you should keep your friends close but your enemies closer sounds like something you would hear from a sociopath adult not a 9 year old girl. Parents need to pay attention to these nasty behaviours while they are young, they will not always be small and cute and growing up without good values will not only hurt them but others.

That said, season 8: a kid named A'dan is the biggest punk I've ever seen on the show. Clearly his parents didn't raise him right. Little snot who can't get along with anyone. Self centered, bossy, and thinks he knows it all. Even the judges had to get him in line. Something his parents clearly never did ...

In the day and age we're in, facing a huge problem with bullying, I think last nights show was terrible. Troy bullied that little girl almost the whole time they were in the kitchen and he gets kudos for it. I know no one patted him on the back for it but the underlying message is that it's OK to have bullying, even in a working situation and it's NOT. Parents have a hard enough time trying to teach their kids the right way to treat people and last nights episode fell right through the cracks. I've worked in kitchens and that is just not acceptable! Kids have a hard enough time growing up as it is now. They are forced to be small adults before they're even ready too. To be accepting of that kind of behavior is wrong. There's enough bullying in school, on the playgrounds, and sadly in jobs to be allowing it to happen on a kids based show. I do agree that kids should learn; age appropriately, that there will be winners and losers and at some point you will be on each end of it. I do not however believe we should be promoting a winner as someone who treats people like Troy did, I don't care how good the kid cooks - teach the lessons parents are stressing to teach their children!!

I'm a fan of this along with the other Ramsay reality shows, LIke Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, and Masterchef (aduts).

The kids are precocious, to be sure. And one wonders how they can cook so well. But wonders about that in reference to the adult "home cooks" in their version.

I recall reading about the adult version that there are many cooking lessons and coaching going on behind the scenes, so to speak. This might explain why so many contestants (kids and adults) say things like, "I've learned so much while being here," or "Mary/Joe is one of my friends." I wouldn't learn a think just cooking something and having it judged, but I would if, along the way, I were being tutored in some way. I wouldn't have a friend there if I only encountered them while on the set and in competition.

There is a lot going on we never see. Duh.,

Anyway, one does wonder how they all -- kids and adults -- know basically how to make all this stuff. Like a macaroon. They all basically know how to proceed while admitting, "I've never made a macaroon before!" Oh? Then how did you produce one (good or bad)? None seem to do what I'd do . . . stand there and have no idea what the mixtures should be. They did not arrive there knowing how to basically make all this stuff.

Today watching Season 5, I started wondering if there were recipes taped to the counter or something, you know, how much flour to mix with how much powdered sugar, or whatever. What a Gnocchi is/are and how to make one.

OK. So none of that detracts from the show or its appeal to me. It's a produced show, I know, edited (heavily if not nearly dishonestly) and all that. I believe it's reasonable to assume the kids have some skills and, with proper tutoring, "get better" along the way (as they claim) and rise or fall on what we see broadcast: the details of the execution. I think of it as rehearsal. What we see is based on on the cooking itself, not on the vast knowledge they've supposedly (but couldn't possibly have) brought to the event from home.

I don't know if they get acting lessons or not, but they do all seem to have camera appeal, don't look in the cameras (not in the shots we see), and probably go through "make up" or something before entering the set. None are simply mumbling or drooling, but again, all we see is what the Directors and Editors want us to see.

It's like this. When the kid present the dish to the judge, there is often a slow pan over the dish obviously not filmed in real time. And the things the judges say just before a commercial break are only part of what they've supposedly said after the break, or after the break they aren't saying everything they said before the break. Etc. Basic editing. Sometimes, it's so obviously edited, I get annoyed.

Before the Break: "Holly, did you know the lamb was raw? Why did you cook it like that?"

After the Break, recapping what had happened before the break: "Holly, why did you cook it that way?"

It's the kind of editing CNN does to slant the news!

So, I take it as a SHOW, a production, a "product." The kids are usually enchanting, funny, quirky, emotional, enthusiastic -- the kinds of personalities that sell. I find myself rooting for this and liking that kid. As I do watching a movie, as intended. I just give myself to it, pretend it's real, and have a good time.

BTW, same with Kitchen Nightmares or Hell's Kitchen. I have no idea what "really" happens. Most of it is implausible in "real time."

I don't confuse "reality show" with "unedited footage of what took place" just as I don't confuse CNN "news" with "unedited reporting of what took place."

It's all theater.