‘Masterchef SA’ judges and premiere date announced

Television fans of the popular cooking competition were relieved when M-Net announced the return of Masterchef South Africa last year.

The local version was cancelled in 2016 after three seasons. However, in August 2021, M-Net announced that a new season was set for February 2022 and the channel has now given more details.

On Sunday, they announced that chefs Zola Nene, Gregory Czarnecki, and food editor Justine Drake will be the new judges to help guide and crown the next Masterchef winner.

Beloved cooking personality Nene has appeared on numerous TV shows such as Expresso on SABC 3, and has two successful cookbooks – Simply Delicious and 2018’s Simply Zola.

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Czarnecki was the head chef of The Restaurant at Waterkloof, which unfortunately closed due to the pandemic, and he also won the coveted Chef of the Year award from Eat Out in 2016.

The third judge, Drake, is considered a legend in South African culinary spaces, the launch editor of the award-winning Fresh Living magazine, has worked in food media since 1988, and has authored five cookbooks.

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Having two female judges is not a norm for these types of shows, but content producer of Format Consultant which owns the rights of MasterChef, Dave De Bie said improving gender balance in the MasterChef franchise was key.

He said MasterChef SA is following suit, with the the likes of Israel, Norway, and Brazil who also all have two female experts on their panels.

Yolisa Phahle, CEO of general entertainment and connected video for MultiChoice said in a statement that they are excited about the return and that the new 20 home cook contestants are the cream of the crop.

“We have always had a rich crop of home chefs to choose from, but the pandemic has certainly created more, and this is the perfect time for MasterChef South Africa to make a comeback.”

The winner will win a grand prize of R1 million.

MasterChef SA season four premieres on Monday 28 February 2022 on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) at 6pm.

Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele