‘Masterchef’ Is Already Making People Cry; Prepare For A Gut-Wrenching Season

The eighth season of Masterchef premiered last night and even though it’s still only the first round, with the final 24 contestants still yet to be chosen, they have already turned the emotional intensity up to 11.

It began with the regular hallmarks of Masterchef: people discussing their “food dreams” and how competing would be a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, which isn’t entirely accurate because contestants seem to come back all the time. We saw a teaser of all the guests to expect this season, including Nigella Lawson who told the judges that “food gives such… pleasure” while everyone sweated profusely.

Masterchef is renowned for serving up every dish with a side of sadness, but judging by social media, this may have been the most emotional season opener of all time.

Asked Mum how @masterchefau was: "Good, but a bit too much crying. More cooking less emotion would be nice." #MasterChefAU

— Ellie CK (@EllieCK) May 1, 2016

"My grandfather fell in a wood chipper."

"That's so sad. When?"

"About an hour ago. It's what he would have wanted for me."#MasterChefAU

— Stephen Murray (@smurray38) May 1, 2016

I'm not crying. You're crying. #MasterChefAU

— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 1, 2016

Her: Here's a half-finished mars bar I got from the 7-11…it's my dead grandad's favourite dish
Them: WELCOME TO MASTERCHEF#MasterChefAU

— Amy Gray (@_AmyGray_) May 1, 2016

Me watching #masterchefau right now https://t.co/CeNO6tUdTX pic.twitter.com/EaqiOExwga

— Osher Günsberg (@oshergunsberg) May 1, 2016

They didn’t need any salt in the Masterchef kitchen last night, because every dish was seasoned with tears.

One of the most moving stories was Melbourne teacher Cecilia, who was a contestant a few years ago but had to pull out due to a brain injury. She is also a single mum, who wants the apron to show her kids that “mummy is okay”. She also brought her kid Nathan, who despite having a rat’s tail, was very cute and kept shouting: “GOOD LUCK MUMMY!”

Sensing an opportunity, Matt made Nathan give his mum her apron and ticket to the top 24.

Immediately afterwards, a man named Matt decided to take on a risotto, despite it being a “death dish” that almost always fails on Masterchef. Matt is no longer scared of death, because his desire to be on Masterchef is so consuming that he even put his honeymoon on hold.

Matt cried so much in front of the judges that George actually said, “Why are you so emotional?” “I’m ready,” Matt said, voice cracking. “Make us proud,” the judges said.

The best thing was, every time a contestant seemed relatively balanced, the judges tried to noodle some sadness and tearful joy out of them. A woman named Zoe brought her adorable grandmothers along and when she didn’t have an enormous reaction to Matt Preston declaring that her jiggly panna cotta was “sexy” (which was upsetting for entirely different reasons), George brought her grandmothers into the judging room to raise the stakes.

But nothing could compare to the very worst story of the night. A young lady named Nicolette announced that she would be making a dish called “Grandpa’s Lemon and Raspberry”. Oh no. Because her grandpa had just died. Oh no. He had died TWO WEEKS AGO. No, no, no. SHE WAS USING THE LEMONS FROM HIS TREE.

Yep, looks like this year Masterchef is going to be laying it on very thick. However, there were moments of lightness! At one stage, a contestant did a rap about her panna cotta dish! The judges laughed and then tasted her dish, which was not very good. Probably should have spent less time on the rap and more time on the actual cooking, hey.

Welcome back, Masterchef!