Admittedly I don’t hate absolutely every show in existence which has something to do with food and cooking. In fact, there some reality cooking shows I really like, as one would probably expect of a chef, like the one with a dude whom I believe is called Anthony Bourdain. I’ve caught one or two of his shows, but the one I really like is the one which infuses an element of travel where he goes all around the world and hooks up with locals that have a flair for cooking, some of whom even cook professionally.

The reality cooking shows I despise are those which follow the classic format of a reality show, such as Masterchef and the likes.

There’s not much variety

While there’s definitely quite a bit of variety in the types of foods prepared on the show, the lack of variety I’m referring to is that of the format of the show. You’re basically watching the same thing over and over again, just with different characters who are essentially the “stars” of the show, because we all know there’s very little “reality” about reality shows. You know exactly what to expect and the only real difference further is perhaps the commentary, otherwise it can get boring very fast having to watch pretty much the same thing season after season.

Individual character and style seem to be discouraged

Any self-respecting chef prides themselves on what is essentially their signature dish and a signature dish doesn’t necessarily have to be a brand new invention nobody anywhere has ever heard of. Rather, a signature dish is often one’s personal touch added to an existing dish, making it uniquely delicious to the extent that it can be referred to as the chef’s specialty if not their signature dish. This individual character and style which basically makes up what a chef is appears to be discouraged in reality cooking shows. The so-called judges would naturally have different taste palates and preferences, so I mean a billion people worldwide may perhaps love a dish which the judges themselves don’t actually take a liking to.

Over commercialization

Stick around for the ad breaks and you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about in reference to over commercialization. It’s gotten to a point where you can’t even anticipate when the show will be cutting to an ad break and it gets worse. The commercials aired rather annoyingly get delivered as a play on what has been going on in the show proper, which means the advertisers got to see the show before everybody else and plan their ads around the contents of the episode. It’s all a bit too much for me.

Fake drama

The fake drama made for the last nail hammered into the coffin for me. I absolutely despise the staged drama, with the judge-like characters often going overboard with their dressing down of the participating chefs. This is one of the many reasons why I could only stomach (excuse the pun) watching some of these classic reality TV format cooking shows for just one season, which in itself proved to be a dragged out commitment.