History YMMV / MasterChef

*** David Martinez, so much so that when eight previously-eliminated contestants were competing to return to the competition, virtually all of them said that he did not deserve to still be in the running.

*** Elise would also rank here with multiple failures, including barely skating by the first episode, baking pies (which were supposed to be her specialty) that didn't rank highly. She seemed more lucky than anything though, as she has either been on the winning team or been spared from elimination/pressure tests. She was finally eliminated in episode nine after suffering a borderline mental breakdown, then being unable to make ''pasta''.

** Season 5's Courtney originally impressed fans with her backstory of having had to work as an "aerial dancer" to make ends meet in college, but the way she subsequently played up her image by flirting with the judges and constantly showing off her expensive heels (which got many close-ups during episodes) make many fans feel like she was a hypocrite for playing off a glamorous job as a sob story. And while she was a strong cook, her mistakes were often overlooked while other contestants were eliminated for much smaller mistakes (the most infamous example being when she added salt instead of sugar to her donut dough, but was kept on over Kira who's only mistake was under-filling her donuts.), leading to Ahran and Elizabeth openly calling the judges out for playing favorites.

** Season 4 was seen as this by some fans, being considered to the weakest season and quite a downfall from the well liked Season 3, mainly because of so many contestants being out of focus to the point where we barely got to know some of them at all, and the heavy focus and emphasis on drama and contestants with bad attitudes (namely Krissi and also Natasha) rather than on the cooking itself.
** US Season 5 went straight back to this, especially after the winner was revealed. Most of what can be said has been said above.

** Despite attempts to fix what made last season not well-liked by fans and seemingly more talented contestants, US Season 10 is hit with this again. The producers didn't fix their one-note characters problem (glaring examples include Wuta who seemingly made being a vegetarian in this show a big deal yet again and Sarah who constantly mentioned her military background), the judges and contestants overhyped the season by making "Season 10" as one of their stock phrase, and the show treated earlier seasons and ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'' like lesser cooking shows by comparing bad dishes to them as an insult. Doesn't help that beginning with Episode 4, the show aired two episodes per week with one challenge per episode, meaning the elimination would not happen until the next episode (although this thankfully ended beginning with Episode 18 where the challenge and elimination happened in the same episode) It also has one of the show's most contreversial finales.

*** Can also count for Mike and especially Stacey during the episode where several contestants were brought back for a chance to return to the competition. The two who moved on for a chance to return were [[spoiler:Josh and Ryan]] who made, respectively, a chocolate mousse and pomegranate sauce with a quite unappealing presentation, and a simple pork chop dish. On the other hand, Mike made a chocolate flan that looked beautiful and was flavorful (also counting that making a good flan in one hour is a nigh impossible task) and Stacey also made great looking and tasty ravioli and even managed to make her own homemade pasta and ricotta cheese, something that astonished the judges, but despite these great dishes, both were passed over. Even season 2 contestant Ben Starr wrote in his blog that he felt Mike and Stacey got robbed.

** Season 5 has [[InSeriesNickname Scottish]] [[CloudCuckooLander Francis]].

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Many commenters on masterchef Indonesia Youtube videos criticise later seasons for showing too much drama and existence of [[SmugSnake characters who can only talk smack without showing much cooking skill]], often praising the first two seasons for the lack of it. Not many people realize that the earlier seasons already had these dramas beforehand. In fact, the Black Team members specifically consisted of people who had beef with at least one of the remaining contestants and by extensions, Black Team Duel was specifically made to capitalize on the drama (e.g. Fero, member of Black team in Season 1 who got her spot back from Henry who voted her out in a spike elimination). This was often forgotten because culinary competition like Masterchef in Indonesia was a very new concept it became a hit, the challenges were quite creative, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Bad Boy Juna was such an eyecandy]].

** Indonesia's Season 7 had the contestants tasked to create a noodle dish drom scratch. Chika, Nindy, and Yuri didn't manage to finish their dishes and were called up to the front.
'''You'd expect''': For Yuri to know her mistakes on why she didn't complete her dish, as she didn't have seasoning, topping, or any other things outside of her freshly boiled noodles on her dish.
'''Instead''': She insists that she is done because she had her noodles boiled, which enrages chef Arnold who clearly knew that isn't the only thing she had to do to finish her dish.
'''As a result''': Chef Arnold sent all three of them straight to pressure test, much to Nindy's annoyance as well.

* MoralEventHorizon: Arnold Poernomo, judge of the Indonesian version, crossed the line when during Season 8's comeback challenge he made a "prank" telling one of the candidates to bring back her white apron... [[YankTheDogsChain and throw them to the trash bin]]. Arnold's reputation had been on thin ice in the season because he tried too hard to be a mean judge, and him giving false hope to a contestant who had been pushing herself too hard makes himself look apathetic.

** An interesting case of an auditionee of Indonesia's Season 6, Uci, who failed her audition to make into the competition after her subpar dish. But instead of handing out her apron like other failed auditionees, she constantly tries to beg for another chance to make it in. The judges have none of her excuses, and constantly tries to explain that she had failed the audition and need to get out of here. Eventually, Chef Arnold lost all of his patience for her, and straight up just cut and rip her apron off in front of her. It's safe to say that most of the viewers agreed that Uci's constant plead is annoying and Arnold's rage at her is completely justified.

** Many Indonesian fans believe that some of the contestants in Indonesia's Season 7 were being overly bitchy[[note]]or rather, were encouraged to be so for the sake of drama and "competitive atmosphere"[[/note]] at each other during ConfessionCam, continuously giving condescending comments when others make mistake or get negative comment from the judges. The worst scrappies goes to Vicky and the JKT48 idol Yuri ended up being the most hated due to their incompentence yet bitchy behavior towards others as well. And them being the constant {{EliminationHoudini}} doesn't help their status at all. Clava on the top 5 is also hated for her bitchiness despite her being quite compentent among the batch.

** Many Indonesian fans believe that contestants in Indonesia's Season 7 were being overly bitchy[[note]]or rather, were encouraged to be so for the sake of drama and "competitive atmosphere"[[/note]] at each other during ConfessionCam, continuously giving condescending comments when others make mistake or get negative comment from the judges. Viewers also notice some of the drama between the judges and contestants were made of misunderstanding that people suspected the judges blew out of proportion, which clashed horribly with tons and tons of jokes that they made throughout the season.

* VindicatedByHistory: In recent years, Season 4 seems to be getting this treatment with some fans calling it one of the best seasons in the US version. This is also likely attributed to Seasons 9-11 being seen as too gimmicky and or boring.

*** Alejandro who's been in the bottom three times in the first five episodes, while all the other contestants have been bottom either once or not at all.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Season 4 of ''[=MasterChef=] Italy'' was victim of this after the infotainment show ''Striscia la Notizia'' seemingly revealed that the season's winner, Stefano Callegaro, had a past career as professional chef, which would have made him ineligible to be accepted as a contestant at all. This resulted in a massive lawsuit which saw participation even from eliminated contestants of that season. Years later the jury determined that Stefano's career prior to ''[=MasterChef=]'' constituted no form of professional chef and his participation was legitimate, but his reputation isn't still entirely rebuilt.

** Nadia and Eugene's double elimination in Canada Season 5 is seen as this by some. Both of them presented decent albeit flawed dishes while Becky, the other contestant on the chopping block receives very negative comment on her dish yet was the one saved instead.
** Andrew's elimination in Canada Season 7 is very polarizing among fans. For the back to win season, he was definitely one of the most improved contestants of the bunch, with him making dishes with poise and finesse that paid tribute to his culture and mother's cooking. Many fans predicted him to be within the top three, yet his slip ups for his semifinal dish sadly put him at fourth place.

* BaseBreakingCharacter:

** Season 11 (Legends) has become this, partially due to adjustments needing to be made to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and health protocols. While no field team challenges is justified, other changes include doing away with pair team challenges and pressure tests, leading to every contestant being OutOfFocus as well.

** Kaila from ''[=MasterChef=] Canada'' season 1 has similar traits with US Season 5's Leslie. She's a good individual  homecook but is fairly hard to cooperate with in team challenges which ended up making her go through every pressure tests available that season except for the one in Top 6, narrowingly escapes elimination in two of them.

** Daniar from Indonesia Season 5 had to go through 4 pressure tests in a row on the first 4 episodes, two of which she got sent directly from the first challenge to pressure test because she screwed up badly in one and not being able to complete her dish on another. In total, she had to go through 7 pressure tests including on her elimination episode, but she consistently produced good dishes in them to the point that other contestants and viewers call her "Queen of Pressure Test."

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Many commenters on masterchef Indonesia Youtube videos criticise later seasons for showing too much drama and existence of [[SmugSnake characters who can only talk smack without showing much cooking skill]], often praising the first two seasons for the lack of it. Not many people realize that the earlier seasons already had these drama problems beforehand. In fact, the Black Team members specifically consisted of people who had beef with at least one of the remaining contestants and by extensions, Black Team Duel was specifically made to capitalize on those drama (e.g. Fero, member of Black team in Season 1 who got her spot back from Henry who voted her out in a spike elimination). This was often forgotten because culinary competition like Masterchef in Indonesia was a very new concept it became a hit, the challenges were variative and quite creative, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Bad Boy Juna was such an eyecandy]].

.

* MemeticMutation:[=MasterChef=] US's judge Joe Bastianch's infamous "trash can dunk."

** Despite attempts to fix what made last season not well-liked by fans and seemingly more talented contestants, US Season 10 is hit with this again. The producers didn't fix their one-note characters problem (glaring examples include Wuta who seemingly made being a vegetarian in this show a big deal yet again and Sarah who constantly mentioned her military background), the judges and contestants overhyped the season by making "Season 10" as one of their stock phrase, and the show treated earlier seasons and ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'' like lesser cooking shows by comparing bad dishes to them as an insult. Doesn't help that beginning with Episode 4, the show aired two episodes per week with one challenge per episode, meaning the elimination would not happen until the next episode (although this thankfully ended beginning with Episode 18 where the challenge and elimination happened in the same episode).
** Season 11 (Legends) has become this, largely due to adjustments needing to be made to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and health protocols. While no field team challenges is justified, other changes include doing away with pair team challenges and pressure tests, leading to every contestant being OutOfFocus as well.

*** Alejandro

** Season 11 (Legends) has become this due to[[doing away with pressure tests and team challenges leading to every contestant being OutOfFocus as well.

*** Subha was very popular among contestants for his star moments during Pressure Tests and how much he cared for his family. If it wasn't for his troubles during the challenges, he could've won the season.

*** The final three had fan favorites such as Jason (being AsianAndNerdy in the best kind), Eboni (a person who proved people like Jeff wrong with her cooking abilities) and Dino (a blend of CrazyAwesome with a eccentric personality [[spoiler:who went on to win that season]]).

** Season 11 (Legends) has become this due to[[doing away with pressure tests and team challenges LateInstallmentWeirdness]] also leading to every contestant being OutOfFocus as well as

** Tracy from US season 2; despite being acknowledged by many of the other contestants as the most talented cook from that year and never having a single bad comment for any of her dishes, she got booted at 6th after she made some comparatively minor mistakes in a pressure test. Since the judges offered to send her to culinary school and employ her at any of their restaurants, this has led to suspicions that either the judges thought she was over qualified for the largely publicity-based role that the winner gets and wanted to help her break into the culinary world for real, or that the producers just didn't like her.

* VindicatedByHistory:In recent years, Season 4 seems to be getting this treatment with some fans calling it the best season in the US version It also helps that it has one of the most popular winners. This is also likely attributed to Seasons 9-11 being seen as too gimmicky and or boring.

** US season 4's Bri and season 5's Jaimee, with their simpler style of clothing, glasses and amiable attitudes.

** Gordon Ramsay, during the season 2 auditions, upon learning that a lady named Pauline is from Glasgow, his own hometown.

** US Season 3:

** US Season 8:

** US season 6 has Hetal, who is well liked for not just being nice and a hard worker, but also for her consistently good performances, even managing to perfectly replicate Gordon's beef wellington despite not being able to taste it due to being a Hindu vegetarian.

** US Season 11 - Legends has Suu Khin who became an instant hint for her wholesome backstory and heartfelt dish -- Burmese coconut noodle soup -- that wowed all four judges. It also helps that she's the first Burmese contestant on the show.

** US Season 4 is seen as this by some fans, being considered to the weakest season and quite a downfall from the well liked Season 3, mainly because of so many contestants being out of focus to the point where we barely got to know some of them at all, and the heavy focus and emphasis on drama and contestants with bad attitudes (namely Krissi and also Natasha) rather than on the cooking itself.

** U.S Season 9. See ScrappyMechanic for more information.

* VindicatedByHistory:
In recent years, Season 4 seems to be getting this treatment with some fans calling it the best season in the US version It also helps that it has one of the most popular winners. This is also likely attributed to Seasons 9-11 being seen as too gimmicky and or boring.

* BrokenBase:
The U.S. version is divided on who is better between Joe Bastianich or Christina Tosi as the third judge. People either prefer Joe's harsh and deadpan style along with his on-point criticism on dishes, while his detractors accuse him of being unnecessarily cruel to the contestants (mostly because of his infamous "Trash Can Toss" moments) and points out he doesn't have notable experience in the kitchen. On the other hand, Christina is supported for being the only female in the panel, while her detractors dismiss her relevance because she's a pastry chef, and many of her reactions in comments are criticized as either very exaggerated for drama, badly acted (even though Joe arguably suffers a similar problem regarding this), or for having a condescending tone which contrasts her [[NiceGirl other appearances]] in public.

* MemeticMutation:
** [=MasterChef=] US's judge Joe Bastianch's infamous "trash can dunk."

[[/folder]]

[[folder: International Versions]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Masterchef Junior]]
[[/folder]]

* AdaptationDisplacement: Anyone remember the ''original'' original UK series? Billing itself as "the grand prix of amateur chefs", the show then was similar in principle to the remake where three chefs cooking in colour coded "kitchens" would serve three courses of their devising. Hosted by Lloyd Grossman (who lent it a very fancy upmarket feel), it was significantly more sedate than the current version to the point it could be called an adaptation InNameOnly. The show pre-dated most RealityShow genre clichés, being firmly in TheNineties, and was a lot more straightforward with chefs being judged entirely on food quality. The sad thing is it's near impossible to find episodes and it has led to a version of SequelDisplacement for those entirely unfamiliar with it, so much so that none of the examples for this show refer to it besides this one.

** Jorge, the Molecular Biology Doctor from the Spanish version S2. His courgette chaperonines will always be remembered.
** Season 5 has [[InSeriesNickname Scottish]] [[CloudCuckooLander Francis]].
** Canada Season 3 has Mary, with her huge green glasses, bright red lipstick and {{Squee}} upon meeting astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield.
* ArchivePanic: While the Australian version is generally regarded as the best one of the show, most fans are put off by it simply because each season is ''63'' episodes long, aka filming ''every single day'' in the week of the show including the [=MasterClass=] segment as a full-length episode, generally agreed to be the most boring parts of the show. Thankfully, the Junior version seems to learn their lessons and is only about 20 episodes long for each seasons.

* BrokenBase:
** Thanks to the giant amount of differences between each version of the show, many fans completely disagree on which version is the best. On one side generally you'll find fans of the American version, calling out the British version of the show as seemingly lacking personality, focusing almost entirely on the food aspect. The other side generally calls out the American version for bad editing and a heightened focus on drama and personality above anything else.
** That said, the Australian version of the show is generally seen as a good solid middle ground between the personality focus of the American series and the food focus of the British series; thanks to that (and a few other miscellaneous reasons), most fans seem to gravitate towards that as being the best. The Canadian version is also well liked due to its kinder judges and contestants and being conducted in almost the exact same manner as the American version except without the unnecessary drama, although there are a few moments that have attracted disdain from viewers (specifically season 1 which was a blatant copy of the American series including multiple rivalries between consestants, angry and rude judges and a lot of swearing).
** The U.S. version is divided on who is better between Joe Bastianich or Christina Tosi as the third judge. People either prefer Joe's harsh and deadpan style along with his on-point criticism on dishes, while his detractors accuse him of being unnecessarily cruel to the contestants (mostly because of his infamous "Trash Can Toss" moments) and points out he doesn't have notable experience in the kitchen. On the other hand, Christina is supported for being the only female in the panel, while her detractors dismiss her relevance because she's a pastry chef, and many of her reactions in comments are criticized as either very exaggerated for drama, badly acted (even though Joe arguably suffers a similar problem regarding this), or for having a condescending tone which contrasts her [[NiceGirl other appearances]] in public.

** In [=MasterChef=] Junior:
*** Quani Fields from Season 6 scored the bottom of the top chefs more times than he won any challenges throughout the season, and his '''''only''''' victory is an individual challenge which automatically sent him to the finals.
** Kaila from ''[=MasterChef=] Canada'' season 1 has similar traits with US Season 5's Leslie. She's a good individual homecook but is fairly hard to cooperate with in team challenges which ended up making her go through every pressure tests available that season except for the one in Top 6, narrowingly escapes elimination in two of them.
** Of the ten episodes of the Chilean version, Annelore was up for elimination in six. Karla joked that she has a pact with the devil or Hitler.
** Gleice from season 3 of ''[=MasterChef=] Brasil'' was very much a controversial competitor. While she was able to make several dishes that received praise from the judges, she also had made quite a few that were unforgivably bad. Among these were her macarons, which tasted terrible and had the consistency of chewed gum but were still able to save her from elimination, ensuring that fan-favorite Gabriella went home on that challenge, which left many viewers unhappy. When she was eventually eliminated, she came back the following episode, where she cooked, once again, one of the episode's worst dishes. She was eventually eliminated once again, placing 12th, which most viewers cheered over. Many claimed that she got preferential treatment in the show because of her race, which only lead to an even broken base in regards to Gleice.
** Daniar from Indonesia Season 5 had to go through 4 pressure tests in a row on the first 4 episodes, two of which she got sent directly from the first challenge to pressure test because she screwed up badly in one and not being able to complete her dish on another. In total, she had to go through 7 pressure tests including on her elimination episode, but she consistently produced good dishes in them to the point that other contestants and viewers call her "Queen of Pressure Test."
** Canada Edition:
*** Season 4's Thea. She had the misfortune of being in almost every Elimination Test and Pressure Test and was in the Bottom more times than any other chef. Still, she somehow survived over stronger chefs that made mistakes at the worst possible moment and she was able to make it to the finale.
*** Season 7's Andy. Despite being a runner-up from Season 5, Andy quickly proved to be one of the most inconsistent chefs in that season. His dishes were only above average from the rest and he was in the bottom four times (more than any other chef who competed). But somehow, he survived and managed to make a last-minute comeback in the penultimate episode with two strong performances that were good enough to make it to the finale with Christopher and Thea.

** Dara from US ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'' Season 1, who not only became the first (and to date, only) US contestant to make it to the final without ever once being put up for elimination, but didn't get a single bad comment about any of the dishes she made in the entire course of the season. (There's one incident when her blue cheese soufflé didn't rise, but it was in the mystery box challenge where judges usually chose three dish they deem the best so it doesn't count.) By contrast that season's eventual winner, Alexander won more challenges overall, but also had a couple of absolutely disastrous dishes along the way.
** Season two of the Junior version has three of them. The quiet and kind 12 year old Sean, the highly energetic 9 year old Oona, and the always positive 8 year old Abby. All three are beloved by fans for their personalities and raw talent.

** The Chilean version has Eliana. Most adorable grandma ever on TV.

** ''[=MasterChef=] Canada'' 2 had David, a high school drop out who wanted to make a change for him and his family. He was a very consistent performer, and had a great attitude. Many viewers were elated when he won.
** Brazilian Season 1 managed to give viewers many likable contestants. The best received were:
*** Elisa, a young girl who had a bit of a slow start but managed to become a challenge winning juggernaut right to the top, becoming the season's champion.
*** Helena and Lucio, a married couple who got into the show. They were both shown as very nice people and their love and commitment to each other even in the competition was beautiful to watch. Both are also very competent cooks.
*** Flavio, TheChessmaster and one of the most technical cooks who appeared on the show.
** Brazil Season 2:
*** Jiang, a young and perky Chinese lady who lives in Brazil managed to win everyone's hearts with her incredible charisma and awesome looking dishes. She sometimes has trouble forming and speaking sentences in Portuguese which is just adorable.
*** Similarly, Carla has gathered a lot of sympathy from her fellow contestants due to her amiability and soft-spoken but confident tone, and always [[TeamMom expressing genuine concern towards people on team challenges]]. When she was eliminated, Lucas was ''crying''.
*** Cristiano, a man from Bahia with a calm demeanor, but is also quite witty whenever someone gets under his skin also has quite a number of people who sympathizes with him.
** From Brazil's Junior, almost every contestant has been very well received, but Aisha and Matheus stand out for their sheer cuteness. Daphne is well liked for her amazing focus for a 13 year old girl. Sofia has great technique and is funny to watch. Also, Valentina became a fan favorite due to support given to her because she was a victim of several pedophile comments on Twitter in her first appearance.
** Reynold Poernomo from Australia became this not just in Australia, but for the franchise in general. Thanks to Youtube videos displaying some of his best desserts as well as his pleasant demeanor and personality, Reynold has become one of the most widely recognized and popular contestants of any [=MasterChef=] edition worldwide.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Many commenters on masterchef Indonesia Youtube videos criticise later seasons for showing too much drama and existence of [[SmugSnake characters who can only talk smack without showing much cooking skill]], often praising the first two seasons for the lack of it. Not many people realize that the earlier seasons already had these drama problems beforehand. In fact, the Black Team members specifically consisted of people who had beef with at least one of the remaining contestants and by extensions, Black Team Duel was specifically made to capitalize on those drama (e.g. Fero, member of Black team in Season 1 who got her spot back from Henry who voted her out in a spike elimination). This was often forgotten because culinary competition like Masterchef in Indonesia was a very new concept it became a hit, the challenges were variative and quite creative, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Bad Boy Juna was such an eyecandy]].
* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** In the third episode of ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'''s third season, Gordon and Graham, wearing old-age makeup are revealed to be in a mystery box, but Joe isn't. They say he didn't make it, and soon comes Joe right behind them in a motorscooter. This becomes a bit less funny as Joe left the show at the end of the season.
** Season five's Leslie gained a reputation for being argumentative and confrontational on the show, although he seemed to grow out of it in the end. Shortly after the season ended, he was arrested for [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2817149/Melissa-Joan-Hart-s-stepfather-Leslie-Gilliams-taken-police-custody-Florida-Halloween.html brawling in public]], although charges were not filed.

** Spain's Season 3 had "León come gamba" (Lion eats shrimp), which got its creator eliminated.
** After the furor over "crispy" Rendang subsided, many Malaysians, Indonesians and Singaporeans turned the "Crispy" Rendang chicken into an internet sensation, sometimes accompanied with the #[=CrispyRendang=] hashtag. Even some official businesses like KFC, Tesco, and Malaysian Airlines made fun of it. And the icing on the cake? It became an AscendedMeme when the contestant in question released a cookbook titled, lo and behold, [[https://www.amazon.com/Rendang-Isnt-Crispy-Favourite-Malaysian/dp/981484151X "My Rendang Isn't Crispy"]].

* OvershadowedByControversy: Season 4 of ''[=MasterChef=] Italy'' was victim of this after the infotainment show ''Striscia la Notizia'' seemingly revealed that the season's winner, Stefano Callegaro, had a past career as professional chef, which would have made him ineligible to be accepted as a contestant at all. This resulted in a massive lawsuit which saw participation even from eliminated contestants of that season. Years later the jury determined that Stefano's career prior to ''[=MasterChef=]'' constituted no form of professional chef and his participation was legitimate, but his reputation isn't still entirely rebuilt.

** Paula from the Chilean version is not very likable. And her obvious botox makes doesn't help. Annelore due to her EliminationHoudini status.
** Brazil's season 1 gave us some contestants who were seem as arrogant and annoying, as they clearly feel anger when listening to the judges criticism and can't work in groups. Sandra and Marli are good examples. Also, there's Jamilly, who was TheScrappy both in and out universe.
** Brazil's season 2 gave us Fernando and Aritana, who were NOT well received by general public. Both have problems taking criticism and on team challenges they were leaders both had similar problems managing the team and quickly losing their temper when someone did not follow or merely questioned any order they issued.
*** In Aritana's case, people disliked her because of her father, a wealthy businessman. The chefs knew him and people started thinking she was "protected" from elimination because of this.
** In Brazil's ''Junior'', Ivana is disliked due to a situation similar to what happened in season 2 (read above). Her case is actually even worst than Aritana's, as her father is the CEO of Google's Brazilian Branch and she's still in the game even after committing several mistakes, which were worse than other contestants who were eliminated. People also dislike her because she cries too much, but it's something to be expected from a nine-year-old.
** Brazil's season 3 gave us Fabio, Luriana and Bruna. Even if they were good contestants, they were excessively competitive and were rather antagonistic towards the others. Fabio was obsessed with perfection, Luriana was way too aggressive and Bruna is a great example of BitchInSheepsClothing who had many annoying quirks, like naming her ingredients.
** Canada's Season 3 had Sean, who single-handedly cost his team the victory in the very first team challenge. He constantly insisted on opening the smoker early to check on the ribs, despite team captain Matthew ordering him several times to not touch the smoker. Eventually Sean blatantly disobeyed Matthew's orders and opened the smoker, which resulted in the ribs not being as tender as the other team's ribs, costing Matthew's team the victory. Sean's mistake and his [[NeverMyFault refusal to accept responsibility]] for it firmly landed him here for many a viewer.
** Way, way too many to mention in Chile's 4th season. Almost every contestant became this, as the majority of them formed cliques who would behave like snobs and complete jerks to other competitors who weren't a part of their clique, and even more egregiously, during elimination challenges, members of cliques who were safe up in the balcony would outright tell their friends in the challenge exactly what to cook to save themselves and how to cook it, something that is forbidden in other countries' versions of the show, all of which had viewers enraged.
*** Joining most of the contestants in the Scrappy heap for that season was judge Fernanda Fuentes, who took the "mean judge" role and ran with it. She was TheStoic to the extreme, hyper critical of even the smallest mistakes, barely complimented good dishes, and would [[StopHavingFunGuys get nasty with contestants who smiled and/or laughed during cooking as well as judging, accusing them of not respecting food and cooking]], essentially coming across as an overly strict complete {{Jerkass}} the whole time she was there. Yet despite all this, she never tried to stop the contestants who were safe from basically walking their at-risk friends in elimination challenges through the dishes they had to make.
** Many Indonesian fans believe that contestants in Indonesia's Season 7 were being overly bitchy[[note]]or rather, were encouraged to be so for the sake of drama and "competitive atmosphere"[[/note]] at each other during ConfessionCam, continuously giving condescending comments when others make mistake or get negative comment from the judges. Viewers also notice some of the drama between the judges and contestants were made of misunderstanding that people suspected the judges blew out of proportion, which clashed horribly with tons and tons of jokes that they made throughout the season.

** The spin-off, ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'', was seen as this even before it began, with fans feeling it would be a dumbed-down version of the show because of the competitors being children, and also feeling that having Gordon Ramsay on it would mean the children would be yelled at. But eventually averted this, being well received by fans and critics alike thanks to the focus on good food and the culinary skills of the contestants, the fact that the judges are positive yet firm and never spoil the kids, and also because it strays away from the drama that has plagued the adult version since Season 4, with the children being kind, helpful and supportive towards each other.

** By now it has become a zig-zag, as the US ''[=MasterChef=] Junior'' is now receiving high praise (with some news writers calling it the best reality competition on television), especially when compared to season 5 of the adult version.

** Marion in the second season of the Australian version. Even her fellow competitors thought this in-universe.
** The double elimination of Brandon and Babalwa in the SA version, followed by Guy in the next episode.

** Vern and then Rishi in ''Australia'' Season 5. Vern's came halfway through the series despite being a clear favourite to win, and then Rishi bombs out after getting to Top 4 and being acknowledged as the biggest competition for everyone remaining.
** Tammara and Kaila in the Canada version. They made it to the top 4 and were generally considered to be two of the strongest, if not ''the'' strongest competitors of the bunch, and were eliminated one after another for relatively minor mistakes on good dishes.

** US Master Chef Junior 2:
*** Sean is eliminated in the final six after the team he's in loses the challenge. Out of the whole team (himself, Samuel and Oona) he had been the most consistently strong young cook, and in that very same challenge, everything he cooked was properly done, whereas Samuel, who was saved over Sean, had served soggy fish.
*** The following episode sees the elimination of both Abby and Adaiah. On Abby's case, the salmon she cooked ended up rather overcooked, but taking everything into account, this had been her actual first negative review of anything she had cooked in the competition (her only other criticism before this being her shepherd's pie needing a bit more salt), whereas Adaiah's dish had everything perfectly prepared and was tasty, but it had a smell (not taste) of burnt garlic. Despite the fact that they had been the two most consistently strong young cooks in the final four, they were eliminated in favor of keeping Logan and Samuel, who had also made mistakes in this episode, with Logan serving raw vegetables and Samuel's salmon having some overcooked parts.
** US Junior's season 4 had eight year old Kya's elimination in the Top 6. From the very beginning and despite being the youngest out of all the 24 contestants, Kya had proven herself as one of the strongest contestants, usually at the top of the pack, winning challenges and almost never making any mistakes while displaying skills and knowledge of food well beyond her years. In the Top 6 team challenge, Kya she made only one mistake, yet the team she was in lost mainly due to fellow contestant JJ becoming flustered and committing many mistakes (including spilling contents from a burning hot pan onto Gordon Ramsay's leg and foot). Ultimately Kya was eliminated alongside JJ, angering many fans, who felt that Kya deserved a chance to stay and make the next challenges be a Top 5 (ignoring the fact that Junior episodes eliminate more than one contestants to soften the blow for them) to go down to the Top 2 finale.
** US Junior's season 6 had Ariana. She was the first girl to get her apron and she had been consistently a strong cook up until her elimination in egg yolk ravioli challenge along with Sammy and Henry. While her mistake of overly thick pasta was bad, Anthony arguably made worse mistake by being the only one who overcooked his egg yolk.

** In Brazil season 5, Crisleine and Kaue were eliminated in episode 7. The shocking part came because the Brazilian viewers had a LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt about the announcement of multiple eliminations being possible in a single challenge, believing to be just a stunt to raise the dramatic tension, and many were surprised to see the chefs going through with it.
** Nadia and Eugene's double elimination in Canada Season 5 is seen as this by some. Both of them presented decent albeit flawed dishes while Becky, the other contestant on the chopping block receives very negative comment on her dish yet was the one saved instead.
** Andrew's elimination in Canada Season 7 is very polarizing among fans. For the back to win season, he was definitely one of the most improved contestants of the bunch, with him making dishes with poise and finesse that paid tribute to his culture and mother's cooking. Many fans predicted him to be within the top three, yet his slip ups for his semifinal dish sadly put him at fourth place.
* ToughActToFollow: ''[=MasterChef=] Peru'' had a poor reception, considering that Chile, Argentina and Brazil had done well. The failure is mostly attributed to the poor production, the lack of focus on the contestants, and the stiff delivery from the host and judges.
* UnderdogsNeverLose: In at least two episodes where an odd number of contestants remained in a team challenge, the team with one member less than the other won the challenge.
** In Masterchef Canada's three-way team challenge, Red and Blue team are usually filled with early-spotted frontrunners while Green teams are either filled by underdogs/weak homecooks, strong homecooks who captained the losing team in the previous team challenges, or in a rare instance team members who can't get along with each other. Out of ''all four challenges'' available so far, Green team always wins.
** In Season 7, Episode 10 of US ''Masterchef Junior'', the teams didn't ''start'' uneven, but the Blue Team lost most of the usefulness of one of its members midway through the challenge: 8-year-old Reid was badly burned on his right hand when he turned a rack of lamb the wrong way, causing the hot oil in the pan to splatter. {{Determinator}} that he was, Reid still managed to motivate his teammates and perform smaller tasks one-handed while cooling his injured hand in an ice bath, however, and the Blue Team eventually won the challenge.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Sintia from ''[=MasterChef=] Indonesia Season 6'' had a middling performance since the first episode, never once catching the judges' attention. Other contestants began suspecting her for having an off-camera affair with the show's crew disguised as offhand comments (this other contestants' treatment of her came to light on her second elimination in comeback challenge).\\
'''You'd Expect''': Sintia to impress the judges by using creative technique or flavor combination knowing that those called forward were the best or the worst dishes of the night. Not succumbing to the peer pressure and keep cooking with her usual technique were good alternatives in handling the situation.\\
'''Instead''': She ''put a crab claw shell in her deep-fried wonton on purpose'' to make the judges call her forward and ''laughed it off'' when they found the shell, making the judges feel insulted. Her performance went downhill fast from that moment which led to her elimination on the same episode. Even though she turned sympathetic when everything was laid out in the open, what she did was still stupid.
** In Masterchef Indonesia Season 7's second offsite challenge, the contestants are divided into two teams of four to cook a bento meal which had a lot of components. The yellow team consisted of three frontrunners (Jerry, Hamdzah, and Clava) and Becca whom most undersetimate because she struggles a lot. Becca and Clava were team captain for the previous team challenge in which Clava's team won and Becca was criticized for her lack of leadership.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Any of the three frontrunners to nominate themselves because team captain's job was to oversee the whole components' taste and cooking process. Seeing that Clava already lead her team to victory once and Hamdzah advocated himself to be the captain in the previous team challenge (but due to technicalities, Becca was chosen instead), the two of them would be the obvious choices. The weakest member (Becca) is delegated to focus on the simplest task.\\
'''Instead''': ''Becca'' was chosen by the other three, and they chose specifically because they thought she'd fall behind in ''any of the available tasks''. In the end, one of the "frontrunners" almost fucked up the team's rice, had to be taught how to fold a gyoza dough by said team captain they underestimated, and the three bickered quite a lot anyway because one of them *cough*Clava*cough* was being too bossy. The judges called the three out for the stupid reasoning before sending one homecook home.
-->'''Chef Juna''': So you guys delegated the weakest cook on your team because you thought team captain had the least responsibility when cooking? That's what you basically said, right? Hamdzah said the same thing earlier by saying "we have our own task, chef". [[ArmorPiercingQuestion So you guys think Becca can't handle chicken, Becca can't handle gyoza, Becca can't handle anything?!]]
-->'''Chef Arnold''': Jerry, who taught you how to fold gyoza?
-->'''Jerry''': I did it by myself chef.
-->'''Chef Arnold''': No you didn't. I heard when the gyoza was praised you said "Becca taught me" and I saw her helping you. Hamdzah, Clava, Jerry, are you fucking stupid?
-->'''Chef Juna''': They're stupid, all three of them. Let me ask you. Who were the team captains in the previous team challenge?
-->'''Jerry''' Becca and Clava, chef.
-->'''Chef Juna''': Who won?
-->'''Jerry''' Clava, chef.
-->'''Chef Juna''': And she's in your team, right? Hello, cuckoo! ''*knocks at his own head*'' Hello, anybody there? What's wrong with you guys?

** Season 5's Ahran Cho, who was 18 at the time of the season's filming. Fans had been irritated by her after she was suddenly given a "mean girl" edit - for example, commenting that Courtney reminded her of a "fake, mean bitch from high school" - but things finally came to a boiling point after episode five. Shortly prior to the episode's airing, Ahran wrote a post on her Facebook page telling viewers that although she and Leslie would be shown having a nasty fight during the episode, they had since patched things up and were good friends, and asked fans to understand that it was a one-off incident. Unfortunately, after the episode's airing she was hit with a '''''massive''''' wave of [[BreakTheCutie cyber-bullying]], with people telling her she should "learn her place" (never mind that Leslie was the aggressor and had insulted her age and abilities, along with ''repeatedly'' [[BerserkButton mispronouncing her name as "Iran"]]), or simply straight out telling her she should commit suicide for being "disrespectful". She wound up briefly deleting her social media accounts due to the intense hatred (saying that it had been harder for her to deal with that then the actual competition), but has since reinstated some of them, although she's ''still'' receiving hate almost '''ten years later'''.[[note]]Her season aired in 2014, but even in 2021 people write comments on articles about her saying things like she's "a spoiled brat who should grow up and learn to behave before someone beats her bitchy ass" and "she deserved worse than she got".[[/note]]