MasterChef fans spot serious editing blunder amid ongoing controversy

Daily Record

2 days ago

MasterChef is back on TV screens with its 21st series after its hosts have been embroiled with controversies.
Yet another MasterChef controversy has arisen as viewers spotted the awkward moment TV bosses edited out a contestant from the cooking show. Long-time hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode were axed following individual controversies of sexual misconduct and racism respectively, but the new series is still airing on the BBC.
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More than 40 historic complaints made against Wallace have been upheld according to a report, along with a claim that Torode once used a racist term, which he denies, reports the Express. Despite the backlash from fans to cancel the show, producers decided to air series 21 featuring both previous hosts, which had already been filmed.
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During Wednesday, August 13's episode- the fourth in the series - five amateur cooks entered the BBC kitchen rather than the usual six, which was met with suspicion from fans. The long shot of the group walking into the studio raised a few eyebrows after the show diverted from its usual format, instead featuring close ups of their faces or in pairs.
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Once inside, John and Gregg explained how two cooks would automatically go through to the next round after cooking their opening first dish. The two men in the competition – Sam and Trevor – made it through to the next round, leaving the three women – Hazel, Aileen, and Marcella – to compete again.
After cooking a second dish, the remaining chefs returned to the room, but the footage abruptly cut after Hazel walked in behind Marcella and Aileen. As John revealed who the remaining two chefs would be going through to the final round, the camera shots remained closely cropped to each of the three women, rather than the wider shots that are typical of the show.
Marcella was chosen first, before John announced Hazel's name. But in a bizarre moment, Hazel – who was at the end of the line – looked to her left and gave a thankful nod before looking to her right and doing the same to Aileen, who was in the middle of the trio.
But as far as viewers could see, there was no one on Hazel's left that she would need to thank.
As Aileen left the room, Hazel appeared to gesture with her arm to the left, before a big empty space next to Hazel flashed up on screen, making the interaction even more unusual.
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As it turned out, the odd episode was due to another sixth contestant's request to be edited out of the series because of its publicly shamed hosts.
It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to praise the editors on their hard work to seamlessly remove one contestant from the episode, despite the head-nod blunder.
One user lauded: "Kudos to the editors of this episode. You would hardly have known that one contestant had been edited out."
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Another agreed: "I've just witnessed a masterpiece of editing" as a third echoed: "They managed to completely edit out Sarah Shafi! How was it possible?"
Sarah Shafi, from Leeds, argued that airing the series sent the wrong message after the BBC sacked both presenters.
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The 57-year-old contestant claimed producer Banijay had offered to edit her out of the episode she featured in.
But the participant dismissed the proposal and called for the whole series to be scrapped. Once the broadcaster confirmed the series was going ahead, Ms Shafi agreed to be edited out.
A spokesperson for Banijay previously said: "As we said when we announced the show would be aired, this was not an easy decision in the circumstances and we appreciate not everyone would agree with it.
"Banijay consulted with all the contestants before that decision was made and there was widespread support for it going ahead. The focus of the series is the contestants, as it always is. The edit has been looked at in light of the upheld findings."
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