In the mid-2000s, when the country’s electronic media made a fiery debut on our screens, it served as a sort of catharsis for many of us watching. After decades of the anodyne news on PTV, the new channels seemed to offer a sort of accountability for the unaccountable. When the dictatorship banned news channels, talk shows – the media’s most beloved product – even took to the streets to be near the masses. But as the crises of 2007 and 2008 passed, the allure of incendiary talk shows and jaw-dropping live coverage began to fade. Politicians and leaders wisened up, with every party developing its own talk-show stalwart. It was around this time that the country’s lack of entertainment options began to show. Talk shows were designed to be ever-more sensationalist, crime reenactment shows became popular, and morning shows started to get higher ratings. Eventually, the Anchorgate scandal, the local drama Humsafar and then the advent of Turkish dramas meant that news channels were no longer the biggest pull on Pakistani screens.

Yet throughout this time, cooking channels were quietly making their own waves. More and more channels continued to open up, each creating new celebrity chefs and surviving on a rather simple format of live-calls. The arrival of Masterchef Pakistan heralded a crowning moment for this subculture, since it marked the fact that the food-entertainment industry (what a strange description) was able to successfully launch a global franchise. The Masterchef franchise has found success by marrying the aesthetics of food preparation with the competition of sport, all the while including generous dollops of simplified, path-to-glory narratives about the contestants. The various franchises end up developing their own unique identities too – the Australian version brings together great aesthetics with a focus on cooking, while the American one includes condescending judges who spit out food and catty contestants constantly attacking one another.

Masterchef Pakistan started off very brightly, and as a viewer I was quite surprised to see the Beatles-like hysteria that Chef Zakir seemed to be provoking amongst the participants. Indeed, the early episodes saw the curmudgeonly chef as the most interesting host, with a knack of delivering some great lines and caustic observations. While he was generally supportive of most contestants, he really pinpointed on Rayyan from Karachi. Along with Madiha (an Islamabadi dentist) and Ammara (a Karachi housewife), Rayyan was the hot favourite after the initial few episodes, seemingly well ahead of the rest in terms of skills. Zakir’s decision to single him out for tougher criticism appeared to confirm his status as the best cook. Madiha also had a unique dynamic with the chef, as she was a self-confessed fan of his and worked hard to impress him.

One of the challenges of the Masterchef format is that previous performances don’t carry over. In other words, winning three challenges in a row doesn’t mean that you would avoid going into elimination in the fourth. This means that a good cook can be knocked out after just one bad day, and a poor one can keep escaping by just avoiding being the worst that day. However, by and large the process of elimination followed the competency of the cooks, with most of the weaker cooks being eliminated before the stronger ones.

The show’s run also saw the emergence of Gulnaz from Chitral, Khurram from Lahore, Zain from Peshawar and Amna from Faisalabad as talented cooks. In fact, Gulnaz’s appearance provided that rare instance when entertainment can offer the sort of representation and exposure to our country’s smaller regions than other platforms can. Globally, Masterchef contestants often use the hackneyed phrase "this is me on a plate", but in Gulnaz’s case this was particularly true. Her forthright opinions, her insecurity that her lack of English language skills might cause her to lose and the sumptuous Chitrali dishes she made combined to make her a compelling contestant. She improved remarkably during the show and piped both Rayyan and long-time doubter Amna to the Grand Finale.

Once there however, neither Gulnaz nor Madiha were a match for Ammara. The most consistent cook over the show’s run, she kept finding newer skills and expertise and the plating for her final few dishes was remarkable. In contrast, both Madiha and Rayyan failed to reach their potential, their final dishes not that much superior to the sort of abilities they displayed at the start of the show. Similarly, Chef Zakir also seemed to lose his mojo, becoming ever more predictable as the suave Chef Mehboob firmly established himself as the most engaging host.

One of the most intriguing subplots to the entire show was seeing Pakistani contestants balance their skills with local cuisines. Most of the stronger cooks seemed comfortable making generic foreign dishes (like pasta with white sauce) but not completely comfortable with desi dishes. In contrast, the cooks who were good at desi foods had quite substandard plating and presentation skills. The show’s decision to have provincial and iftar themed episodes helped give it a greater sense of identity. However, it also showed that there is a need to develop plating techniques specifically for desi foods, something that the programme can potentially pioneer.

For the next season, I would hope to see a greater focus on developing a unique identity for Masterchef Pakistan, and attempting to include contestants from a greater social-class range. Moreover, it might also help to add the ‘Masterclass’ segments used in other versions of the show, where contestants are taught various skills and techniques. Many times during the show, there seemed to be a lack of innovation in the dishes which seemed to be caused by limited skills. In terms of production, they could also train the hosts in providing pre-determined lines that are regularly used in other Masterchef versions, and work a little harder on developing more compelling background stories of the contestants themselves. But despite the hiccups, the show was hugely entertaining and enjoyable throughout its run. I would expect next season to build upon the lessons learnt here and continue to establish itself, because if nothing else, we don’t want to return to screaming anchors for our evening entertainment.