Reality Show Series #1 - Junior Master Chef is now in the Philippines!

A lot of positive reasons were heard from the 60 lucky children who passed the first-ever global presentation of the Philippine edition of the Junior Master Chef cooking competition.

As they literally stormed the auditions at the different major cities in the archipelago, they brought food samples that they've cooked at home and proudly related instances as to why they like cooking even at their young ages.

Those lucky kids reasoned out that they began liking food because of their parents' jobs or businesses. Others wanted to learn while they're still young and some were forced to do it because of economic reasons.

Whatever their reasons of bringing up the goodness on their food samples, the official host, multi-awarded dramatic actress Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, a certified chef herself, have every tasty reasons to like them.

She was amazed how these kids are aiming for the grand prize of Php 1 million pesos and culinary scholarships at the prestigious culinary schools in and outside the country.

Ms. Santos is not alone on her quest, courtesy of ABS-CBN Channel 2, to launch this reality show that garnered top recognition in France, Israel and Australia.

Along with her are three top chefs with renowned caliber when it comes to cooking. They are:

1. Chef Fernando 'Ferns' Aracama
2. Chef Rolando 'Lau' Laudico
3. Chef JP 'Jayps' Anglo

Those names ring many bells in the kitchen due to their accomplishments in international cuisines that they've brought to the local gourmets and food connoisseurs.

The Appetizer edition was shown last Saturday (August 20, 2011) and the contest proper will begin the next weekend (August 27, 2011).

The 60 kids will be expected to fare in cooking through different stages of the contest. It includes:

1. Mystery Box - where kids will choose among the 10 available ingredients in order to cook for selected group of people (mostly the judges and host). The best kid who wins the challenge will be able to have 'super powers' for future use.
2. Offsite Challenge - Kids will cook for group of people outside the studio.
3. Catchup Challenge - Kids will be given leeway to cook their own recipe from the available ingredients.
4. Imitation of Signature Dish - They will copy the taste and appearance of the sgnature dishes the judges will provide.

A month-long preparation was made prior to the staging of its initial presentation on television.

Kids personally passed the audition series, through actual cooking and their explanations about the dishes they've prepared.

The host and the judges strongly agreed that these bunch of junior cooks will surely shine in the future as they're starting to hone their talents and skills through the reality show.

Junior Master Chef is the junior version of Master Chef.

The Filipino audience will also witness the grand opening of the said show at the same TV channel where cooks who didn't have experience in fine dining are now invited to join the series of audition that are now being conducted at the major cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Personally, I am planning to join the audition, too but I must prioritize my job first as a seafarer.

Maybe, the second edition will also include cooks on board international ships to join Master Chef.