MasterChef Greece explained

Genre:Cooking
Director:
  • Panos Georgiou (1–4)
  • Costas Tripylas (5–)
Presenter:
  • Eugenia Manolidou
  • Maria Mpekatorou
  • Mary Synatsaki
  • Sotiris kontizas
  • Leonidas koutsopoulos
  • Panos Ioannidis
  • Eleni Psyhouli
  • Manolis Papoutsakis
  • Magky Tabakaki
Judges:
  • Dimitris Skarmoutsos
  • Lefteris Lazarou
  • Yiannis Loukakos
  • Panos Ioannidis
  • Sotiris Kontizas
  • Leonidas Koutsopoulos
  • Eleni Psyhouli
  • Manolis Papoutsakis
  • Magky Tabakaki
Theme Music Composer:Scissor Sisters
Opentheme:Fire with Fire
Country:Greece
Cyprus
Language:Greek
Num Seasons:10
Num Episodes:382
Producer:Nikos Christoforou
Location:Studio Karamanos AE
Runtime:60–240 minutes (including commercials)
Company:Shine Group
in association with
Ziji productions
Studio ATA
Channel:Mega Channel
Channel2:Star Channel (3–)

MasterChef Greece is a Greek competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. The show began airing on 3 October 2010 on Mega Channel and aired two seasons until 2013. From 2017, the show is airing on Star Channel. Until now eight seasons have aired on Star Channel.

The first and second season of the show aired on Mega Channel from 2010 to 2013, with Eugenia Manolidou and Mary Synatsaki as presenters, respectively.

In March 2017, Star Channel acquired the rights to the show, thus reviving MasterChef after four years and this time was not a presenter like the previous seasons. The third season premiered on 4 May 2017. Two more seasons of episodes followed in 2018 and 2019. The show was renewed for a sixth season, which premiered on 27 January 2020 on the same channel. The seventh season aired in 2021 on Star Channel.

After the completion of the first season, Mega Channel created a spin-off of the competition, in which children aged 8–13 participated and it was titled Junior MasterChef Greece. The show aired in the 2011–2012 season with Maria Mpekatorou as presenter. In 2018, Star Channel renewed Junior MasterChef for a second season, which began airing on 13 September 2018 and ended on 24 December 2018, without a presenter.

Hosts and Judges

Starring! colspan="10" scope="col"
Seasons
12345678910
Current
Sotiris Kontizascolspan="8"
Panos Ioannidiscolspan="8"
Leonidas Koutsopouloscolspan="7"
Former
Dimitris Skarmoutsoscolspan="7"
Lefteris Lazaroucolspan="8"
Yiannis Loukakoscolspan="8"
Eugenia Manolidoucolspan="9"
Mary Synatsaki

Series overview

Until now in Greece have been aired ten seasons.

SeasonNumber of
contestants
Number of
episodes
Originally airedNetworkTop 3 Contestants
First airedLast airedWinnerRunner-upThird place
120723 October 201028 December 2010Mega ChannelAkis PetretzikisMichalis KalavrinosGiannis Apostolakis
2258324 December 201214 March 2013Kostis Kampas & Babis KoudourisGiorgos Gerardos
320724 May 201730 July 2017Star ChannelLampros VakiarosKonstantinos TsiatsiosGiorgos Porphyris
4228410 January 20188 May 2018Timoleon DiamantisChristos GlossidisArgyris Aglamisis
52121 January 201922 May 2019Manolis SarrisSpyridoula KaraboutakiChristos Barkas
6247727 January 202017 June 2020Stavros VarthalitisStavros GeorgiouMaria Bey
79223 January 20219 June 2021Margarita NikolaidiDionysis SarakinisMarina Demollaj
89610 January 202215 June 2022Panagiotis KoumoundourosKalliopi BezanteElpida Morfouli
9348616 January 202314 June 2023Maria BeyNikos TrakasAlexandros Antonelakis
10249015 January 202413 June 2024Lefteris ZafeiropoulosChristina ChristofiIlias Panagiotou

Series synopsis

Season 1 (2010)

The first season of MasterChef premiered on 3 October 2010 and ended on 28 December 2010 and was hosted by musician and television presenter Eugenia Manolidou. The judges of the Greek show were Yiannis Loukakos, Lefteris Lazarou and Dimitris Skarmoutsos.[1] The winner was Akis Petretzikis.

Season 2 (2012–2013)

The second season premiered on 24 December 2012. This season was hosted by Maria Synatsaki and all three chefs remain as judges. The show was put on hiatus after the penultimate episode due to financial difficulties of both the production company, Studio ATA, and Mega Channel itself, resulting in both finalists being declared winners. The two winners are Kostis Kampas and Babis Koudouris.

Season 3 (2017)

The third season premiered on 4 May 2017. The judges of the third season were Dimitris Skarmoutsos, Panos Ioannidis and Sotiris Kontizas.[2] The winner of season 3 was Lambros Vakiaros.[3]

Season 4 (2018)

The fourth season premiered on 10 January 2018. Ioannidis and Kontizas returned for their second series while Leonidas Koutsopoulos was the new judge of the series. The winner of season 4 was Timoleon Diamantis.[4]

Season 5 (2019)

The fifth season premiered on 21 January 2019. All three chefs from the previous season returned as judges. The winner of season 5 was Manolis Sarris.[5]

Season 6 (2020)

The sixth season premiered on 27 January 2020. All three chefs from the previous season returned as judges. The winner of season 6 was Stavros Varthalithis.

Season 7 (2021)

The seventh premiered on 23 January 2021. All three chefs from the previous season returned as judges. Margarita Nikolaidi became the first female MasterChef Greece winner.

Season 8 (2022)

The eighth season premiered on 10 January 2022. All three chefs from the previous season returned as judges. The winner of season 8 was Panagiotis Koumoundouros.

Season 9 (2023)

The ninth season premiered on 16 January 2023. All three judges returned. This season also include previous contestants from Season 3 to 8. The winner of season 9 was Season 6 Semi-Finalist, Maria Bey.

Season 10 (2024)

The tenth season premiered on 15 January 2024. All three judges returned. This season's Top 24 will be divided into 2 teams throughout the entire season.The winner of season 10 was Lefteris Zafeiropoulos.

Spin-off

Junior MasterChef Greece premiered on 27 November 2011 and ended on 5 February 2012. The judges were the same as MasterChef Greece (Yiannis Loukakos, Lefteris Lazarou and Dimitris Skarmoutsos) and it was hosted by Maria Mpekatorou. The winner was twelve-year-old Lilian Emvaloti.

The second season of Junior MasterChef Greece premiered on 13 September 2018 on Star Channel and ended on 24 December 2018. The judges were Eleni Psyhouli, Manolis Papoutsakis, Magky Tabakaki. Among 44 children, the judges choose the top 22 children (11 girls and 11 boys). The winner was twelve-year-old Konstantinos Christopoulos.[6]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Δημήτρης Σκαρμούτσος : O κριτής του Master Chef μιλά για όλα . www.madamefigaro.gr . el . 29 October 2020.
  2. Web site: YUPIII.GR . MasterChef Είναι επίσημο: Αυτοί είναι οι τρεις κριτές του νέου κύκλου! . www.yupiii.gr . el . February 23, 2017.
  3. Web site: YUPIII.GR . MasterChef Αυτός είναι ο μεγάλος νικητής του τρίτου κύκλου! . www.yupiii.gr . el . July 31, 2017.
  4. Web site: YUPIII.GR . MasterChef Αυτός είναι ο μεγάλος νικητής του δεύτερου κύκλου! . www.yupiii.gr . el . May 8, 2018.
  5. Web site: YUPIII.GR . MasterChef Αυτός είναι ο μεγάλος νικητής! . www.yupiii.gr . el . May 23, 2019.
  6. Web site: YUPIII.GR . MasterChef Junior Αυτός είναι ο μεγάλος νικητής . www.yupiii.gr . el . December 25, 2018.