PART 3 - THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
Want to read the whole saga from the beginning? Click here.
We filed into the tasting room and lined up behind tables with our numbers displayed at the front corners. As I was last, #48, I was situated right near the door where we came in from the "holding room". I put my purse and the dome from my cake box under the table and placed my "judgment sheet", cake, serving utensils and "presentation plate" on the table in front of me.
The producers, crew members and a couple camera men stood at the front of the room. We were reminded of the instructions and told to not touch anything until we were given the "go!"
A couple more minutes of people settling in and then the producers started counting down from 10.
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... GO!
I haven't felt that level of adrenaline and nerves for a long time - the last time was probably before performing my beam or unparalleled bars routine at the Ontario gymnastics provincial finals back when I was a teenager. All I had to do was cut a perfect piece of cake and put it on the plate, but I was still shaking like a leaf. I made each incision as carefully as possible, and cut a piece big enough to stand easily on the plate when presented, display the layers inside, and also to show off at least three of the rosettes on top.
I was finished and ready before many others so I started watching the frenzy of spoons, tongs, squeeze bottles and multiple containers and bags flying around the room, which of course sent my head spinning into doubt. Oh no, mine is too easy, it's not crazy or creative enough, maybe I should have made a sauce after all or put fresh fruit, or extra pistachios or SOMETHING else on the plate - this was a horrible idea, I want to go home and go back to bed now, just crawl under the covers and forget this whole embarrassing, stressful day. First I'll get some eggs benny though, oh man am I hungry...
"STOP!"
The frenzy ceased, high fives and cheers and clapping erupted in the room and suddenly a woman to my left with a clip board was in front of me.
Showtime.
The judging started at both ends of the room, so my plate was first up at the back of the room, I described my dish and the taster asked me a couple questions. then she took the world's smallest bite of the biggest piece of cake I've ever given anyone, didn't make any discernible reaction AT ALL and then asked me a couple more questions; "is this your own recipe?", "did you alter it in any way?", "are desserts your strength?" "Why did you make a dessert if you don't consider them to be your strength?", "what do you normally cook at home?"
A couple scribbles on my "judgement sheet" and then she moved on, leaving me staring at the back of that paper wishing the crew hadn't been so clever to put the sticker with my number on it directly over the judgement criteria...blerg.
As the tasting continued, some of the past contestants filtered into the tasting room and looked/commented on my dish - quite the nice little ego boost to have past contestants say my cake "looked awesome", that it was a "smart decision to bake" and it "smelled lovely". Christopher the "baking expert" of Season 2 came in at one point and without looking at me at all, went straight over to my cake, knelt down to get eye level with it and after a few seconds, looked up at me and said "nice layers!"
Damn right they are boy, I can pipe icing like a boss.
Then...BAM! Claudio and Michael (the celebrity judges from the show) came in! They walked up the line commenting on everyone's dishes, "your salmon is overcooked", "be sure to use more colour, people eat with their eyes and this is a bit brown on brown", were a couple of the phrases I caught as they made their way closer to me. When they got to me all the way at the back, they seemed decently impressed - Claudio held my plate up to give it a good inspection and then asked me if I made everything from scratch - to which I said "nah, I just picked it up from Longo's this morning before heading over", my joke had him a bit taken aback so I clarified that yes, I made it all myself, from scratch and I only had help from my boyfriend on peeling the pistachios. When Micheal came over he asked me what my inspiration was for making the cake and I told him I had made it for my mom for her birthday and she loved it and wanted it for her birthday every year now. He also took note of the fragrance of the cake and asked me what was in it, when I told him about the Cardamom, he remarked that his wife liked to put cardamom in her coffee sometimes - cool! He gave me a last arm squeeze for some reassurance, told me that the hardest part was over and to just keep having fun.
Awesome, relatively down to earth guys, but I have to admit I was a bit star struck.
The judges left and I could see another producer walking down the line towards me doing more in depth "personality" interviews with each of us for 2-5 minutes. I was last for this part and I could see that the rest of the crew, tasters and producers were gathering at the front so I tried to jam pack as much "cool stuff" about myself into as short a time as possible;
I'm in band, I even have a gig tonight, actually I'm in like 5 bands, I'm a drummer and a vocalist and I used to do circus arts, train gymnastics at a competitive provincial level and I also did some cheer leading in university! ALSO I work in advertising, my family is SUPER cool, my food dream is to have a B&B in Newfoundland one day - I HAVE TATTOOS - LOOK AT MY TATTOOS, LOOK AT THIS ONE, IT'S A LION! A LION!!! ROAR!!! LOOK AT HOW INTERESTING I AM! AAAAAHHHHHH".
The producers advised us they were going to make their decision and come back in about 20 minutes. We would soon find out if we were moving forward in the process to do another "on camera" interview, or if our journey was over. 20 minutes or so crept by, I shared some of my cake with contestants I had met over the course of the day and we all chatted about our chances of making it to the next round of the audition process.
Finally one of the producers came in and started reading out the numbers of the contestants moving ahead in the process - entire rows were emptying out of the tasting room back into the holding area which was now full of the next group of contestants - the B's. But no one from my row had been called yet - not one! Looking down the line earlier in the tasting I found that hard to believe, there were some serious chops in my row. The producer read the last number, A30 something, and then told the rest of us to pack up, thanks for your time, but you're not moving forward. Oh well, now I can go back to bed and at least I gave it a shot, right?
As I packed up my stuff and started heading towards the door to leave, the producer exclaimed; "Wait there's another page, sorry!" My number was called along with another 5-6 people from my row! WOAH! It's like I'm already on the show! "Take your apron off...and head up to the balcony because your safe!" lol - oh my heart.
So it was onto the NEXT part of the process!
We were given a time on when our interview was going to be held and which producer it was going to be with and then we sat around and chatted some more. I met some more cool people, the B's were filed into the tasting room to meet their fates and the A's and I were emptied from the holding room, 3 at a time, into another mystery area for on camera interviews.
I was near the end of the A's so the C's had started to come into the holding room, and as I left with one of the crew and two other contestants in tow, I saw a lot of supporters in green wrist bands hanging around the hotel lobby looking VERY tired - so glad I didn't make anyone come with me, texting was enough ;)
The on camera interviews were being held in smaller conference rooms on the upper level of the hotel, and about 9-12 contestants were waiting in groups of 3-4 outside the 3 rooms where they were bring held. I was sat with a couple people at the end of the hall and we struck up a conversation pretty fast. One of them had applied for the show twice already - this was his THIRD time, the other was from Saskatoon! (where was she when they were handing out signs outside? lol) I felt I was up against some pretty stiff competition to say the least. but I had already made it further than I thought I would, so I was just excited to see what was coming next.
When I finally entered the room and met with the producer, I immediately saw a little black box on the edge of the table - they are totally gonna make me do a mystery box test - I was asked to stand behind the table and the questions began.
The producer wasted no time in getting me to open up on camera; "so, it says here you're in a band". "Yep, I'm in about 5 actually, mostly as a vocalist, one as a drummer." "well, I wanna hear it, I wanna hear you sing." Oh crippity crap, what the hell am I supposed to do a Capella WITHOUT Gail and Chloe. "Ok, sure, I'll sing you a gospel tune, it's a cover of a classic by Elvis Presley called Swing Down ". So I went into the song and did my best considering I hadn't warmed up yet, I got to the second verse and just tapered off from there...I felt I had done enough.
The rest of the interview was more of what I expected; "why Masterchef?","what's your cooking style?", "why would an audience support you?", "tell me about a hard time in your life?" This question was kind of loaded, but not surprising. I don't have a "sob story" which is probably my biggest "weakness" when it comes to reality TV. I don't like drama and I keep most of my "issues" to myself or a very SMALL group of people. I told her about when I was out of school, and out of a job, and feeling a little lost - it was a flimsy "sob story" at best, but hey, I'm an incredibly blessed person, I'm happy, got no complaints.
Finally, the question I was REALLY waiting for; "what parts of the show do you think you'd excel at?" I gots to know what's in that box... "I think I'd be good at mystery boxes and creativity challenges", she pointed at the little black box on the table; "you got it, let's see it! Take the box, empty it and tell me what you're going to make". I dumped out the box to find little wooden and plastic representations of foods, I was also told I had use of a "staple pantry box". As I was still super hungry and still REALLY wanting my weekend brunch of eggs benny - the box spelled out the benny I desired and I "made it" with what I had in the box, but mentioned I'd use the staple pantry to make a homemade biscuit instead of using the "bread" given to me in the box. I figured it showed creativity as well as skill, as poaching eggs and making hollandaise are not easy, but I've perfected both over the past year.
The interview went on for a little while longer after that test and the final question was "how long do you think you can make it on the show?" Without hesitation I answered "I'm here to win, I can go all the way, and I'll win". A smile passed her lips; "Really? So not so nice under the pretty pink exterior?" I explained my type A personality, that I'm not afraid of confrontation and that I may be all nice and smiles on the outside, but I know how this game is played and I will use the weaknesses of others to my advantage. I think I gave her what she wanted in that last reply, and with a firm handshake I was released and told I would hear if I had made the top fifty in "a few weeks".
As I left the room, eyes darted my way and many of my fellow contestants commented on the part of my interview they could hear; "we heard you sing! you're so good! you should be on Canadian idol!" More ego boost, merci mes amis.
I picked up my cake box, checked my phone - wow I was in there for almost a half hour?! And headed back home in the heat to rest up, before tearing it up with my girl, Chloe and the new Tall Grass on stage later that night at Grossman's Tavern.
A fun experience, I'm glad I went
...but I don't think I need to do it again.
EPILOGUE
Last Friday, August 14th, I received an email saying I didn't make it to the top 50 and honestly, I'm relieved. It was fun and if I made it onto the show, I would totally give it my all and learn as much as possible and try my best to win. But I don't need a reality TV show or anything else to validate my love of food and cooking. I'm going to keep learning, keep cooking and creating at home and maybe take more classes to increase my skills and confidence.
Thanks for reading, I'm hoping to post lots more blogs and recipes over the coming months now that summer is coming to an end and my "fall productivity boost" is starting to hit.
XO Kate