Justification:

Evidence:

 

JUSTIFICATION: There is tension as it builds up to the climax.

EVIDENCE: For the first Japanese round, there are stakes for all competitors, especially Darren. He has a reputation to uphold considering the fact that he owns a Japanese restaurant. He has undergone many struggles to get where he is. This makes the audience root for him.

-      The judges were really positive about the different takes on their national / local food. Especially since the cooking competition is a multi-nation show, with contestants from all around the world. 

Justification:

-      Even though the food that has to be cooked for the episode needs to be from Japan, each contestant did their own take on Japanese food, giving it a flair from their home country. All the judges accepted these unique takes on their food culture, and even enjoyed the new things others tried making with their food.

Evidence:

-      In the first round, Esdras and Rafa had no experience cooking Japanese food at all. As a result, they tried unique things with the challenge they were given. One thing they did was putting mushrooms inside the eggs they were making, alongside other things. Although they didn’t win the first round, they were complimented for their unique take on Japanese food, and the judges enjoyed what they made.

Justification: Letting the audience know some pieces of the personal lives of the contestants and the guests allow the audience to know them better and allows us to connect with them. 

Evidence: For the big boss chef battle with the Japanese chef, the show gave us a run through as to the things he does and what he wants to achieve which allows the audience to understand and know him further which will allow a connection to form.

Its a satisfying episode which kept me interested and hungry. the flow was generally good. I feel the set up and pay off was also pretty well paced and delivered

Justification
I felt that towards the end while the judge was commenting on the last few dishes, I got bored

Evidence
It was the second round of judging already and we had already seen numerous dishes being judged. 
I did feel sad to see graham and Aaron leave the stage as we were made to sympathise with them, especially Graham and at the same time feel the relief and joy Darren felt

The show was good at building tension by selling Darren as the “Japanese Expert” and bringing up the stakes to only allow one winner in the challenge. Hence, we felt the stress and hoped to see Darren win, so he could maintain his reputation. 
We also felt connected to Graham, as the show sold him as a very friendly and chummy person and showcased his buddy relationship with Aaron. When we saw that he ultimately lost, we felt sad

There is still tension present in the show as some of the contestants face unknown cuisine, and they are putting the reputation of themselves and their restaurants at stake. Some of the chefs had to rely on another, and they are working under a time constraint.

One of the set-up being a side-story of Darren and his Japanese restaurant in Canada, and how his love for Japanese cuisines faced some conflict and troubles along the way hence his personal reason for wanting to win the challenge. The emotional pay-off happens when Darren and his partner wins the challenge, hence a metaphorical symbolism that Darren has triumph after facing the years of criticism for introducing Japanese food to Canada. 

By using the backstory of each chefs, it creates clear conflict in every round. Other than generating tension from the advantages and disadvantages certain chefs face, the essential time limit aspect too adds on to the tension. Not to mention, after the build up of every team creating wonderful dishes, suspense is created during the reveal for the best dish. The stakes are really high as well as it goes from impressing 3 judges to get a free pass, to trying to impress the top chef in Japan to stand a chance to move on and not go home. 

For example, Darren owns his own Japanese restaurant and has a lot to live up to, but it could have had more emphasis on how he truly felt being discriminated as a white man trying to master Japanese dishes. 

J: They’re mostly chefs from different nationalities with different levels of experience, which is unique compared to shows like Masterchef.

E: Darren Maclean said he was honoured to hear praise for his dish from more experienced and senior chefs like Esdras Ochoa and Rafa Gil, and the Japanese ambassadors, especially since he was white

This game does keep everyone interested though the tension that the contestants feel, but one thing to improve on is that  they can show flaws they experience in  cooking. 

Justification:

In other cooking shows like Masterchef for example, they show moments of stress that the contests feel, but in this show, they didn’t really show any struggles. Yes, there were chefs that have never cooked Japanese food or are allergic to sea urchin,  but not showing struggles they face, maybe overcooked food or not enough ingredients makes them have no imperfections.

Evidence:

In Round 1, even though they had 60  minutes, they managed to pull together  a three course Japanese meal with seemingly not much struggles though they were under pressure.

I think that the show has a lot of flavour as it was able to keep the audience on the edge of their seats consistently

 

The show effectively created tension as the two rounds had a time limit and a difficult challenge for the competitors. (1)

However, to a small degree, the tension wasn’t sustained as there wasn’t as much conflict between the competitors. (2)

The tension was sustained as each challenge had escalating stakes and difficulty. (3)

(1)   Each round has a time limit of 60 minutes; round one forced the chefs to create a dish based on a certain Japanese cuisine. Round 2 forced the chefs to create a dish which revolved around a certain jap ingredient

(2)   The competitors did not have conflicting personalities and were very friendly to each other. The hosts did not try to create conflict.

(3)   In the final round, the difficulty and stakes were at the highest due to the threat of elimination from the competition.