Premiering Monday, November 29, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now, Snackmasters will ask Australia’s greatest chefs a question: can you recreate the taste of the nation’s most loved snacks?
Hosts Scott Pickett and Poh Ling Yeow keep the chefs on track while Food Detective Yvie Jones goes behind the scenes and visits the factories to find out how the snacks are made.
Mediaweek spoke to Poh Ling Yeow and Yvie Jones about tackling the show that aims to crack the snacks.
Scott Pickett and Poh Ling Yeow
Both Poh and Yvie got involved in the show early on in produciton.
Poh: “I think I might actually have been pitched as a contestant! Then I was asked, hey, what do you think of being the host? I was like, hell yeah! So it completely took me by surprise.”
Yvie: “I was asked to do a chemistry test, and then we went into our fifth lockdown, so that didn’t happen. I ended up sending them a video. I went and watched the UK version straightaway just to see what the show was all about, and my English counterpart is so similar to me. It was actually a really good decision I think because when you watch the UK one you’ll see I’ve stolen a few funny bits from her!”
Yvie Jones
The original BAFTA-nominated UK version of the format has been a major success. Both Poh and Yvie say that it’s the relatability of the show that will endear it to viewers.
Poh: “So many of the snacks have got such a huge history – the Crunchie is 95 years old, so there’s so much nostalgia in there. Above all it’s just a fun show. Everyone knows what a Twistie tastes like and should look like, so you can get on the bandwagon. Everyone loves to be an armchair expert.”
Yvie: “It’s so fascinating, every element of the show is fascinating. It starts with the snack, and you know the snack really, really well. The rest of the show then breaks it down – you’re as invested as the chefs are. Going through the factories is so interesting, I think people will love that just as much as the competition part of it.”
Visiting the Factories
While the competing chefs battle it out to make a perfect replica of the snacks, Yvie heads to the factories to learn how it’s done from the real professionals.
Yvie: “Some of them have been making these snacks for 30 years, it’s their lives.”
Poh: “They’re all quite harsh, and they have to be because when you’re talking about factory produced stuff that’s on supermarket shelves, consistency is literally everything. The number of times I heard ‘oh, just from the look of that, that would go in the bin’. They’re really harsh.”
Yvie: “That’s what made me laugh so hard. There’s a little bit of David and Goliath going on there – I mentioned these snacks to my dad and the first thing he said was ‘oh, junk food’. Renowned chefs actually having to cook these foods that often we look down on as just junk food is really great to watch. I have my evil laugh on a lot of the time!”
Working through Covid
As the country faced lockdowns and volatile borders this year, filming a show like Snackmasters took more organising than it would have in previous years. There was one aspect of the show that was more impacted than others.
Yvie: “Getting to the factories took a lot of patience, because we had to wait on permits and everything – one of the factories we couldn’t get to at all, so we had to use the magic of TV. Everyone has had to get creative and get the job done, and we get the job done. It took a lot of patience. The show was supposed to be wrapped pretty quickly, but because of restrictions and lockdowns, filming went for quite a while.”
Snackmasters Trophy
Looking Ahead
As Snackmasters gets ready to make its debut on Australian televisions, both Poh and Yvie hope that the nation gets behind the show.
Yvie: “I hope it goes on for many seasons! This is such a great concept for a show, and I think it’s going to be embraced by the nation. There’s so many more snacks to do, and I think people will be wanting to see that. I hope it gets embraced, and I hope it just keeps going.”
Poh: “In learning to work with Covid, we kind of know the routine now. I think it would be such a shame if we didn’t get another season because we found our footing at the end – it would be great to come into season two guns blazing.”
Snackmasters airs Monday, November 29, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine and 9Now