Manu Feildel along with Seven Network newcomers Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan will be teaming up for Seven’s Plate of Origin, which premiers Sunday, August 30 at 7 pm.
Plate of Origin is a world-class cooking competition with an international flavour that will pit plate against plate, cook against cook as teams go head-to-head in a culinary competition to decide which cuisine will reign supreme.
Teams from around Australia present mouth-watering dishes from around the world as teams compete in what is being called the ‘World Cup of Cooking’.
Seven’s director of network programming Angus Ross told Mediaweek that Plate of Origin was impacted by COVID-19 in that there will only be 10 episodes. “We had to modify what we were doing in order to get something to air. We are quite happy with the way it has worked out.”
One of the main reasons that the MasterChef trio cited for moving on from 10 was the desire for a much shorter work schedule, with the cooking program taking up to eight months to film. In comparison Plate of Origin judge, Matt Preston said production for Plate of Origin takes him about six to eight weeks.
“I would much rather you make a short season than a flabby long one. If you look at how television is going in this country, shows like Lego Master, Masked Singer and similar types of shows are all short format – get in, get out. We are used to things moving fast. On shows like Big Brother and Survivor, someone goes home in the first episode – we don’t want to wait a week for someone to go home.”
“Seven are masters at establishing characters quickly. I watched the first episode of Plate of Origin with my family and everyone had a favourite.”
Preston said that moving to a new show and a new network that there is always pressure to perform and the trick to making it work isn’t in the script.
“Like with MasterChef or whenever there is a new show, the tone is never written down. There is nowhere in the script that says Matt Preston hugs Julie Goodwin – that just happened organically. Joyous television is good television. Make people cry because they are happy, not because you have been brutal to them.”
With teams from pretty much every continent, Preston said that he is proud of the show that they have put together.
“Gary and I have travelled all over the world, and we wanted to bring all types of different home cooking to TV. This is probably the most diverse cast that I can think of on Australian commercial television.”
When asked what the key difference will be between Plate of Origin and MasterChef, Preston said that he wanted to make a more joyous show with a looser format.
“I wanted to make it a bit more real and relaxed with humour. The trope of MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules are so well set and so brilliant that they are instantly recognisable, so you look at those ideas and say let’s find something better, let’s find something different.
“We want to let our contestants cook to their strengths. If you take someone who is really good at pastries and ask them to cook a roast they may do a good job, but at the end of the day if you want them to give you the best food don’t ask a Thai person to bring you Icelandic food.”
Preston said that if he wasn’t working will all three original judges from MasterChef then he is glad that they are starting fresh on a new channel and new show.
“Doing a new show with a new partner in crime made it easier. It would have been really hard to go back and do MasterChef with no Gary and no George.”
Slotting into the new team to join Preston and Mehigan is Seven staple Manu Feildel who they have both known for over ten years and enjoy a close relationship with off-camera. Preston describes Feildel as an old mate and says that we will see a slightly different Manu in Plate of Origin.
“We all know he has a great sense of humour and we will see more of that, and you will see a lot more of his in-depth food knowledge that we have not seen to much. People tend to forget that he used to be the head chef of one of the best restaurants in Australia. He is also very emotional, and I love that about him.”
“Chemistry can be hard you can be great mates with someone and then do TV or radio together and it doesn’t gel, but in this case, I think they have found lightning in a bottle with three people than genuinely love each other.”