Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 2014
Broadcast Medium: Television
CTV announced on November 24th 2013 that the Network would be launching a one-hour Canadian version of the successful US series Masterchef on January 20th 2014, under the title Masterchef Canada.
The series would feature distinguished Canadian culinary experts Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung, and Claudio Aprile as judges, and would celebrate “a passion for food, cooking, and the diversity of Canadian cuisine”.
CTV also announced that that Masterchef Canada would be scheduled in the coveted post-Super Bowl XLVIII timeslot for its first elimination episode, airing on February 2nd 2014.
On April 21st 2014, CTV announced a Season 2 order for Masterchef Canada for the 2014/2015 broadcast season. Canadian judges Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile would be returning, and the series would once again be produced by Proper Television, with Shine International as the worldwide distributor.
At its Fall 2014 schedule presentation on June 5th, CTV also announced that it had ordered a two-hour Master Chef Christmas special (announced as Master Chef Canada: a Holiday Special, presumably in the interests of political correctness), which would pit chefs from the first series – plus their families – against one another in competition.
Ther series continued for several years, and in August 2018 CTV announced that casting was now under way for Season 6, which would be broadcast in 2018/2019. Production would begin in the Fall of 2018.