IMAGINE travelling 9 000km across South Africa and thousands more across the border and wherever you go there are open fires and a lot of indigenous cooking.
Imagine the dishes served being nothing like any you have tasted before, with unusual ingredients, weird cooking methods and harsh weather conditions. Imagine how that experience would be.
Well, for the contestants on The Ultimate Braai Master these scenarios are a reality.
With a new season now upon us, 15 braai teams which consist of a braai master and a braai buddy, are tasked with a variety of challenges to outdo each other.
Apart from the title, the winners walk away with R500 000 cash and a Renault Duster 4x4. In addition they get two extra-large Big Green Eggs valued at more than R30 000 plus a tour of Kerala in India, courtesy of Robertson’s Herbs and Spices.
“I am always a bit nervous when a new show goes on air. There is always a lot of work put into the show. From endless weeks of shooting, then long months of editing. It is never guaranteed that what you are left with is the best product, that’s for the viewer to decide,” said the host of the show, Justin Bonello (pictured).
Going into it’s third season, The Ultimate Braai Master may have changed homes from SABC 3 to e.tv, but Bonello maintained that nothing had changed and it was a great show.
“By now we have a better handling on how to find the talent and how to navigate the production of the show. One of the new changes this season, though, is we have chef Petrus Madutlela as one of our new judges. It was important to have him because it will make South Africa more representative. Then we are much harder on the contestants now and we were not joking when we said that it would be tough. They go through gruesome conditions like even sleeping under the stars as opposed to proper accommodation,” he explained.
According to Bonello, in the past the show used to have locales were a definite winner would hail from.
“Durban was always problematic because we had weak contestants coming out from there.
“In this season, they have come out strong so it is going to be an interesting season,” said the host.
When he was not shooting the show, Bonello released a cooking book that you can make use of.
“I spent two years filming in the Karoo and the new book that has come out is called Cooked In The Karoo. It’s a taste of the space that most of us ignore when we are driving between Cape Town and Joburg.
“I am just trying to get people to think about this amazing backyard that South Africa has which we tend to neglect. The book is a recipe book which has lot more about the Karoo,” he said.
For e.tv, The Ultimate Braai Master works well with the kind of viewership that they are pursuing.
“We are pleased to be able to offer our viewers content that promotes diversity, programming that is daring and achieves international appeal. So move over MasterChef, the new season of The Ultimate Braai Master is going to be bold and big, local style.
“The format of the show has had great international success and we are proud of the fact that the show is homegrown and celebrates a proudly South African culture. Local content is our main priority, viewers must look out for more.
• The Ultimate Braai Master airs every Thursday at 8.30pm on e.tv.