# MasterChef Croatia

MasterChef Croatia (Croatian: MasterChef Hrvatska) is a Croatian competitive reality television cooking show based on the original British version of MasterChef. In an elimination-based format, the series follows a group of contestants facing various cooking challenges in order to win the title of MasterChef and a cash prize.
The first season premiered on 21 March 2011 on Nova TV and it was hosted by Jasna Nanut. The series went on a hiatus after the third season was aired in 2015. In 2021, the series returned with its fourth season and has since been on air regularly as a part of Nova TV's fall schedule. The seventh season premiered in September 2024.

## Format

Each seasons beings with auditions during which aspiring finalists have to impress the judges by preparing a meal in front of them. After the finalists are selected by the jury, they face a vast array of culinary challenges. As the contestants are eliminated, the winner is selected among the remaining Top Two contestants at the finale.

### Judges

The judges in the first season were Tomislav Gretić, a well-known Croatian chef, Mate Janković, one of the youngest Croatian chefs, and Radovan Marčić, a director and a writer.
For the 2021 reboot of the series, a brand new panel of judges was introduced: Damir Tomljanović, Melkior Bašić and Stjepan Vukadin were the main judges for the fourth, fifth and sixth season. Tomljanović and Bašić were replaced with Goran Kočiš and Mario Mihelj for the seventh season.
Judges on MasterChef Croatia :
| Judge | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season |
| Judge | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Mate Janković | Main | Main | Main | | | | |
| Radovan Marčić | Main | Main | Main | | | | |
| Tomislav Gretić | Main | | | | | | |
| Dino Galvagno | | Main | Main | | | | |
| Andrej Barbieri | | | Main | | | | |
| Damir Tomljanović | | | | Main | Main | Main | |
| Melkior Bašić | | | | Main | Main | Main | |
| Stjepan Vukadin | | | | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Goran Kočiš | | | | | | | Main |
| Mario Mihelj | | | | | | | Main |

## Series overview

| Season | Finalists | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released | Winner | Runner-up(s) |
| Season | Finalists | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released | Winner | Runner-up(s) |
| 1 | 20 | 61 | 61 | 21 March 2011 (2011-03-21) | 17 June 2011 (2011-06-17) | Šime Sušić | Srđana Jevtić |
| 2 | 20 | 65 | 65 | 24 September 2012 (2012-09-24) | 14 December 2012 (2012-12-14) | Nikola Lesar | Marko Palfi |
| 3 | 16 | 23 | 23 | 20 March 2015 (2015-03-20) | 5 June 2015 (2015-06-05) | Iva Pehar | Ante Marić |
| 4 | 19 | 60 | 60 | 20 September 2021 (2021-09-20) | 30 December 2021 (2021-12-30) | Ivan Temšić | Gorana Milaković |
| 5 | 21 | 60 | 60 | 19 September 2022 (2022-09-19) | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) | Maja Šabić | Lora Cepetić |
| 6 | 24 | 61 | 61 | 4 September 2023 (2023-09-04) | 29 December 2023 (2023-12-29) | Luka Veić | Sarah Mikulec |
| 7 | 23 | 60 | 60 | 15 September 2024 (2024-09-15) | 30 December 2024 (2024-12-30) | Ante Vukadin | Sanja Cukon |

### Season 1 (2011)

The filming of the first season began in February 2011; over 1500 applicants auditioned to participate in it. The series premiered on 21 March 2011.
The finalists in order of elimination were Robert Predrag Žmire, Matija Nikolić, Vedran Beg, Davor Šreng, Željana Ančić, Ljubo Matulin, Bojan Končar, Ana Kovačević Pilepić, Marko Gajski, Nastasja Fišter, Ivan Vučković, Mario Bobanović, Ivana Đokić, Tea Đukić, Vesna Matulić, Igor Zdenjak, Ivanko Rebič, and Tomislav Rusakć. The season was won by Šime Sušić.

### Season 2 (2012)

The second season was won by Nikola Lesar.

### Season 3 (2015)

The third season premiered on 20 March 2015. The finalists in order of elimination were Ratko Iveković, Valerio Baranović, Robert Budimir Bekan, Oskar Svržnjak, Danijel Živković, Dina Lončar, Dario Žmikić, Mišel Matulin, Ivana Vujina Jović, Elena Jurić, Emilija Marinović, and Martina Županić. The season was won by Iva Pehar.

### Season 4 (2021)

In late 2020, Nova TV confirmed that the series is returning after a hiatus. The auditions began in June 2021, and it was confirmed that the judging panel would consit of Melkior Bašić, Damir Tomljanović, and Stjepan Vukadin.
The fourth season premiered on 20 September 2021. The finalists in order of elimination were Marija Gregurić, Frano Kekez, Igor Ivanović, Ana Marija Kutleša, Ema Baniček, Zvijezdana Posavec, Tihomir Bježančević, Tomislav Marković, Filip Pleteš, Željka Bleuš, Klavdija Zubović, Karmen Jurčić, Maja Mandić, Marko Krznarić, Roko Kulušić - Neral, Vanja Agić, and Ana Antunović. The winner was Ivan Temšić.

### Season 5 (2022)

The finalists in order of elimination were Emina Bajramović, Leo Jurešić, Jelica Boto, Lucija Kerečin, Ivica Višić, Maja Jalšovec, Lucija Davidović, Luka Marin , Mevlija Delić, Marko Kolak, Nikola Kotur, Luka Piasevoli, Vesna Slavica, Matea Alduk, Andrea Dević, Tihomir Krklec, Ivana Ivić, Anita Vuković, and Wannapa Ponyon. The season was won by Maja Šabić.

### Season 6 (2023)

The sixth season ran from 4 September to 29 December 2023, concluding after 61 episodes. The winner was Luka Veić.

### Season 7 (2024)

Auditions for the seventh season opened in March 2024. For the first time since the fourth season, the judging panel was revamped: Damir Tomljanović and Melkior Bašić were replaced with Goran Kočiš and Mario Mihelj; Stjepan Vukadin, however, remained on the panel.
The season premiered on 15 September and concluded on 30 December 2024 after 60 episodes. The winner was Ante Vukadin.

### Season 8

Applications for the eighth season began in October 2024.