# Junior MasterChef

Junior MasterChef is a British TV cookery competition, broadcast by the BBC, in which nine to twelve-year-olds compete to be crowned "Junior MasterChef". It is a spin-off from the main British series of MasterChef.
Junior MasterChef first ran from 1994 to 1999, presented by Loyd Grossman. After a long hiatus, it was revived in 2010 in a revamped format, presented by writer and actress Nadia Sawalha, who won the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, and professional chef John Torode, who also presents MasterChef. The revival series was commissioned by CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist and produced by Shine Television and was broadcast on CBBC and BBC One. A further series was commissioned in 2012 for broadcast on CBBC and again in 2014.

## Original series

Based on the MasterChef format, and using the same set, the original Junior MasterChef was for cooks up to the age of 16. It ran from 1994 to 1999 and was presented by Loyd Grossman.

## Revival series

Junior MasterChef was briefly revived in 2008 for a Children in Need special after the success of the 2006 series. It was won by Billy.
The first new series, targeting children aged 9 to 12, premiered on 10 May 2010 on CBBC. India Fisher continued to provide the voiceover, and the judging panel consisted of John Torode and former Junior MasterChef champion, Lawrence Julian Roberts.
Georgia, who turned 13 by the time the finals occurred, was the 2010 winner. From the 2012 series, Sawalha was replaced by Irish cook Donal Skehan.

## Age limit rules

The online application form for the CBBC series filmed in 2012 clearly shows that applicants had to be between 8 and 13 years old on 6 August of that year. Filming of the early heats would start on that same date.

## Winners

| Year | Winner |
| 1994 | Camilla Askaroff |
| 1995 | Jenna Tinson |
| 1996 | Lucy Wright |
| 1997 | Jamie Lee Morgan |
| 1998 | Adam Cowley |
| 1999 | Tim Walmsley |
| 2004 | Richard Ward |
| 2010 | Georgia Bradford |
| 2012 | Tom Barlow-Kay |
| 2014 | Phoebe Riley |

## Transmissions

| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
| Original series ||||
| 1 | 14 August 1994 | 13 November 1994 | 13 |
| 2 | 16 July 1995 | 22 October 1995 | 13 |
| 3 | 4 August 1996 | 27 October 1996 | 13 |
| 4 | 11 March 1998 | 31 May 1998 | 13 |
| 5 | 18 April 1999 | 1 August 1999 | 13 |
| Revived series ||||
| 1 | 10 May 2010 | 28 May 2010 | 13 |
| 2 | 5 November 2012 | 23 November 2012 | 15 |
| 3 | 10 November 2014 | 21 November 2014 | 10 |

## International versions

Legend:  Still in production   No longer airing
| Country | Name | Host(s) | Judges | Network | Air dates |
| Albania | MasterChef Junior Albania | Redjan Mulla (narrator) | Sokol Prenga Xheraldina Vula Julian Zguro | RTSH | 27 March 2018 – 12 June 2018 (season 1) |
| Australia | Junior MasterChef Australia | George Calombaris Gary Mehigan (Season 1-2) Andy Allen Melissa Leong Jock Zonfrillo | Gary Mehigan George Calombaris Matt Preston (Season 1) Anna Gare Matt Moran (Season 2) Andy Allen Melissa Leong Jock Zonfrillo | Network Ten | 12 September 2010 – 15 November 2010 (Season 1) 25 September 2011 – 23 November 2011 (Season 2) 11 October 2020 (Season 3) |
| Belgium (in Dutch) | Junior MasterChef Belgium | unknown | Wout Bru Fatima Marzouki | vtm | 18 January 2012 – 2012 |
| Brazil | MasterChef Junior | Ana Paula Padrão | Erick Jacquin Paola Carosella Henrique Fogaça | Band | 20 October 2015 – 15 December 2015 |
| Canada Quebec | MasterChef Junior Québec | Martin Picard Stefano Faita | Martin Picard Stefano Faita | TVA | April 2025 – present (Season 1) |
| Chile | Junior MasterChef Chile | Diana Bolocco | Christopher Carpentier Yann Yvin Ennio Carota | Canal 13 | 21 March 2016 – present |
| Finland | Junior MasterChef | Tomi Björck Meri-Tuuli Lindström | Tomi Björck Meri-Tuuli Lindström | Nelonen | 19 August 2012 – 7 October 2012 |
| France | Junior MasterChef | Carole Rousseau | Frédéric Anton Yves Camdeborde Sebastian Demorand | TF1 | 22 December 2011; 5 July 2012; 27 December 2013 |
| Greece Cyprus | Junior MasterChef Greece | Maria Mpekatorou | Yiannis Loukakos Lefteris Lazarou Dimitris Skarmoutsos | Mega Channel | 27 November 2011 – 5 February 2012 |
| Greece Cyprus | Junior MasterChef Greece | Eleni Psyhouli Manolis Papoutsakis Magky Tabakaki | Eleni Psyhouli Manolis Papoutsakis Magky Tabakaki | Star Channel | 13 September 2018 - 24 December 2018 |
| Hungary | MasterChef Junior Hungary | — | István Pesti Zsófia Mautner Bence Szendrei | Viasat 3 | 13 October 2018 – 15 December 2018 |
| India | Junior Masterchef Swaad Ke Ustaad | — | Kunal Kapoor Vikas Khanna Surjan Singh Jolly | Star Plus | 17 August 2013 – 2 November 2013 |
| Indonesia | Junior MasterChef Indonesia | — | Arnold Poernomo Degan Septoadji (Season 1) Rinrin Marinka Bara Pattiradjawane (Season 2) | RCTI | 6 April 2014 – 17 March 2015 |
| Israel | Junior MasterChef Israel | unknown | Haim Cohen Eyal Shani Micahl Anski Yonatan Rochfeld | Channel 2 (Keshet) | 22 April 2012 – present |
| Italy | Junior MasterChef Italia | Joe Bastianich Carlo Cracco | Bruno Barbieri Lidia Bastianich Alessandro Borghese | Sky Uno Cielo | 13 March 2014 – present |
| Jordan | Junior MasterChef Jordan | Mahmoud Al-Omari | Soumia Khalifa Ahmed Saaed Firas Mamdouh | Amman TV | 6 May 2019 − present |
| Morocco | ماستر شيف جونيور (MasterChef Junior Morocco) | Mariam el Kamil | Mariam Ettahri Moha Fdal Khadija Bensdira | 2M | 9 October 2018 – present |
| Mexico | Junior MasterChef México | Anette Michel | Adrián Herrera Díaz Benito Molina Dubost Betty Vázquez | Azteca Trece (Azteca) | 3 April 2016 – 3 July 2016 5 March 2017 – present |
| Netherlands | Junior MasterChef | — | Alain Caron Peter Lute | Net 5 | 28 November 2011 – 24 December 2011 |
| Netherlands | Junior MasterChef | — | Alain Caron Ron Blaauw | SBS 6 | 12 October 2012 – present |
| Philippines | Junior MasterChef Pinoy Edition | Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo | Fern Aracama Rolando Laudico JP Anglo | ABS-CBN | 27 August 2011 – 18 February 2012 |
| Poland | Masterchef Junior | Michael Moran | Michael Moran Mateusz Gessler Anna Starmach | TVN | 21 February 2016 – 24 April 2016 (Season 1) 19 February 2017 – 23 April 2017 (Season 2) |
| Portugal | Masterchef Júnior | Teresa Fernandes (narrator) | Manuel Luís Goucha Rui Paula Miguel Rocha Vieira | TVI | 22 May 2016 – 31 July 2016 (Season 1) 2017 (Season 2) |
| Russia | MasterChef Deti | Alexandr Belkovich Andrey Shmakov Giuseppe D'Angelo | Alexandr Belkovich Andrey Shmakov Giuseppe D'Angelo | STS | 7 November 2015 – 25 December 2016 |
| Spain | MasterChef Junior | Eva González | Pepe Rodríguez Jordi Cruz Samantha Vallejo-Nágera | La 1 | 23 December 2013 – 6 January 2014 (Season 1) 30 December 2014 – 3 February 2015 (Season 2) 1 December 2015 – 5 January 2016 (Season 3) 20 December 2016 – 17 January 2017 (Season 4) 20 December 2017 – TBA 2018 (Season 5) |
| Sweden | Sveriges yngsta mästerkock | Tina Nordström Leif Mannerström Markus Aujalay | Tina Nordström Leif Mannerström Markus Aujalay | TV4 | 9 April 2014 – present |
| Taiwan | Kid's Kitchen | William Hsieh Big Stomach LIZ SOAC | William Hsieh Big Stomach LIZ SOAC | CTS | September 2015 – present |
| Thailand | Junior MasterChef Thailand | Patiparn Pataweekarn Ban Boribun Chatchaya Ruktakanit | Patiparn Pataweekarn Ban Boribun Chatchaya Ruktakanit | Channel 3 | 3 February 2013 – 2 June 2013 |
| Thailand | MasterChef Junior Thailand | Piyathida Mittiraroch | M.L. Pasan Sawasdiwat [th] M.L. Kwantip Devakula [th] Pongtawat Chalermkittichai | Channel 7 | 19 August 2018 |
| Turkey | MasterChef Junior Turkey | Danilo Zanna Somer Sivrioğlu Mehmet Yalçınkaya | Danilo Zanna Somer Sivrioğlu Mehmet Yalçınkaya | Exxen | 2021 |
| Ukraine | MasterChef Dity (Kids) | Hector Jimenez-Bravo (1-2) Tatiana Litvinova (1-2) Mykola Tischenko (1) Sergey Kalinin (2) Dmitriy Gorovenko (2) | Hector Jimenez-Bravo (1-2) Tatiana Litvinova (1-2) Mykola Tischenko (1) Sergey Kalinin (2) Dmitriy Gorovenko (2) | STB | 3 February 2016 – 25 May 2016 (Season 1) 31 January 2017 – 30 May 2017 (Season 2) January 2018 (Season 3) |
| Ukraine | MasterChef Pidlitky (Teens) | Hector Jimenez-Bravo (1-2) Tatiana Litvinova (1-2) Mykola Tischenko (1) Sergey Kalinin (2) Dmitriy Gorovenko (2) | Hector Jimenez-Bravo (1-2) Tatiana Litvinova (1-2) Mykola Tischenko (1) Sergey Kalinin (2) Dmitriy Gorovenko (2) | STB | 3 February 2016 – 25 May 2016 (Season 1) 31 January 2017 – 30 May 2017 (Season 2) January 2018 (Season 3) |
| United States | MasterChef Junior | Gordon Ramsay | Joe Bastianich (Seasons 1-3 & 6) Graham Elliot (Seasons 1-4) Christina Tosi (Season 4-) Aaron Sanchez (Season 7) | Fox | 27 September 2013 – present |
| Vietnam | Junior MasterChef Vietnam | — | Jack Lee Phan Tôn Tịnh Hải Alain Nguyễn | VTV3 | 2 October 2016 – present |
In the Taiwanese version, the series is based on the same concept as Junior Masterchef, but there are no mystery box challenges, and there are no eliminations (but there had been cases where a contestant has quit the competition for health reasons). After the first individual challenge, there are a series of team challenges, where team captains cannot enter the pantry, the person who earns the most points (doubled as a winning team captain in team challenges) wins. The eventual winner will receive home appliances instead.