MasterChef Indonesia

MasterChef Indonesia (abbreviated as MCI) is an Indonesian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British series of the same name, open to amateur and home chefs. Produced by Endemol Shine Group, it debuted on 1 May 2011 on RCTI and has eleven seasons to date.
MasterChef Indonesia airs two days a week from Saturday to Sunday. The competition takes place in the RCTI's studio in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta which is known as MasterChef Gallery and includes a large kitchen area with several cooking stations which is overlooked by a balcony, a well-stocked pantry, and a freezer.
At the audition round, the contestants have to prepare their mainstay dish for around 30 minutes. The judges can advance them to the next round based on their dishes by deciding to give them an apron or not.
In the bootcamp round, the first challenge is to have the contestants perform basic skills such as filleting a fish, peeling shrimp, etc. During that time, the judges will observe their techniques. The second challenge requires the contestants to create a dish using a prepared staple ingredient. The judges can advance them to the gallery round or eliminate them, taking their aprons, based on their cooking techniques and the taste of their dishes.
Subsequently, the formal competition typically begins following a three event cycle that takes place over two episodes, where the judges will eliminate one or even two contestants after the third event. The events typically are:
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This inaugural season premiered on 1 May 2011. The judges for this season were Juna Rorimpandey, Rinrin Marinka, and Vindex Tengker. There were 20 finalists competing for the title.
On 8 May 2011, Dudi withdrew from the competition due to his deteriorating health condition.
The first Indonesian MasterChef winner was Lucky Andreono, a 31-year-old furniture entrepreneur, with Agus Sasirangan, a 25-year-old teacher, being the runner-up.
The second season premiered on 21 August 2012. This season, Juna Rorimpandey and Rinrin Marinka returned as judges, while Vindex Tengker was replaced by Degan Septoadji.
There were 20 original finalists competing this season. Adeline withdrew from the competition on 29 July 2012.
The winner was Desi Trisnawati, a 39-year-old hotel director from Bangka. Taufik Hidayat, a 30-year-old property agent, was the runner-up.
The third season premiered on 5 May 2013. This season, judges Rinrin Marinka and Degan Septoadji returned from the previous season with a new addition to the judge, Arnold Poernomo, replacing Juna Rorimpandey. The number of finalists was 25 contestants, up from the previous 20 contestants.
The winner of this season was William Gozali, a 22-year-old store supervisor, with Febrian Wicaksono, a 25-year-old private employee, as the runner-up.
The fourth season premiered on 31 May 2015. The number of finalists was 30 contestants, up from the previous 25 contestants. There were only two judges this season. Arnold Poernomo returned, with new judge Matteo Guerinoni joining him, replacing both Rinrin Marinka and Degan Septoadji.
On 25 July 2015, Budi A. M. withdrew from the competition due to a long-term stomach problem that caused him to be unable to finish his cooking in the elimination test.
The winner of this season was Luvita Hodiono, a 20-year-old college student, making her the youngest winner in the history of MasterChef Indonesia. She defeated Deny Gumilang, a 35-year-old entrepreneur.
After a four-year hiatus, MasterChef Indonesia confirmed on 27 September 2018, in its official Instagram, that the series had been renewed for the fifth season. This season premiered on 3 March 2019 with Juna Rorimpandey and Arnold Poernomo returning as judges, and a new addition to the judge Renatta Moeloek replacing Matteo Guerinoni. The number of finalists decreased from the previous 30 to 26 contestants.
Fani Horison from Sampit was announced as the winner, with Kai Firdayassie as the runner-up.
The sixth season premiered on 21 December 2019 with Juna Rorimpandey, Arnold Poernomo, and Renatta Moeloek returning as judges. The number of finalists increased to 28 contestants from the previous 26 contestants.
On 11 January 2020, Eddy Siswanto was disqualified from the competition because he was found cheating by carrying a recipe note while making a dessert in a Safe and Risk challenge.
On 25 January 2020, Arthur Tamnge withdrew from the competition because he had to tend to his pregnant wife although he had passed the pressure test.
At the end of the season, Eric Herjanto was declared the winner, with Firhan Ashari as the runner-up.
The seventh season premiered on 26 September 2020 with all three previous judges returning. The number of contestants decreased from 28 to 20.
Since this season was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, practice of social distancing, wearing a cooking mask and gloves while handling ingredients were required. For the first time in history, a mother and son (Yuli and Hamdzah) competed together in the gallery.
The winner was 24-year-old entrepreneur Jerry Andrean, who was eliminated on 31 October and returned on 7 November, making him the first former Black Team member to win the competition. The runner-up was 23-year-old cook helper, Audrey Wicaksono.
The first episode of the 8th season aired on 29 May 2021. All three previous judges returned in this season. The number of contestants decreased from 20 to 18.
Although Olivia was given a second chance to be back in the competition as a Black Team member, she decided to withdraw as she felt overwhelmed by the competition.
The winner was Jesselyn Lauwreen from Medan, making her the second Sumatran to win the title. Nadya Puteri from Jakarta was the runner-up.
MasterChef Indonesia Season 9 has aired since 22 January 2022, with all three judges returning. The number of finalists increased from the previous 18 to 22 contestants.
This season introduces a new format during the audition round. If all three of the judges give a "yes" to a contestant, that contestant will wear a white apron and automatically proceed to the Gallery. However, if only two out of the three judges give a "yes", then the contestant will have to wear a gray apron and go to the Bootcamp round before the gallery.
The winner of this season was 24-year-old Cheryl Puteri Gunawan, with Palitho Aventus Simanjuntak as the runner-up.
The 10th season premiered on December 24, 2022 with all 3 returning judges. The number of contestants increased from 22 to 24.
The winner is 28-year-old Gio Vergio from Jakarta, with 22-year-old Ami Prachaya from Bogor as runner-up.
The 11th season premiered on 26 August 2023 with all 3 returning judges. The number of contestants remained the same from last season at 24. This is the final season for Arnold Poernomo as judge. Belinda Christina from Malang was declared the winner in this season, with Kiki Singarimbun from Medan as runner-up.
The 12th season premiered on 8 February 2025 with Juna Rorimpandey & Renatta Moeloek along with new judge Rudy Choirudin, replacing Arnold Poernomo. The number of contestants increased from 24 to 25.
Belinda's victory at the end of season 11 was met with backlash. Netizens believed that the cooking skill of the season's runner-up, Kiki, was vastly superior than Belinda, which raised the issue of longstanding racism and social discrimination on the show. Netizens suspected that the judges gave Belinda (Chinese-Indonesian descent) and Kiki (Malay descent) an unfair and disproportionate assessment due to their race and social status. Netizens believed that MCI has a racial preference when choosing a winner because most of the show's previous winners are of Chinese-Indonesian descent, same as Belinda. Netizens also accused MCI of social discrimination, where Belinda is a graduate of prestigious culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in New Zealand (same with many previous MCI winners) while Kiki is a graduate of a vocational high school in Medan. Netizens believed that MCI disregards contestants' cooking abilities and only referring to their ethnicity and educational background when choosing their winner.
The day after the finale episode aired, Kiki's name trended on X (formerly Twitter) in fourth place with more than 85,700 posts., alongside the hashtag #MasterChefChindo (slang for Chinese-Indonesian) which trended on November 26 to November 27, 2023. Netizens also flooded the Instagram accounts of judges Juna and Renatta with criticisms, with Renatta's latest instagram post reaching ten thousand comments. The backlash caused the official Instagram account of MCI to close the comments column on Belinda's winning post. MCI's Instagram account also lost approximately 13,000 followers because of the backlash. In fact, one of the judges on MasterChef Indonesia once stated that the true champion was actually the runner-up, while the actual runner-up finished in third place, because the first-place win had already been prearranged as requested, if the runner-up was also prearranged, then the first-place winner ended up in third position.