MasterChef: Legends premiere gives all the feels

When you watch Chef Gordon Ramsay on MasterChef, it’s hard to believe this is the same man who viewers just watched in the premiere of Season 20 of Hell’s Kitchen. If you didn’t know, it would be easy to think they aren’t one and the same.

On Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay tries to mold young chefs into something he can be proud of, no matter how much verbal abuse that may take. He can be vicious and blunt, but the chefs expect it and know it comes with being on the show. They want to cook at the highest level and will deal with whatever he dishes out.

By contrast, MasterChef is all about regular people who just love food and love to cook. Some may want to own their own restaurant someday but others are just content to cook for their families. They are on MasterChef because they love cooking for what it represents and the joy it brings them, not as a way to earn a living and gain fame and fortune.

As a result, the Gordon Ramsay you see on MasterChef is a completely different person. If he doesn’t like something he will tell them but do it in a way that isn’t hurtful or cruel. He leaves that to fellow judge Joe Bastianich, who seems more than happy to play the a**hole role for the show.

MasterChef: Legends was overflowing with emotion and joy.

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For Season 11, Ramsay, Bastianich and judge Aarón Sánchez are bringing on board a rotating list of culinary legends (hence the title) to help them pick the best home cook in the country. For Episode 1, they revealed to the hopeful cooks that only 15 white aprons would be handed out this year, then introduced the one and only Emeril Lagasse. A legend indeed.

By the time the first hour was up, the judges had handed out only six aprons to a diverse cross section of home cooks. These included Alejandro, a Cuban immigrant who made herb crusted lamb chops, Autumn, a bartender from Boston who went way outside the box with a miso banana cake and Elyce from Chicago who wowed the judges with a red velvet mini cake.

But two cooks really brought the feels over the rest. One was Matt, a construction worker who made the egg yolk ravioli. His story had me choking up and to see him get a yes and a handshake from Lagasse had me cheering in my living room.

The other was Suu, a food blogger from Houston. She made a Burmese noodle soup that you could tell had a profound effect on all the judges. In fact, as she left with her apron the judges were actually fighting over who got to finish her dish.

It made for a great hour of food television and I really hope the series can keep this up all season, which hasn’t always been the case. Regardless, it’s nice to see Ramsay actually be overtly supportive of these home cooks. For many he is an idol to them and it seems that isn’t something he takes lightly.

Next week the white aprons continue to find owners as we get closer to our final 15 cooks hoping to become MasterChef.

What did you think Guilty Eaters? Do you get all misty from the premiere or was that just me? Are you excited for the new season of MasterChef? Leave a comment below and let us know or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.