Two years on from the phenomenal success of Li Yuchun and the
rest of the Mongolian Sour Milk Super Girls, a cookware company is
trying to cash in on China's reality TV boom.
Teflon Smart Cooks features 12 finalists from across China
ostensibly competing in a cookery contest.
However, the main prize of a 300,000 yuan (US$38,000) contract
to promote non-stick saucepans is perhaps a hint that charisma and
good looks may well out-rank culinary excellence when it comes to
the final standings.
At a recent press conference, Du Pont China's marketing and
sales manager Xie Xiaofan, whose company is organizing the contest,
made it clear that cooking ability was only one of several aspects
judges would be assessing.
"We want to select a new star not only with good cooking skills
and knowledge of nutritious food but also personal charm and
enthusiasm for life," he said.
The qualities sought in the winner were listed as "a vigorous
and healthy bearing, enthusiastic attitude, camera feeling and
willingness to work in a team."
Viewers will be able to vote for the chefs they most want to be
thrown off the show by texting in, while a panel of judges,
including a five-star chef, a pop star and a TV producer will
select the winner of each round until only one chef remains.
At the unveiling of the dozen finalists, except for a mime one
contestant gave pretending to burn scrambled eggs, there was
precious little sign of any cooking ability.
Instead, time was found for the dozen seven men and five women
ranging in age from 20 to 48 to show off a variety of party pieces
including a capella version of Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting,"
a kung fu routine, a song from Peking Opera and a poetry
recital.
To be broadcast only as a webcast, Xie claimed use of the format
and not television was an "innovative step", taking advantage of
one of China's most far reaching media resources.
"The choice of this broadcasting format gives us a huge
potential audience, and will attract people who might not watch the
show if broadcast on TV," he said.
But whether the 12 contestants will capture the public
imagination in quite the same way as the Super Girls is open to
question. Certainly no one China Daily spoke to seemed likely to
become a fan.
"I've never heard of this competition," said Zhang Peng, a
third-year student at Peking University. "How are people supposed
to be able to know how well these people can cook if they can't
smell or taste the food? It all seems a bit silly to me."
Di Dongna, 25, who lives in Shanghai was even more
skeptical.
"They're dressing it up like a show but it just sounds like one
big advertisement for the company. I've never voted for anyone on
one of these reality shows and this certainly won't make me start,"
she said.
Anyone who does want to tune in can see the show at http://bn.sina.com.cn/SMARTCOOK,
with the final to be decided on October 19.
(China Daily October 10, 2006)
