‘MasterChef’ Boss Explains Why Chefs Are More Motivated Than Ever in Global Gauntlet Season

What is the goooooallll of MasterChef‘s latest edition? To swipe a page from the playbook of the world’s most popular sport, soccer.

“Season 16 is called Global Gauntlet, and it’s in the spirit of the World Cup coming to Fox,” explains executive producer Michael Heyerman, adding that even though the contestants are all Americans, “they have different cultural roots all throughout the globe.”

In last week’s season premiere, things kicked off with the first of four audition episodes featuring home chefs with a taste for various cuisines from around the world. “It’s split into territories where we have the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa,” Heyerman continues. The opener carved out the Top 5 contenders representing Europe, and this week, tryouts roll on with a batch of hopefuls with ties to Asia-Pacific, “which includes Australia, Thailand, all of the different cultures and cuisines within Asia-Pacific,” notes Heyerman. “We find that Top Five, they get aprons and then we do rinse repeat with [the other areas].” As always, the contenders’ first challenge is to whip up their signature dishes for judges Tiffany Derry, Gordon Ramsay, and Joe Bastianich, who obviously have a taste for international fare.

“I think the cuisine itself, in all of the different territories, a lot of that stuff is now seen all over the world,” Heyerman admits. “So, like a traditional dish in Thailand, maybe it’s made a little different there or maybe it’s represented a little different, but for the most part, they would be familiar with all of the dishes. There might be some courses where they make it with a protein that is maybe different than what they’re used to, but for the most part, most of the dishes, especially between Gordon, Tiffany, and Joe, they have a familiarity with.”

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Shockingly, that includes kangaroo, which has Ramsay revealing a deep knowledge of the Aussie edible when it winds up in front of the trio in the April 22 episode at the start of the kitchen culling. After that, the profferings remain relatively close to the menus most of us have read, from Malaysian beef skewers and Vietnamese spring rolls to a halibut dish served with some Bangladeshi heat, as served with a dash of personal stories.

“There’s a real parallel between who somebody is and how they grew up and what their home life was like and the food that they resonate with,” Heyerman says of the show’s focus on both the craft and creator. “That’s what was really exciting, that you really get to see somebody and hear their story of growing up with their grandmother from Thailand or like the family connections coming through the dish. That was really exciting and they defend their signature dish, especially when it’s been passed down the line through their family, you know what I mean? So they are very much behind what they’re putting out there and being like, ‘This is better than that.'”

And while the star ingredient of MasterChef has always been Ramsay — “He’s just so good at understanding the flavors and the history and the passion, so he’s able to connect with people even though he’s met them for five seconds” — Heyerman points out that Bastianich and Derry are far from side dishes. “Joe, obviously being Italian, has a lot more to say when it comes to [those dishes] … and Gordon’s dynamic with Tiffany has grown even stronger. They’re just a great trio.”

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He’s not feeding us a line there, either. It is evident early on that the three have become a perfectly seasoned happy meal of knowledge, mutual admiration, and sass that gives the proceedings a lively kick. Still, they have their work cut out for them with this crew of wildly gifted home chefs, so it will be interesting to see which ones make the cut for the Top 20. After that? It’s game on, and Heyerman says that nobody is playing around once the competition really gets cookin’.

“The fact that they are doing it for their culture, their heritage, how they grew up…that makes them motivated in a way that I hadn’t seen before,” he previews. “The competition is really amped up.”

MasterChef, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox