Which raises another question, Cynnamon.

>>...over 50% of respondents to my survey only watch 0-1 episodes of MC per week, yet are still able to provide some sort of opinion on the show<<

It would surely have been more useful to separate out the "no, I don't watch the show" people from the "yes, I manage to catch an episode about once a week" crowd. The former can have only a tangential view of the show's impact, like being exposed to passive smoking. The latter category on the other hand might be in the "I'd watch every episode if I could" brigade. Two entirely different agendas, that you have slapped together into a single category.

So, a gentle word of warning, if I may.

>>...this proves one of my hypotheses, that MC has had so much of an influence that even those who are not regular watchers know so much about the details<<

Your tutor might possibly not share your view that this constitutes proof of any kind, given the breadth of possible characteristics in the "watch 0-1 episodes" response category.

Houllie, I don't actually see the dancing and the cooking as the
same thing. I suspect that dancing with the stars is more about
the stars. Personally I don't know too many males who go dancing,
unless they are trying to bed down a few extra females. But perhaps
its different in suburbia, where people are bored.

I often check out what is in peoples shopping trollies at Coles.
There seems to be a direct correlation between the amount of
American packaged, processed food in their trollies, and the size
of their arses.

Great cooking however, is catching on with a percentage of Australians,
which is growing. Plenty of blokes are into it, as
plenty of blokes are also top chefs and plenty of blokes like to
eat well. So its a challenge, more interesting then yet another game
of footie.

It doesen't have to appeal to everyone and plenty will still focus
on their pizza and bic macs. But if say 20% of the population are
interested, that is a huge market share and indeed new industries
open up.

The thing is, there is a market for cheap food and a market for
top food, they are quite different. I know a bit about it as its
how I made some serious money with only the best seafood.

Marketing that food has now moved from supplying the best restaurants
to supplying an increasing share of the public for home cooking.

If you want to cook your Waygu aged beef at home, its still going to
cost you some serious money.

Master chef and similar show have caused a huge rise in wannabe cafe owners, who, due to their faulse perception, have lost everything.

It takes them four hours to cook a three course meal, but in. Reality, you need to prepare 100 of these in a few hours if you wish to survive.

Being a confident cook myself, I used to enjoy the show, but I don't watch anymore due to the suspension they put you under.

You can put that down to Eddy McGuire and his millionaire show.

Hey - all you grumpy nay-sayers - you don't really appreciate food! Yes, I admit I am very overweight, but I do love my food! Unfortunately, MasterChef just introduces me to more delectable food ideas! I think the success of the show is due to the fact that younger people (hopefully) are exposed to a wider range of food than the ghastly, English-inspired meat & 3 vegs! I am retired but I have always had an adventurous approach to food! Cooking shows are great at educating people out of their 'comfort zones'!

For me that show about cooks (in no way real chefs) promoting eating and arguing about the minutae of the ingredients and process is a perfect counterbalance to Australia's Greatest Loser, where people stand around crying in their underwear. Maybe one is the result of the other.

Both seek to be "inspirational" but it all comes down to media contrivance, product advertising and entertainment dressed up as some kind of human drama.

In the end it's all just bread (sourdough perhaps?) and circuses and as real as any other fictional programme.

"It would surely have been more useful to separate out the "no, I don't watch the show" people from the "yes, I manage to catch an episode about once a week" crowd"
Pericles, that's a really valid point I wish I had considered. Thankfully, the majority of respondents who ticked the 0-1 category have indicated later on in the questions whether they watch, or don't watch MC.

However, putting a "I don't watch MC" option may be problematic as well - many respondents are not regular watchers of MC, but have caught an episode once or twice, which means at least they know what the show is about. The point of that particular question was more to gauge the amount of exposure respondents had to the show, and whether this would have a siginficant impact on my overall findings.
Thanks for the feedback!

"It might be much more meaningful if your research covered the appeal of generic reality TV shows?"
Thanks Spindoc, my research does cover the changing social attitudes towards reality TV - how and why these perceptions change over time, and the fundamental reasons why humans like reality TV in the first place. I will be referring to a range of reality TV shows, but MC is the only one I chose to look at in detail, for the simple reason that it is the 3rd most watched show in Oz TV history (the top 2 were sporting events)