Chapter 149: Too Much After
the high-intensity emergency training, Lin Cao took Yu Hong, who was half-baked, to the audition site of the God of Cooking Competition in Jinhai City for the audition.
After Zhu Tingwan's painstaking teaching and almost memorizing the cooking process by rote, Yu Hong finally managed to master the recipes of several home-cooked dishes.
So the two of them went to the audition site which was crowded with people.
Although food-related variety shows have been declining, there are still many people who come to watch the fun or want to show off their skills in front of the public.
Even if many people successfully pass the audition, they will not choose to pay to appear on the variety show in the end, they just do it for fun.
Therefore, many great players often appear during the audition stage, which makes people's eyes shine.
But when it comes to the variety show stage, there are actually more people who try to take advantage of the situation.
Yu Hong and Lin Cao arrived at the audition site and found that many people were already waiting in line. They took their number plates and looked down to see that their number was 202, which meant that it would take a long time before it was their turn.
Judging from the scene, the auditions are divided into five groups.
Each group has three judges who decide whether the audition contestants stay or go.
Of course, in addition to five groups of judges with good food tasting skills, the program team also ingeniously selected some guests from passers-by - although they cannot directly influence the selection results, they can also make up for the problem of poor sense of immersion in food variety shows to a certain extent.
As for how many of these audiences are hired by the program production team, only God, the earth, you and I know.
But the problem is that it is only contestant No. 60’s turn now, and No. 202 will have to wait for a long time before it is his turn.
After all, cooking is not like singing, it can be finished in a few minutes.
The requirements for the audition stage of "God of Cooking" are relatively loose. You only need to make a dish that satisfies at least one judge within an hour to advance.
Enter the next round of auditions.
There are five groups of judges, but not every contestant will spend a full hour competing, so on average each person spends a maximum of 10 minutes.
It will be their turn in about two hours...
"Let's wait." Lin Cao glanced at the selection site and found that the filming had already begun.
The recording of the audition stage can be used as a behind-the-scenes feature or episode 0 to warm up the variety show in advance.
Yu Hong nodded: "Okay..."
Just as he finished speaking, several messages suddenly popped up on his phone, with WeChat, text messages, and the "MasterChef" contestant app sending messages almost simultaneously.
"Contestant No. 202, Mr. Yu Hong, please go to the third judging panel and wait!"
"Ah?" Yu Hong was stunned for a moment, and quickly handed the phone to Lin Cao, "Brother Lin, it says that the next contestant is me!"
How come it's so fast? Didn't it come in order before?
Lin Cao also felt a little strange, but after confirming that the news was true, he was too lazy to think too much and took Yu Hong to wait in front of the third judging panel.
Of course, the two of them didn't know that they were able to cut in line directly, and the credit went to a black-hearted boss in the company who secretly made some kind of shady deal with the program crew.
During the audition stage, Yang Ruoqian had already contacted the program team, asking them to pay special attention to a contestant named Yu Hong, and to give him the green light all the way to the final of the audition stage.
The program crew was also very straightforward and asked for a flat price of 200,000.
Of course Yang Ruoqian was not satisfied with this price, so he asked for a series of special treatments, such as being able to jump the queue after getting a number, and deliberately slowing down the clock if the cooking time exceeded, and other black box operations.
After all, if Yu Hong was eliminated because he slowed down his cooking due to nervousness and failed to prepare the dishes on time, Yang Ruoqian would be dumbfounded.
After appearing on variety shows, there are more places to spend money.
After thirty minutes of bargaining, the two sides finally reached a deal to send Yu Hong to the show at a flat price of 350,000 yuan.
At this time, in front of the third judging panel.
"Please welcome contestant No. 202!"
Yu Hong suddenly became nervous, and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to the judges: "Hello everyone, I am contestant No. 202 Yu Hong. I usually like to cook some home-cooked dishes. I came to participate in the audition today and hope to bring some surprises to everyone."
Most of the judges for the auditions were invited from the Internet and major restaurants.
Those responsible for selecting Yu Hong are a popular food blogger with millions of fans, a chef from a well-known restaurant and a contestant who participated in the previous "MasterChef Contest".
The three judges nodded slightly.
They have tasted more than a dozen dishes served by amateur chefs today, eight of which were inedible.
It's hard to swallow, not unpalatable.
Of the few mediocre dishes left, they intuitively selected a few that tasted just about acceptable, and sent them invitations to the next stage of auditions.
Being a judge like this is simply mental torture...
"So, what are you going to cook for us today?" asked the food blogger.
Yu Hong recalled Master Zhu's teachings in his mind, took a deep breath, and replied: "I am going to make a home-cooked dish today, steamed pork with rice flour!"
Several judges nodded: "List all the ingredients you need, and get ready to start."
Zhu Tingwan teaches methods that are simple and not prone to mistakes, which can be used to cope with auditions.
Yu Hong's knife skills and methods of marinating ingredients are not professional, but he is methodical and his steps are clear.
After all, Yu Hong started making this dish almost as soon as he arrived at the company, and he could repeat the entire process even with his eyes closed.
Looking at the busy Yu Hong, several judges on the stage also started to communicate quietly.
"He must be a novice in the kitchen. You can see that he is not very skilled in using many kitchen utensils."
"But the cooking method is fine. I must have learned it urgently before participating in the competition."
"Even if this dish can pass this audition, it will probably only make it to the first round of the competition... The next round will test your overall strength."
“…”
Fifty-five minutes later, a dish of steamed pork with rice flour that looked delicious in appearance and aroma was ready.
Yu Hongting confidently brought the dish to the judging table.
The three judges looked at the color of the dishes, and the uneasy feelings in their hearts were immediately relieved a little.
Just now, the three of them were forced to eat a dish of sour, pure green bacon, which left them with extremely serious psychological trauma.
At least this dish doesn't look bad...
The three of them picked up their bowls and chopsticks, picked up a small piece of meat, put it in their mouths, chewed it, and tasted it.
The seasoning was pretty good, but the heat was not well controlled, and the meat was a little tough, resulting in the pork belly being a bit greasy.
I added a little too little water, which resulted in the rice noodles being a little too dry.
The potatoes at the bottom were not soft enough.
After tasting the dish, several judges looked at each other and said that this dish was mediocre, without much highlights, but its flaws were not fatal either.
It’s not delicious, but it’s definitely not bad.
To sum up, you can pass it or not.
Just as the three judges were hesitating, a familiar voice suddenly came from their headphones - the person in charge of the program team.
"Teachers, what do you think of this contestant's dish?"
There was a flash of astonishment in the judges' eyes. This was the first time they heard the program crew directly care about a contestant.
Regarding Yu Hong’s previous queue-jumping incident, they thought it might be a system error.
But now it seems that things are not that simple.
The judge considered the wording and said, "It's not bad."
"Then give this guy a chance?" The voice came from the headset again.
“…”
really.
It turns out he is a relative.
After all, the judges have to rely on this variety show to drive traffic to their own accounts or restaurants and gain some popularity. Although they were unhappy, they still did not refute the organizers' opinions.
"Congratulations, contestant Yu Hong, for successfully advancing to the provincial auditions. Here is your invitation letter."
"Congratulations, keep up the good work in the next games."
"Congratulations."
Yu Hong, who had no idea about the inside story, was pleasantly surprised. He walked forward and solemnly accepted the invitation.
"Thank you to the judges, thank you for giving me this opportunity!"
The judges were a little speechless - isn't it just a formality? Why make it so ceremonial?
Lin Cao, who was standing at the side, stepped forward, patted Yu Hong on the shoulder, and said with satisfaction: "Not bad, the first battle was a success. But we can't relax, the subsequent games will be more difficult than the last one, and we must not let down Mr. Yang's trust, understand?"
"Got it, Brother Lin!"
…
On the last day of the month, the second round of auditions began.
After several days of devilish training, Yu Hong handed his masterpiece, the braised pork, to the judges in charge of the second round of auditions, and waited anxiously for the judgment.
"It feels a little sweet, what do you think?"
"He has a good grasp of the heat, but I feel his basic skills are average. I guess he specializes in this dish and came to the audition specifically for it."
"It's just average, not great, but I think it's passable."
"If I pass, I'll be eliminated in the next round."
"Yes, the last round of auditions is a nationwide audition, and it is a two-on-two PK competition system."
Several judges were discussing something when a voice suddenly came from the headphones.
“Sizzle…”
"Teachers, this boy is good. Please give him a chance."
The judges were speechless for a moment, then shook their heads after a few seconds and handed the final audition invitation to the nervous Yu Hong.
"……OK."
…
Kuiguang Company, President's Office.
"Boss Yang, congratulations! Yu Hong has successfully entered the national finals of the audition!"
Yang Ruoqian received the good news from Lin Cao on his mobile phone.
Yu Hong passed two rounds in a row and successfully advanced to the audition finals. As long as he passed the audition, he would be able to appear on variety shows and TV and enter the public eye.
"Nonsense! I've spent a lot of money and bribed people all over the place. If I still can't pass the audition, it's really ridiculous."
For a show like this where the audience has no way of judging, isn't it up to the judges to decide whether it passes or not? However, Yang Ruoqian, who had paid all the benefits to the program team in advance, didn't care much about it.
Because today is the first settlement day of the 2.0 version system!
"Hurry home and see how much money I can make in the first quarter!"
(End of this chapter)
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