Throughout the entire series of MasterChef SA it was promoted that the eventual winner would walk away with prizes “worth R8 million, including their very own restaurant”. However, according to an article in The Citizen today this is not the case. They quote Deena Naidoo, the winner, as saying the value of all his prizes only totals about R1 million. Plus, the whole “your very own restaurant” part also turned out not to be the case.

It has been presented as though I have acquired a new restaurant as part of the main prize. But this is far from true. I will only run the restaurant for two years, and will only be present at the venue about five times a month. Ninety-nine percent of the public are under the impression I have ‘inherited’ a restaurant, but the reality is that this restaurant happens to have a R7-million replacement value.

M-Net’s Ingrid Engelbrecht, however, denies the perception was created that the winner would own his or her own restaurant.

When the prize was originally decided upon we did not know who the winner would be, where they reside or what their personal circumstances are. M-Net and Tsogo Sun ensured that various, flexible options were in place for the winner regarding the restaurant prize. The prize was advertised this way because the first and main option made available to the winner regarding the restaurant is the full-time running of the restaurant as head chef, to the value of R7 million.

So who is in the wrong here – Deena, all the MasterChef SA contestants, as well as the viewing public? Or should they have read the T&C’s properly? Check out the original call for entries, as still listed on the dstv website, and see what you would have thought the prizes were going to be:

MasterChef SA offers the most valuable prize in South African television history: R250 000 from Robertsons, a brand new Hyundai Elantra 1.6 GLS, a 7-day culinary experience in Italy and an Italian cookery course courtesy of Woolworths, a year’s supply of Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve wines and a customised sommelier course and one-on-one MasterClasses with Nederburg’s cellarmaster, as well as their very own Southern Sun restaurant at Sun Square Montecasino. The total prize value for South Africa’s first MasterChef exceeds R8 Million.”

[Source: The Citizen]