The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

138 No Judgment Yet

Right now, there weren't any of the contestants inside the room to be judged so E Cheng Jun had time to directly talk with the judges. Seeing as it was currently Xiao Ming's task, she figured that it would be best to first speak to him.

Walking up to the judges' table and giving a smile, she leaned closer to Xiao Ming. "Judge Xiao, right now, about a third of the contestants have already finished your task but the others are still busy. Be honest with me: What do you think makes this task challenging for our contestants here at 'Golden Spoon'?"

Xiao Ming habitually smiled back at her before pondering the question. He was very well aware of the advantages and disadvantages that the contestants had on this task so it wasn't that difficult to answer but coming up with the best way to say it succinctly was still something he struggled with so he needed a moment to sort himself.

"I think that this task tests the knowledge of the contestants because it depends heavily on the recipes they know. They need to judge the ingredients they have, be quick when thinking about it, and then choose their dish or dishes accordingly. Being able to do all of that while under pressure is what I think is most difficult about this."

"I see. Then what about the upside? Is there one?"

Xiao Ming nodded. "Yes, I'd definitely say there is. This is a task that allows them to showcase their skills individually because they aren't required to make the same dish. This way, they can choose themselves and make something they have made often and know they are good at as long as it fits the ingredients."

"Oh, so having the ingredients picked out for them can be a curse or a blessing depending on who it is then?"

Xiao Ming thought for a moment and then inclined his head once again. "I guess you could say it like this. In this case, Mister Yu and I picked the specific ingredients together and also talked about what kinds of ingredients they should be allowed to exchange the meat for. We made sure that the ingredients in the box are common ones that can be found in many dishes. Thus, the contestants have a lot of options to choose from. I think that gives them a certain degree of freedom."

At this, E Cheng Jun raised her brows and then turned to Mister Yu. This was the perfect opportunity to switch the judge she was interviewing. She should thank Xiao Ming for giving her a hand there. "I didn't know that the main judges were working together so closely behind the scenes. So Mister Yu was also involved in coming up with this task?"

Mister Yu hesitated for a moment but then shook his head. "When it comes to coming up with the task, then I'll have to say that this isn't the case. Whether it's the two of us or the temporary judges, they will always make a suggestion of their own first. But when it comes to the specifics of the task, then yes, we do work together to ensure that the tasks are varied enough and will be able to be solved by everyone.

"In regard to this task, when Xiao Ming suggested giving the contestants a limited number of ingredients and having them work with that, I immediately felt that it was a good challenge.

"It is very close to what the contestants might experience at home and I think that for 'Golden Spoon', this is something that we always have to take into consideration: Our contestants aren't professional chefs. They are people who have a love for cooking but still just do it at home.

"I think that for our tasks, we should never ignore that fact. That doesn't mean that the tasks can't be challenging though. But it does mean that we have to make sure that they will pose the right challenges."

E Cheng Jun nodded, looking as if she had just been enlightened. One really had to say that when it came to moderating the show, she was somebody who made the appropriate expressions at the right time. It would probably give the viewers at home the feeling that she was just as involved as them when the episode was finally aired.