EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle savaged over ‘weird, messy and questionable’ move
Meghan Markle’s latest appearance was not a flop… but neither was it a success
Meghan Markle calls Harry ‘a charmer’ during TV appearance
Meghan Markle was criticised for her “messy around the edges, strategically questionable, but ultimately harmless” appearance on MasterChef Australia. The Duchess of Sussex appeared as a guest judge on the Australian cooking show on Sunday for an immunity challenge ahead of the semi-final.
Contestants were challenged to transform a staple ingredient into a dish “fit for a duchess”. The ingredients available included carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts, celeriac, Australian honey, macadamia nuts, quince, lemons and apples, mandarins and strawberries. Meghan appeared alongside MasterChef Australia judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Meghan Markle was criticised by an expert (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry’s wife went all candid in the episode and shared many glimpses into her family life with her husband and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. But despite that, she was criticised by various royal watchers, with several of them describing the appearance as “cringeworthy”.
Now, a PR expert has said that although Meghan’s MasterChef debut was nothing extraordinary, it also wasn’t remarkably bad or even harmless. Australian-born Renae Smith, founder of PR and branding agency The Atticism, told the Daily Express: “ In my honest [opinion, her appearance was] weird, messy around the edges, strategically questionable, but ultimately harmless.
“It will be forgotten by next month, and for Meghan, forgettable is often the best possible outcome.”
She said that MasterChef, a show she has previously taken part in herself, is a “credentials” show built entirely around measurable skill and that Meghan’s “only contribution” was that she is “famous and likes food”.
Meghan Markle was a guest judge on MasterChef Australia (Image: Channel 10)
The expert said: “She went on as a personality, not as a cook, and MasterChef doesn’t often do that. Pleasant presence, enjoys food, but that’s not what the show measures.
“And having been in that kitchen myself, surrounded by some seriously talented chefs, I can only imagine there were a few quiet giggles behind the scenes.”
Sunday’s MasterChef Australia episode reached a total of 1.6million Total TV viewers. It broke the record for the biggest overnight Sunsay audience since July 2023 and the biggest-ever overnight streaming audience, at 118,000 viewers, according to figures released by broadcaster Network 10. It also topped the seven-day Total Viewing audience with 1.22million national viewers.
Meghan’s episode saw a 16% increase in its national Total TV audience compared with the same episode last year. Total TV is a special metric used in Australia to measure viewing across screens and combines traditional linear broadcast television with digital broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) viewing.
Channel Seven’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow came first with a total of 2.5million total TV viewers, and Channel Nine’s Lego Masters reached 1.7million viewers.
