Germán Martitegui comes to streaming with Manos Arriba, Chef !, the spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity

Juan Thomas Erbiti

07/29/2021 4:21 PM

• Clarín.com

• Shows

• TV

Updated 07/29/2021 4:21 PM

If there was something missing from the pandemic success

of MasterChef Celebrity, it

was to

have a spin-off

.

At least that is intuited that it will be

Hands Up, Chef!

, a new original content from Paramount + with the three chefs from the Telefe reality show, which

debuts this Thursday on the

ViacomCBS

streaming platform

.

In dialogue with

Clarín

, Germán Martitegui confesses that the germ of this detachment occurred precisely in the kitchens of Telefe.

"There was a day that Dolli (Irigoyen) appeared as a jury and

we had to make some eggs Benedict and help two participants without using their hands

. That program triggered all this," says the chef.

In this new contest, the one who emerged as the most demanding judge of the celebrity gastronomic contest

faces his colleagues Donato de Santis and Damián Betular

to find out who is the best cook, forming a team with other participants.

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

The premise of this

MasterChef

detachment

is to

prepare complex dishes in an hour without being able to use your own hands to cook

.

The two guests must finish a high difficulty “dish of the day” following the orders of the experts.

One of the three chefs will be the driver and will decide who wins and takes the 200 thousand pesos

.

If the host is Donato, it will be an Italian pasta or dish.

In the case of Martitegui, a gourmet recipe.

And if the host is Betular, the selection will be a dessert.

"It's like a prank"

, Martitegui sells it.

"We worked very well making jokes and we had a lot of funny moments between the three of us.

This explodes and enhances a bit that which is very latent in MasterChef

", he explains.

A more relaxed competition

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

-Sounds like it's a bit more relaxed plan than "MasterChef".

Or is it just as competitive?

-Eh ... well, they play for 200 thousand pesos.

In an hour you can earn that money.

And

we are quite competitive with each other

.

You saw that we laugh and that it seems that we do not care, but, when we have to cook, we chicane, we fight.

With respect, but there is a certain tension of competition.

- Did it cost you not to put your hand in the preparation of the dishes?

-The hardest thing is trying to communicate with someone who doesn't even understand the language you use.

It costs me a lot, and at the moment I get very nervous.

Clearly,

I am the one they fear the most

.

Because there is a moment when (the participants) are asked who they would like to cook with.

And they

all look at me in panic, poor boys

.

We end up friends with everyone anyway.

-You got a bit of that bad reputation on "MasterChef".

Not so much in the second edition.

-Yes, well, there was a change from the first to the second.

There is another super important thing that I forgot to highlight and that is that we are drivers.

In other words,

there is one of the three that makes Santi

(Del Moro).

I think that's the part that amused me the most, because I've never done it before.

It's like playing at doing a completely different job.

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

-What happens in "Hands Up, Chef!"

can it happen in a restaurant kitchen?

-Do not.

When there are internships, perhaps, there may be one who knows absolutely nothing.

But I don't know if at that level or with that pressure.

-And what similarities does it have with "MasterChef"?

-There are similar factors.

You have 60 minutes and the dishes are quite difficult

.

None of the three of us like to lose anything, less in the kitchen.

So the situations are very funny.

Then there is a moment when we leave them alone and we continue to see them on a screen.

And

we want to kill each other because they make a mess

.

-How much is there of the dynamic that occurs between you on Telefe?

- It seems to me that the success of the program is that three people do it who did not start doing it yesterday, but that they work and that they have certain codes;

They look at each other and know what they are thinking.

And that, at the same time, they allow a level of jokes and fights that have a lot to do with the fact that we already have that dynamic.

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

-Did you record it alongside "MasterChef"?

-No, when we finish.

-Aren't you a little tired of seeing each other?

-Well, I don't see them now.

But

we would not be missing each other

.

We write to each other, everything is fine.

The truth is that

the two Masterchefs in a row were like a truck that ran over me

.

As much as I enjoyed it, the success, having people so aware of one and the amount of hours it demands, was terrible.

Now I am happy resting and taking care of the rest of my life, which was enough.

To be in the window of the TV

-How do you deal with this moment of high exposure?

-I always tell my friends that it is very strange to open the newspaper every day and that they are talking about one.

All the media, all the afternoon shows, everyone is talking about it.

What do I know,

my father does not watch television, but he knows everything about the program because he reads the newspaper

.

And suddenly you read notes that say

'Martitegui has a tattoo', 'How much does the Martitegui restaurant cost?'

.

The same with Donato, Damián or with whoever.

It's a lot of exposure and it's difficult to handle.

It is exhausting.

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

-In what sense?

-I didn't know him.

And it is not the same that you look for it since you were a child, because you want to be an actor, that what happened to me, that they stopped me in a place and that suddenly began to happen to me.

- Did it start to bother you?

-No, it

doesn't bother me because it's pure affection

.

You go down the street and people adore you because they have you inside your house, because it is a super complicated moment in the world and in the country, and I think that we make many people happy.

They thank us that it

was a long time since they had all watched a program together: the children, the parents and the grandfather

.

It's all very exciting.

But, well, a few months off is not bad.

-How much do you think the pandemic and that fury for the kitchen in those first months of quarantine influenced the success of "MasterChef"?

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

- It seems to me that it

influenced a lot

.

In addition, it is a space without aggression, fun.

We always try to preserve this teacher-student relationship;

the hierarchies between the jury and the participants.

And in most cases there was a lot of respect, clear rules, and things were said in a way that understood what had happened.

This thing that loses the "worst dish" and not the "worst cook

.

"

And he clarifies: "It is still a competition, but it seems to me that there is something very healthy, very suitable for all audiences.

MasterChef

was that at a time when you read closure of things, deaths, sick people. It seems to me that it was an escape for the people".

-Do you think it has to do with a change in the TV era?

-I'm not that expert on that.

Because I don't watch much TV, really.

The only thing I did on TV was

MasterChef

.

And always on Telefe.

-What can you tell us about the third season?

-I can give you the list of participants.

No, lie.

I'm very hung up and I don't watch TV.

Of the people who participated in the first season, they had listened to Patricia Sosa as a boy, knew

Claudia Villafañe

, period.

Afterwards, he knew absolutely no one.

And in the second I did not want them to tell me who they were so as not to have any prejudice and to be able to connect with them from scratch.

Germán Martitegui previews how Manos Arriba, Chef !, the reality spin-off of MasterChef Celebrity will be.

-Something they must tell you.

-I can assure you that the three of us prefer not to know.

Because, if not, it's like your head doesn't rest.

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