Proving again that the Internet has made it impossible to get away with anything, an eagle-eyed viewer of Fox’s MasterChef noticed that America’s third-favorite “Gordon Ramsay yelling at people” show indulged in a bit of digital fakery in its opening sequence. As the voiceover gushes that “thousands upon thousands lined up” for the chance to be dressed down by Ramsay, Graham Elliot, and Joe Bastianich, the camera sweeps over a horde of people excitedly waiting to audition. Unfortunately, huge chunks of them are obviously clone-tool-created fakes, as you can see in the above photo that was posted to Reddit.
After the Internet issued a bellowing laugh, having once again exposed the truth behind another foolish lie, producers issued a statement to EW saying, “We have reviewed the footage and it’s clear that the scene was enhanced in post-production. We sincerely apologize to our viewers and hope that they still enjoyed the show.” They also insist that thousands of people really did try out, and promised to scrub the shot from all future episodes. In its place, perhaps they could insert another shot of Joe Bastianich looking at a contestant like they just vomited directly in his mouth.