‘There’s no harm, is there, in letting your emotions out’: a multimodal perspective on language, emotion and identity in MasterChef Australia

Abstract

This chapter explores the Australian version of the `reality-competition' cooking show MasterChef,1 focusing on how it celebrates positive, rather than negative emotionality. In so doing, this chapter is intended as a novel contribution to linguistic research on reality television, the majority of which has tended to focus on reality TV programmes and genres that centre around conflict rather than less conflict-rich shows such as MasterChef Australia (henceforth also `MCA').