Acclaimed chef Sanjeev Kapoor claimed he was dropped from MasterChef India season 1 after he demanded a rupee more than Akshay Kumar. For the unversed, MasterChef was adopted for the Indian audience in 2010. Akshay Kumar was one of the judges of the opening season. In a new interview, Sanjeev Kapoor said he was approached to be a fellow chef. While he agreed to do the show, he placed one condition — he should get a rupee higher than Akshay because cooking if his playing field.
The demand alledgedly left the showrunners in shock. “When MasterChef came, we had already done a show and saw what future looked like for it. I was approached (for MasterChef). As soon as the conversation began, I was told that one judge has been signed. At that time, (I was told) there was no one bigger than Sanjeev Kapoor. Forget top 10, even in top 100, there was no one. So they had signed Akshay Kumar. He’s a dear friend, brilliant guy, great professional,” Sanjeev Kapoor told Siddharth Kannan.
“(The showrunners told me) We’ve signed him, so we wanted to sign you as well. I said, ‘Very good, I am very happy but I have only condition. Whatever you are paying him, I will charge Re 1 more.’ They asked, ‘Charge more than him?’ I said, ‘Yes, this is my field.’ They were shocked. They did not, and I was okay. They came back to me again. They decided to replace Akshay Kumar. I signed the show on my terms,” he added.
MasterChef India has so far played out eight seasons in Hindi alone. Sanjeev Kapoor joined the series in the second season and continued his run in the fourth season. After his exit, a few other chefs walked in and out. However, Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar were among those chefs who stuck around the longest.
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