It's no secret that reality TV isn't reality. Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out that MasterChef, a long-running cooking competition show on Fox, has some significant differences from professional kitchens of the real world. Fans are not flagging dramatic over-editing, manufactured fights, or any of the other standard reality TV fare. Instead, it's been noted that contestants on MasterChef don't seem to follow basic kitchen hygiene protocols.

The popular show has multiple global spinoffs, and the original, U.S. version has filmed 15 seasons and counting. MasterChef has been hit by scandals over the years, ranging from allegations of harassment to theft, but that hasn't stopped around 3.5 million viewers from tuning in to the most recent American season (per Variety). Although MasterChef's set simulates a restaurant kitchen environment, it doesn't work exactly like one.

Most commercial kitchens are governed by health codes and company policies that dictate how cooks keep food safe. Each kitchen runs with different rules, yet the basics are pretty standard: keep surfaces and utensils clean, wash your hands, and keep hair out of the food. Maybe it's because of the time constraint aspect of MasterChef, or perhaps food safety doesn't make for good TV, but those rules quickly fly out the window in the show.

Contestants dress for TV, not a commercial kitchen

The biggest culprit, according to a Reddit discussion on the subject: hair. In commercial kitchens, chefs typically wear hair restraints (whether that's a chef's hat, a hairnet, or some other cap or covering). Yet on MasterChef, the contestants don't use any form of hair restraint (many long-haired competitors tie their hair back, but not all). That makes sense: It's a TV show, so it has a hair and makeup department that gets contestants camera-ready. Their priority is making the cooks look good, not following commercial kitchen standards.

The same goes for beards, says another poster in a thread of the r/MasterchefAU subreddit, although beard nets are less standard in kitchens. A number of TV cooking competitions have had contestants with beards, and there's never a beard net in sight. Are they actually required in restaurant kitchens? Sometimes. Each state has its own laws, such as requiring beard nets for beards over ½ inch long in Florida.

There are other hygiene red flags on MasterChef, too: jewelry on hands that touch food is a big no-no in restaurant kitchens, but it's something that has been seen on the show. Contestants sometimes touch their faces and then touch food,  which is also frowned upon in commercial cooking. Ultimately, the competitors on MasterChef are not professional chefs, but contestants in a TV show, though one would think that the hosts, who are professionals, would promote the health codes and standards of the industry.