Contrary to what my last MBTI post might suggest, I generally try to avoid analysing or speculating on the personality types of family and friends. I do, however, increasingly watch TV through the lens of Myers Briggs or the HDS ‘dark side’ instrument. This is particularly true of ‘Reality’ shows which often place contestants under unusual stress or pressure (although I draw the line at watching Big Brother) which brings me to the recently concluded run of Celebrity Masterchef.
As if a restaurant kitchen wasn’t already a seething cauldron, Masterchef revels in cranking up the pressure in the final stages. After all, as
Greengrocer Gregg Wallace bellows, ‘COOKING DOES NOT GET TOUGHER THAN THIS’. Amongst other challenges, this year’s three finalists had to cook meals outdoors at a battle re-enactment, on a moving train for Orient Express passengers, for Michelin starred chefs and the usual sour-faced restaurant critics, and for a handful of extremely well-mannered and appreciative dancers from the Moulin Rouge (a ‘test’ which I can’t help thinking Gregg and John Torode sniggeringly came up with as a ‘boys’ jolly’).
It’s easy to sneer at ‘celebrity this and celebrity that ‘ (I do all the time) but there is no doubt that ‘Celebrity Masterchef’ takes the finalists way beyond their comfort zone, allowing us to see how they cope, and potentially de-rail, under extreme pressure. The HDS ‘dark side’ psychometric is designed to explore precisely that – how the behavioural strengths of leaders can become dysfunctional and ‘derail’ them under unusual stress and pressure. Like The Apprentice, Masterchef potentially makes for an incredibly intensive and rigorous (not to say sadistic) job selection process although in the Celebrity version the winner receives only the glory, a slightly underwhelming trophy and a timely boost to a flagging career. So as a great fan of the HDS (for selection, coaching and team development) as well as Masterchef in all it’s guises, I was watching to see which of the eleven ‘dark side’ behavioural scales were in evidence from Dick Strawbridge (ex-army colonel and presenter of ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’), Christine Hamilton (wife of Fulham FC Matchday Compère ‘Diddy’ David*) and Lisa Faulkner (no, I had no idea either but apparently a Holby City actress).
*I beg your pardon, wife of disgraced former MP Neil.
Of course programmes like Masterchef are edited to manipulate viewer perceptions in the interests of heightened drama, emotion, tension etc. so there is a fair degree of speculation behind my ‘analysis’ but here goes with a stab at the ‘dark side’ of the three finalists.
Dick Strawbridge was adamant that we would see no tears from him (‘that simply isn’t who I am’) and was the most emotionally detached of the three. However, the other two were prone to blub at the drop of a syllabub so this is no great claim. Also, Dick is ex-Army where displays of emotion may be discouraged but not as much as doing your own thing and ignoring the needs of those around you, so I don’t think Dick would register a high score on the ‘Independent-Detached’ scale. I think the legacy of his army career in HDS terms might actually be ‘Dutiful-Dependent’ – including an over-eagerness to please superiors (or judges or critics or Michelin chefs) which led him to soak up their feedback like a sponge and try too hard to deliver what they wanted (I say this also in the belief that Dutiful-Dependent high scores are more prevalent in organisations where the culture is strongly hierarchical such as the armed forces). Yet at the same time Dick was determined not to compromise his own culinary ethos which had nothing to do with being ‘dutiful’ or conventional.
And what was Dick’s ‘culinary ethos’? His son used the word ‘eccentric’ before describing him as fulfilling ‘all the stereotypes of the British Garden Shed Inventor’. Dick cooked with flair and imagination but his big potential de-railer was what the HDS labels ‘Imaginative-Eccentric’. The judges, professional chefs and food critics clearly thought that the combination of figs and chilli with lamb and mashed potato, or for that matter venison, pigeon, rabbit and cream on the same plate, were pushing back the boundaries in quite the wrong direction. For the final cook off, Dick described his main course as ‘sort of chopping up a rabbit and giving you all the various bits – it’s a bit of fun cos there’s bits in there that’s slightly unusual – with a mustard dumpling, cream, cider and mustard’. This was an eccentric sounding dish but also one which showed a dutiful determination to prove how much he’d previously learned from butchering and cooking an Assiette of Young Kid ‘five ways’ for Michelin starred chefs in a Michelin starred kitchen.
I believe Christine Hamilton shared some of Dick’s eccentric tendencies, albeit more in the manner of what Gregg called ‘Jolly Hockey Sticks’. As with Dick, her imaginative cooking often went too far as she attempted to impress with too many ingredients and unusual (at times bizarre) flavour combinations. On the Orient Express Gregg referred to ‘typical Christine. She set out to do one dessert, ends up doing twelve’. Christine’s description of her main course in the final was met by John with ‘is there an ingredient too many? Is there (sic) three ingredients too many?’
Although this was not so much in evidence in the final cook off, as the pressure intensified Christine often also displayed a tendency to ‘ham it up’ and play to the gallery. Those with a high score for ‘Vivacious-Dramatic’ typically need to be the centre of attention and Christine Hamilton is no stranger to ‘Reality TV’ (‘Come Dine With Me’, ‘I’m a Celebrity’ et al). She came across surprisingly well in Masterchef – I certainly warmed to her more than in the past (although I still wouldn’t invite her to dinner) – but I think this ‘look at me having a crisis’ trait impaired her ability to listen to feedback and learn from the high pressure moments.
Leaders with a high HDS score for Imaginative-Eccentric are sometimes unaware of how odd and socially inappropriate their behaviour might be. At times Dick and Christine seemed similarly unaware of how odd and gastronomically inappropriate their culinary combinations might be. Lisa Faulkner, on the other hand (Holby City, remember?), ran the risk of de-railing for very different reasons. Having a detailed plan and being organised and in control were clearly part of Lisa’s strategy throughout the cooking tests (definitely a J in MBTI terms). Her husband also testified to the time and effort she spent perfecting dishes at home during the competition (Dick and Christine probably spent more time experimenting than perfecting) so I suspect an HDS ‘high score’ for ‘Diligent-Perfectionistic’. However, when the pressure mounted and Lisa felt that control slipping from her grasp there were times when she seemed paralysed by indecision and fear of failure. Whereas Dick and Christine threatened to ‘derail’ by pushing the boundaries too far and taking too many risks, Lisa’s greatest challenge (‘Careful-Cautious’ in HDS terms) was having the confidence to push beyond her comfort zone (within which she cooked superbly) and, rather than play safe, blow the judges away.
So who, ultimately, managed or mitigated their ‘Dark Side’ to win the competition? Celebrity Masterchef concluded a fortnight ago but the final programmes were re-run on the BBC’s ‘sign zone’ last weekend and are currently still available on BBC i-Player and Virgin On Demand. It will also no-doubt be diced up, warmed through and served in smaller portions on Saturday Kitchen very soon. So if you didn’t watch the programme and don’t want to know the result, look away now…………..
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