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“Even if your dreams aren’t to be a great chef or to construct amazing objects, there’s something about the experience of watching something good happen to someone that really speaks to our basic wants and desires as humans. We like to see the underdog or somebody who has had a difficult life succeed and win because it touches us deeply,” Ferrari says.

This emotional investment also provides us with fodder for what Ferrari calls “the water cooler effect” of engaging and connecting with others.

“Shows like Married at First Sight and Lego Masters both give us something to talk about with people. For a show like Married at First Sight it tends to be connecting on the negative, but something like MasterChef or Lego Masters is much more positive. And good or bad, it’s still offering that opportunity of connection,” Ferrari says.

Former MasterChef contestant Alice Zaslavsky says that unlike other reality shows, finding drama and developing plot lines centred around conflict has never been a part of the cooking competition’s DNA.

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“While there are still archetypes and personalities, and occasional dramas behind the scenes, none of that was channelled into the moments when cameras were rolling. From the perspective of making great TV, they’re more focused on capturing us concentrating on our cooking and getting better at it quicker than milking any of the drama between individual dynamics,” she says.

“The reason why these shows are so wholesome is because these people are all hyper competitive but they’re also really convivial.”

While it’s hard to believe that footage of contestants who are all vying for the same $100,000 prize cheering each other on could possibly be sincere, Zaslavsky says it’s 100 per cent genuine.

“You spend so much time together and you bond to each other,” she says, adding, “Cooks are naturally generous people, so I guess that comes through.”

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Zaslavsky says the other success of feel-good reality is its ability to challenge our understanding of what a hyper-competitive person looks like.

“It teaches you that there’s not one way to succeed. You can find loopholes and go with it. And, you know, the prize isn’t necessarily just winning, it’s also just the experience itself. I didn’t go into it saying, ‘The only way I’m going to succeed is if I take out number one.’ It’s not a zero-sum game.”

For Ferrari, it also comes back to the core point of these shows, which is to depict reality.

“These shows give a sense of normality and remind us that we don’t all have to connect through watching a slinging match of drama between two people; we can also connect through the light and fluffy stuff that makes us feel good and feel better.”

Lego Masters returns to Nine and MasterChef returns to Ten on April 18.

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