I feel like it’s been so long since I watched a new episode of Masterchef that I don’t think I could name a current season contestant if you asked me. Part of the problem is we weren’t sufficiently far into watching Masterchef Season 16 when Fox unceremoniously took the Gordon Ramsay starrer off the air. It’s not canceled, thank goodness, but it is seriously crazy how long it’s going to be before we get a new episode. Let’s talk it out. Masterchef Is Off The Air Thanks To World CupSo why is the popular reality competition show even off the air right now? I think it’s easiest if we just talk about the elephant in the room, which is the World Cup. As you may well know, World Cup games are being played throughout the U.S. They are also airing across the U.S. on a smattering of networks including ESPN, NBC and Fox. The latter of which is the network that hosts all the Ramsay shows, including Masterchef, which is typically a summer program. Unfortunately, that means it would theoretically be running during primetime when Fox knows people would rather be tuning in for soccer games right now. I get the hiatus in theory, but how it is working out in practicality is not great for viewers. Masterchef Is Going To Be Off the Air For WeeksHere’s where I get frustrated. Masterchef only began airing its new season back in April. Fans got through the audition round episodes, which are always less popular episodes, anyway. Then, we got four traditional Masterchef episodes in May and early June. Now, the show’s been off for weeks, and it’s not expected back soon.In fact, all said and done, Masterchef will be off the air for six weeks in a row before Fox returns to its regular programming on the 2026 TV schedule. It was not summer or sweltering where I live when the show went on hiatus. It is now both summer and sweltering where I live, and I still have weeks to go before my favorite summer show is back on the air. Masterchef is expected to air new episodes again starting on Wednesday, July 15th. I should note that it is very common for network TV shows to take hiatuses. We saw shows like SNL get pre-empted thanks to the Winter Olympics on NBC earlier this year. Sometimes network TV shows just take a few weeks off in the fall or spring, too. It’s not unusual to miss a couple of weeks. It’s also not uncommon for shows like Survivor to take really long breaks in between full seasons (more on how that production works). However, six weeks is an incredibly long break to take in the middle of the action. We were just getting to the point in the season where many of the also-rans were getting eliminated and the really talented folks were starting to shine. Group challenges were a hot mess! Gordon was yelling at everyone! We were really getting into the good stuff, and now we’re just waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Again, I hardly blame Fox for wanting to air the World Cup. I certainly don’t blame fans for wanting to watch the World Cup. It just feels like we could have either started the season earlier or picked it up later in order to avoid this mess, and I really hope the show doesn’t lose viewers for the rest of the season because of it.