Last night Fox aired the debut of Gordon Ramsay’s take on MasterChef to solid numbers. But what do ratings mean if the audience didn’t like what they see? To find out if MasterChef is more Top Chef than Chopping Block, we reached out to our friends on Twitter and Facebook to see what they thought:

Twitter

trixiemonahan: I liked it. But that might be due to summer programs being dreary. The chefs and the hopefuls made for an interesting story.

tnoe27: Formulaic. Histrionic. Educationally deficient. Uninspiring. Insipid. Silly. A waste of a perfectly good hour.

sandykjohnson: Gordon Ramsay is the John McEnroe of chefs. Contestants were picked for diversity, personality, sob stories. Can they cook? TBD.

mauibutterfly: Hell’s Kitchen + American Idol =#MasterChef

CybelDP: set-up too close to#AmericanIdol 3 judges. Ramsey=Simon. Ppl’s backstory. Family in audience. #TopChef more unique

JosephMCatalano: the American Idol of cooking!!! Great show can’t wait for next week. Judges are entertaining!

FoodieAMR: Love it. Can’t wait to see more. For once, Ramsay isn’t the one to be scared of!

IronCupcakeMKE: have seen/heard enough from Chef Ramsay but thrilled to see Chef Bowles on a series!

Mr_Rosewater: Was it just me, or did Chef Ramsay look kind of… orange?

csuttile: Nothing will top Top Chef, but the networks can keep trying.

AnotherDK: I thought meh…and went to play Starcraft 2 instead.

vanillakitchen: the crying has to go for show called MASTER chef

JoshFinnie: I surprisingly liked it. Interested in how it progresses, but I’ll be tuning in.

Facebook

Patricia Kurtz Forger: I thought the show was EXCELLENT! I almost did not watch it and decided to at least tune in and found myself completely hooked. Some of the stories and the people were just amazing – even found I was shedding a few tears and almost cheering when some of the contestants made it – I’m so ready for the next show ~ Bring it on!

Jeff Chin: GR > The Donald

Cindy Welch: Like American Idol for chefs.