Next Level Chef” is back for a new season filled with culinary competition promising to be bigger and crazier than ever before. Mentors (and judges) from the previous seasons, Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais will return giving fans the same intense challenges, creative dishes, and fiery moments in the kitchen as previous seasons.
What Is “Next Level Chef”
Those chosen to compete on this reality series consist of professional chefs, social media chefs, and home cooks, who are split into teams with each being mentored by one of the judging celebrity chefs. They then must cook each week in one of three levels of a multi-tiered set; the fancy state-of-the-art dream kitchen, the mid-range kitchen, or the basic basement kitchen. This setup makes “Next Level Chef” unlike any other cooking show out there.
As a platform housing their ingredients moves through the set, players must grab whatever they can to succeed. And how they do in each episode determines where they cook next time, with both a team challenge and a one-on-one elimination determining who goes home. The winner will earn a cash prize ($250,000) and a year-long mentorship from the three celebrity chefs they worked with on the show.
Speaking with Gold Derby about the upcoming season, Chef Arrington said, “We have some absolute heavy-hitters — some of the brightest social media stars and some of the best chefs in the game. A really exciting element of surprise is that your esteemed judge panel is going to be putting on an apron in an episode and cooking alongside our team.” about this season’s contestants.
Chef Blais, on the other hand, who is known for being a bit more analytical, teased that the chefs coming from a social media background are “pretty good at presentation because they have to make a dish that looks good on screen,” but noted that, “sometimes, they’re not that great with timing because they’re used to setting up their ring lights, perhaps, and spending six hours making a dish.” We’ll have to see whether this will impact these chefs’ chances.
It has been suggested by the mentors that the strategy of gameplay will have a bigger part in this season. The chefs competing will need to be smart about how they choose ingredients, what techniques they employ in their cooking, and if teamwork is worthwhile for them to go farther.
