Beat the Chef is a British television cooking game show broadcast by Channel 4[1] and hosted by Andi Oliver. The series features contestants preparing a home-cooked family recipe, while professional chefs Mark Sargeant, Frederick Forster and Clodagh McKenna make the same recipe in an upscale restaurant version. The two dishes are then judged by a panel of food critics including BBC Food Programme presenter Leyla Kazim. The series premiered on 27 May 2019.[2][3] In 2022, the series was embroiled in controversy by continuing to employ Mark Sargeant after a jury in the U.S. ruled that he sexually assaulted an American woman in Germany.[4] After the allegations were made public episodes featuring Mark Sargeant were not broadcast with repeat episodes from the previous series broadcast instead.

Beat the Chef
GenreGame show
Presented byAndi Oliver
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes25
Production
Executive producer
Running time23 minutes
Production companiesTwofour
Motion Content Group
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release27 May 2019 (27 May 2019) –
present (present)

Format

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In this series hosted by restaurateur Andi Oliver, skilful amateur cooks go head-to-head with professional house chefs in fast-paced cook-offs to win a cash prize of up to £10,000. The house chefs to beat are Michelin-starred Mark Sargeant, bestselling cookbook author and celebrity chef Clodagh McKenna, award-winning chef James Tanner and Roux Scholar Frederick Forster. In each round the food jury blind taste the home cook's and the professional's dishes and vote on which they prefer. The more votes the amateur gets, the more money they win, but no votes and they go home empty-handed.

Production

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The series is produced by Twofour.

A second series will begin filming in 2020.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Beat the Chef". Channel 4. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Watch Beat the Chef | Prime Video". www.amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Beat The Chef". Broadcast. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  4. ^ "US jury finds celeb chef did sexually assault flight attendant". Kent Online. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  5. ^ Staff Reporter (24 February 2020). "Beat the Chef back on Channel 4 with new series and revamped format". TellyMix. Retrieved 25 November 2020.