If you’re a fan of the Food Network, chances are you’ve heard of Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions. Now in its 5th season, the Food Network claims it's their highest-rated show, boasting 11 million viewers last season. This crazy cooking competition showcases 32 celebrity chefs, organized in March Madness-style East versus West brackets, all judged in a flawless blind-tasting, winner-takes-all format. In intense head-to-head battles, chefs are eliminated one by one until only a single champion remains standing. The winner takes home $150,000, the TOC belt, and ultimate bragging rights.
Guy Fieri is the consummate host, clearly having a blast while also showing immense respect for his pals and the chefs throwing down in the TOC arena. It’s a show with heart and a slightly sadistic sense of humor. TOC has a fun yet cruel twist known as… “The Randomizer”. It's a ruthless slot-machine-style contraption that dishes out various combinations the chefs must tackle: a cooking style, protein, produce, culinary tool, and, the ominous wild card. After Fieri spins the wheels on “The Randomizer” (grinning as he toys with the emotions of the competitors), the dueling chefs look as if they’re going to cry as the wheels turn. Wherever the wheel lands determines what they must focus on in their cook. This monstrosity can force competitors to use sardines, a toaster oven, patty pan squash, turkey, and make the dish… silky. It’s pure evil and it’s glorious.
The blind tasting makes for some March Madness-style upsets- the 8th seed taking down the 1st seed (it’s happened every season at least once). And despite the culinary world being dominated by men, the blind tasting has led to a curious outcome. In the last four seasons, a female chef has won it all.
On most cooking competition shows, judges know which chef cooked each dish. This can leave viewers questioning whether the winning chef truly created the best dish or if they were simply favored by the producers. Even on shows where judges claim to be unaware of the chef behind each dish, the blind nature of the judging process often seems questionable. Classic example: the show Beat Bobby Flay, where most dishes in the blind tasting are comically obvious (“Wow, Calabrian chiles?! Who could have possibly cooked this dish?!”) In the Tournament of Champions, the competition is truly blind. With 32 potential chefs in the mix, the judges are kept completely in the dark about the potential competitor combinations. This competition feels… real.
It’s hard to describe how much I love this show. I think about it several times a year; use techniques and ingredients I’ve seen on the show; talk with my husband while we’re cooking and reminisce about past battles (“remember when Britt Rescigno blasted through other champions, Top Chef contestants, and Iron Chefs to get to the final four?!?”)
I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone crazy enough to go on TV in a cooking competition. I’ve felt the anxiety and desperation of Richard Blais on Top Chef: All Stars before his win and been disappointed when Elizabeth Falkner lost her chance to be The Next Iron Chef to Geoffrey Zakarian (I tasted her lobster cioppino- she was robbed!) I’ve cheered underdog contestants on amazing episodes of Guy’s Grocery Games (Triple G for those in the know) and suffered through whatever weird stuff they pack in a basket on Chopped.
But TOC is on a different level. It’s a cooking competition that crushes chefs like a can of San Marzanos. Disappointed chefs sometimes lose and leave the arena promising they’ll never return, but a chance for glory calls them back and we see them ready to fight again the next year. In a perfect world, the Tournament of Champions would have been called The Hunger Games.
Full disclosure: I’ve hosted a lot of cooking and travel shows, written a cookbook, and even cooked with Emeril Lagasse on his show. I can host. I can judge. But I do not have the cojones to compete on one of these shows. So, of course, I was contacted out of the blue by a Food Network producer about competing on the first season of Alton Brown’s Cutthroat Kitchen. I looked at the email, immediately visualizing Alton giving me side eye and snarking about my abilities as I tried to break down a side of beef, and quickly declined. The idea of competing on these shows is completely terrifying- even if you love to cook.
I share this lengthy humblebrag because I KNOW what it takes to compete on a cooking show and I don’t have it. But these contestants- all 32 of them could win at any given moment. Until they don’t. THAT’S what makes this show so incredible.
In short, if you aren’t watching this show, you’re missing an important part of your foodie existence.
I can’t wait until the next episode.
Tournament of Champions airs Sunday nights at 8pm / 7c on Food Network or streaming on Max.