''Beat the Chef'' is a British television cooking game show broadcast by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and hosted by

Andi Oliver Andrea "Andi" Oliver (born 1964) is a British chef, television and radio broadcaster, and former singer. She is best known for her appearances on the BBC cooking show the ''Great British Menu''. Early career Oliver is a former member of the b ...

. The series features contestants preparing a home-cooked family recipe, while professional chefs

Mark Sargeant Mark Sargeant (born August 1973) is an English chef and restaurateur from Larkfield, Kent. Early life Born in Kent, Sargeant grew up in Larkfield, Kent and attended Oakwood Park Grammar School in Maidstone. From an early age, Sargeant's i ...

, Frederick Forster and

Clodagh McKenna Clodagh McKenna (born 10 May 1975) is an Irish chef, author of cookbooks, columnist and television presenter. She has demonstrated cookery on ''The Rachael Ray Show'', ITV's '' This Morning'' and hosted several television series and writes a col ...

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. 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. After the allegations were made public episodes featuring Mark Sargeant were not broadcast with repeat episodes from the previous series broadcast instead.

Format

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

The series is produced by

Twofour Twofour is a British television and digital media group founded in 1989 by Charles Wace, a former BBC news producer, and Christopher Slade, a BBC presenter. With its headquarters in Plymouth, Twofour has offices in London and Los Angeles. In J ...

. A second series will begin filming in 2020.

References

{{Reflist Channel 4 original programming British cooking television shows 2019 British television series debuts Television series by ITV Studios