''Food Fighters'' is an American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

based

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

television series hosted by

Adam Richman Adam Montgomery Richman is an American actor and television host. He has hosted various dining and eating-challenge programs on the Travel Channel and History Channel. Early life and education Richman, an only child, was born into a Jewish fa ...

that pits a home chef against five professional chefs in a series of cooking competitions for a chance to win up to $100,000. The series premiered July 22, 2014 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

as a summer replacement series. On January 21, 2015, NBC renewed the show for a second season. The second season premiered July 2, 2015 and concluded September 3, 2015. In season one, new episodes aired every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, while in season two new episodes aired every Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. A third season was not announced by NBC, and as of July 2016, the show is no longer listed by the network as a current show.

Format

''Food Fighters'' bills itself as "one part cooking competition, one part game show." In each episode, a contestant who is a home-based amateur cook comes to the show with a list of five of their best recipes to prepare on the show. The show is divided into five rounds, one round for each recipe. In each round, a mystery professional chef comes in to challenge the contestant. The chefs are represented as black silhouettes of themselves on a large video screen and on a graphic to the home viewer before being shown. Once the chef is introduced, the contestant chooses one of their recipes to cook against the professional, and they cannot prepare a recipe more than once. The contestant generally attempts to select a recipe that is not in the known style of the chef, as the chef does not know in advance what dish they will be cooking. After a set cooking time (generally varying from 15–25 minutes), the contestant's and the chef's respective recipes are judged by a group of five ordinary food-loving people known as the "Dinner Party" in a blind taste test, who discuss positive and negative aspects of each dish. A majority vote of the Dinner Party determines the winner of the round. Each round that the contestant wins earns them a cash prize. The first round is worth $5,000, the second round is worth $10,000, the third round is worth $15,000, the fourth round is worth $20,000, and the fifth round is worth double the amount of the contestant's previous winnings, making a top possible prize of $100,000. If the chef wins a round, the contestant does not win any money for that round but continues through the entire show. If the contestant does not win any round prior to the final round, that final round will be worth $10,000. The fifth professional chef that competes is generally a

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

that has frequently appeared on other cooking shows, especially those on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

, including Cat Cora,

Elizabeth Falkner Elizabeth Falkner (born February 12, 1966) is an American chef, pastry chef, author, restaurateur, and consulting chef. She has appeared as a competitor and sometimes a judge on reality television cooking competitions, and she is a Top Chef tele ...

Duff Goldman Jeffrey Adam "Duff" Goldman is a pastry chef, television personality, and cookbook author. He is the executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes shop, which was featured in the Food Network reality television show ''Ace of Cakes'', a ...

, Lorena Garcia,

Jet Tila Jet Tilakamonkul, known professionally as Jet Tila ( th, เจ็ท ติลกมลกุล; ), is an American celebrity chef, author, restaurateur, and restaurant developer. Early life Tila was born in Los Angeles to Thai Chinese parents ...

, and Gerry Garvin. The set of the show is unique from other cooking shows in that it is a two-story set, with the contestant cooking in a kitchen upstairs on an upper level while the chef cooks in a similar kitchen on the lower level. The show also publishes the contestant recipes on their website.

Episodes

Season 1 (2014)

S1E1: Elisha Joyce

S1E2: Kena Peay

S1E3: Annie Smith

NOTE: In addition to the cash, Annie Smith was given a Tobii

eye tracking Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (where one is looking) or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movement. Eye trackers are used in research ...

speech recognition device for her disabled daughter.

S1E4: Nick Evans

S1E5: Cortney Anderson-Sanford

S1E6: Jon Coombs

S1E7: Melissa Clinton

S1E8: Jim Stark

Season 2 (2015)

S2E1: "I'm Bringing the Spice" — Jacky Herrera

S2E2: "You're in the Big Leagues Now" — Holly Haines

S2E3: "This Kid's Got Moves" — Troy Glass

NOTE: In addition to the cash, 14-year-old Troy Glass was given a full two-year scholarship to

The Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its primary campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the firs ...

S2E4: "This Cheerleader's Got Game" — Amber MacDonald

S2E5: "Fighting Fire with Food" — Ryan McKay

S2E6: "Fear My Skills, and My Heels" — Alyssia Birnbaum

S2E7: "The Lawyer Raises the Bar" — Zac Delap

S2E8: "Whiz Kid in the Kitchen" — Danielle McNerney

NOTE: When the contestant lost the first four rounds, it was announced that the last match would be for $10,000.
12-year-old Danielle McNerney was given a trip to science camp from Education Unlimited and Sally Ride Science held at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

gave $20,000 to help with her mother's charity.

S2E9: "Home Cook Heavyweight" — Will Spencer

S2E10: "This Soccer Mom Sizzles" — Alice Currah

References

External links

* * * {{Facebook, NBCFoodFighters, ''Food Fighters'' NBC original programming Food reality television series Television series by Universal Television 2010s American cooking television series 2014 American television series debuts English-language television shows 2015 American television series endings