Food Network Sets 24-Hours-Straight Cooking Competition ‘Last Chef Standing’ Hosted by Michael Symon and Esther Choi (EXCLUSIVE)
Food Network is breaking new ground in the intense culinary competition genre with a series that features 24 chefs taking on 24 food challenges in, you guessed it, 24 consecutive hours.
Hosted by Food Network stars and iconic chefs Michael Symon and Esther Choi, “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” is described as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel’s “most ambitious and grueling culinary competition to date.”
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Per the series description, “the 24-hour competition takes the chefs to the extreme, demanding they display the skills, creativity and stamina needed to be an elite chef. At the end of the 24 hours, there can be only one true master left standing.”
The winner — “the chef who cooked the best, for the longest and outlasted the competition” — will be determined by judges Eric Adjepong, Maneet Chauhan, Scott Conant, Stephanie Izard, Jet Tila, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, and Brooke Williamson. The victor’s prize is $50,000 and the “trip of a lifetime.”
“24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” will premiere April 14 at 8 p.m. on Food Network and be available to stream on Max.
The 24 competing chefs are a mix of “culinary icons, rising stars, and competition rookies,” including: Carlos Anthony, Gabriella Baldwin, Emilie Rose Bishop, Josephine Clemens, Chris Dodson, Kess Eshun, Elizabeth Falkner, Declan Horgan, Christopher Ingram, Airis Johnson, Matt Jordan, Camille La Caer, Danielle Lee, Mika Leon, Chris Oh, Viet Pham, Marc Quinones, Nadine Charlie Ray, Chad Rosenthal, Vijay Sadhu, Aarthi Sampath, Martel Stone, Michael Toscano,and Marcel Vigneron.
“24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” is produced by Lando Entertainment for Food Network.
The series is Food Network’s latest splashy project made to draw eyeballs to its linear channel amid an ongoing cable ratings slump and ad sales decline.
“We are always looking to innovate and bring our audience fresh and compelling content and we are redefining cooking competitions with ’24 in 24: Last Chef Standing,’ as it’s a combination of a culinary marathon and a social experiment,” Warner Bros. Discovery head of food content Betsy Ayala said. “No competition has ever captured intensity like this, breaking the fourth wall to keep viewers at the edge of their seats.”
“This competition is as extreme as it sounds,” Symon added. “Chefs often talk about the 24/7 nature of our industry, but this is the first competition to truly capture that intensity.”
Choi said: “It’s a culinary battle like no other with surprising twists and curveballs along the way. It’s a test of endurance, creativity, and collaboration that push these chefs to their limits.”
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