Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Curtis Stone To Host Food Network's Kitchen Inferno

Photo - Multivu
A new series on the Food Network called Kitchen Inferno will be hosted by Curtis Stone and premiere on Wednesday, November 5th at 9pm.  This is a competition show where chefs go head-to-head over four possible rounds against "Culinary Gladiators."  Each round is judged in a blind taste-test by judges Daniel Green, Judy Joo, and Michael Ruhlman.  If the competing chef wins, they can keep moving up to higher levels which increase in difficulty.  In the final round, the contestants "face a pivotal choice: take the money and run, or risk it all for a chance to reach the final round and win up to $25,000, all in front of a studio audience. If they lose, they will watch their winnings go up in smoke and leave with nothing."

The show had a working title of Food Chain and was casting back in July.   When they were casting, the flyer said the prize was for up to $50,000, but now it looks like the top prize is only $25,000.  Kitchen Inferno is also similar to NBC's Food Fighters, but on that show there is not as much risk as chefs don't have to put any of their winnings on the line.


There will be eight episodes in this season of Kitchen Inferno and the episode descriptions can be found here.  Some chefs are competing for charity, while others are competing to win the prize for themselves.  In one episode Viet Pham from Iron Chef/Food Network Star/Extreme Chef is competing against a 16 year-old chef.

The four levels of "Culinary Gladiators" which have been identified include:
  • Level 1 Culinary Gladiators - Penny Davidi (pictured above), Stephanie Goldfarb, and Mikey Robins
  • Level 2 Culinary Gladiators - Vic Casanova, Nyesha Arrington, Chris Oh, and Michael Psilakis
  • Level 3 Culinary Gladiators - Madison Cowan, Elizabeth Falkner, Jet Tila
  • Level 4 Culinary Gladiators - Michael Chiarello, Curtis Stone, and Geoffrey Zakarian


The full press release about the show is below:


COMPETITORS FACE THE HEAT IN NEW FOOD NETWORK SERIES KITCHEN INFERNO
Hosted by Curtis Stone, Chefs Go to Battle for a Chance to Win up to $25,000

Series Premieres Wednesday, November 5th at 10pm ET/PT

#KitchenInferno premieres Wednesday, November 5th at 10:00pm ET/PT on @FoodNetwork
NEW YORK — October 6, 2014 / PR Newswire / — Host Curtis Stone turns up the heat in new Food Network primetime culinary competition, Kitchen Inferno, premiering Wednesday, November 5th at 10pm ET/PT. The game is simple but the stakes are red hot. Each episode features talented chefs going head-to-head in culinary showdowns over four possible rounds. Each round will have a blind taste-test judged by the Inferno’s panel of judges to determine which dish is best. If the competing chef is victorious, they have the chance to move up to the next level, with each round advancement growing in difficulty as they bring the skills of a new culinary talent to battle against. The contestants face a pivotal choice: take the money and run, or risk it all for a chance to reach the final round and win up to $25,000, all in front of a studio audience. If they lose, they will watch their winnings go up in smoke and leave with nothing. Can these chefs cook their way through four rounds in this blazing competition for the ultimate prize?

“The challengers not only have to go against some of the best chefs in the world, but must also make the high pressure and high stakes decision of moving forward or walking away with any money they have won, all as an audience is watching their every move and decision each step of the way,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President Programming, Food Network. “Curtis Stone is perfect at pushing all the right buttons, to bring out the competitive fires in each chef.”

In the sizzling premiere, James Beard nominated chef Duane Nutter, and the pride of New Orleans’ chef Tory McPhail take on Kitchen Inferno’s culinary gladiators. One challenger is playing for charity, the other playing for an entire city. With the Inferno’s panel of judges, including chef Daniel Green, chef Judy Joo, and chef Michael Ruhlman, determining which dish is best, who will reign supreme when battling it out over ultimate hot dogs and stuffed burgers? Will one lucky winner be able to move up the levels for a chance to win $25,000? Don’t miss all the action over eight episodes, as these talented chefs from across the country battle it out in the kitchen for bragging rights and the grand prize, against some of the most elite chefs around – including amongst others – Michael Chiarello, Madison Cowan, Elizabeth Falkner, Jet Tila, Geoffrey Zakarian, and possibly even Curtis Stone himself.

Curtis Stone is an internationally-known chef, TV host, entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Curtis first found his passion for food while watching his grandmother make her legendary fudge and his mother roast her perfect pork crackling. After finishing culinary school, he took a job at the Savoy hotel in Melbourne before heading to London, where he honed his skills under legendary three-star Michelin genius, Marco Pierre White. While living in London, Curtis appeared in several U.K. cooking shows before catching the eye of television producers in Australia. Curtis has appeared on numerous daytime and primetime television shows. Curtis most recently opened his first restaurant, Maude in Beverly Hills in February 2014, which has received rave reviews from LA Magazine, Angeleno and more.

Viewers can visit FoodNetwork.com/KitchenInferno for behind-the-scenes photos and more from the competition.

Kitchen Inferno is produced by Relativity Lifestyle Television, a division of Relativity Television.

# # #

FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and up to 35 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine’s rate base has grown tenfold and is now the second largest monthly magazine on the newsstand, with over 11.6 million readers. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24-hour networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com) and Great American Country (www.gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.

37 comments:

  1. Lenny would a great contestant for this show!!!!!

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  2. Penny Davidi They couldn't find anyone better to include on their first episode???
    That witch needs to go away and never show up on anyone's TV again.

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  3. Agreed - Davidi is a bad penny that won't go away. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

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  4. I'll probably watch this, just because that's what I do. But can't they come up with a new concept, rather than copying Food Fighters?

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  5. It is "Food Fighters.." As I can recall...two judges from Cutthroat Kitchen were on that NBC show (it was filmed in 2013).

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  6. In fact....Jet Tila is the only one who has been on "Food Fighters" that will be on this show... I saw one show with Cat Cora losing the final round.

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  7. Strikes me as Food Fighters crossed with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

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  8. I have yet to understand why Food Network keeps trying to make Penny Davidi happen.

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  9. I know...she's a complete witch.

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  10. Thank you Autumndandelion--that was EXACTLY what I was going to post. It seems like FN can never come up with something original on its own. I loved Food Fighters...Adam Richman was perfect as the Host. Why did it disappear!!!

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  11. Maybe something to do with his rant over #thinspiration and its connection with pro-anorexia/bulimia websites? Just a guess as I have no idea.

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  12. Maybe because she attracts viewers who love to hate her and because, whatever else she may be, she's a good cook. I am not a Penny fan for all the obvious reasons but I would rather watch her than Elizabeth Falkner whom I really detest.

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  13. Falkner is hard to watch. I turn her off every time.

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  14. I don't much care for Falkner either, but I can handle her easier than Penny. There are so many good chefs that also have good personalities that I'm not sure why they chose these two.

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  15. Doesn't surprise me that FN dropped prize down to $25k. All their shows have such cheap prize levels, with the exception of Guy's Grocery Games.

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  16. Nothing's as bad in the prize department as Rewrapped. No money at all, just a year's supply—and how much is that?—of the featured product.

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  17. Wouldn't surprise me if it was as little as 12 coupons for one package for 1/month.

    Talk about a show to go on just so you can say you have been on tv. The judging is such a joke you can't even claim bragging rights.

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  18. He can cook and he is entertaining. He could have blown FN outta the water, sinking ship that it is.

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  19. Four rounds of competition? Isn't the guest chef pretty much guaranteed to win the first three rounds? Guest chef loses the first round and, well, there's 45 minutes of programming to be filled.

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  20. 12 cans of Spam is more than anyone needs in one year.

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  21. Put those phony Neelys in a competition against each other. That would be fun to watch.

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  22. Really? I rather like her and think she'd have made a great Iron Chef. I've been a fan since she was a guest judge on the first season of Top Chef and admire the way she dealt with a contestant's mental breakdown on Top Chef: Just Desserts. She's also been judging on the current season of Donut Showdown and is really good at it.

    Besides, I'd love to see her take Fabio Viviani and his overinflated ego down.

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  23. Curtis Stone is more like a level 2 chef....

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  24. Her whole self described gimmick is that "She is hot" but she is not, real rough looking.

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  25. I like Chef Falkner too.

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  26. It might be like Food Fighters, where you continue to cook in the next round, regardless of whether you won the one before.

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  27. Just curious why you think she's hard to watch? I like her and think she should have been an Iron Chef. I do understand that we all have different criteria for liking and/or not liking someone...just curious what it is about her that you don't like.

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  28. Thanks Hoppy and AutumnD. Wow, I had not seen that. Didn't think he should have been attacked for "thinspiration," but talk about overreacting in such a vulgar way. Surprised a public figure like Adam wouldn't be smart enough to realize he could be jeopardizing his entire career.

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  29. He did the Today Show apology tour after the mess broke, but he didn't really apologize. Not as bad as Paula Deen's run on the same tour, though.

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  30. He had a good teacher though: Pierre Marco White, whose success stories include Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali.

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  31. Fabio does have an ego.

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  32. It always amazes me how so many public figures after so clueless about how to handle it when a controversy starts over something they said or did. Either they continue to explain their side of it and make more people upset, dig in their heels and refuse to apologize or they issue a lame apology like "I'm sorry if I upset anyone." IMO that is not an apology.

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  33. Yes, he did and you're right, Paula's was so much worse, but then, Paula's was the worst train wreck I've seen in a while so he'd have to try hard to do worse!

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  34. Since it's come out that they disliked each other all those years, it might be really exciting TV!

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  35. Not sure what the status is, but I think Food Fighters just played out all episodes that were filmed for season 1

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  36. Ready to Rumbol??? This is a smack down!!!

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