Nigella Lawson’s The Taste has been commissioned by Channel 4. The cooking show – which has already aired in the US – sees the star work with fellow mentors Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre as they seek to find the nation’s next super chef, and Dominic Bird, Channel 4’s Head of Formats, is ‘thrilled’ to bring the show to the UK.
He said in a statement: ‘I’m thrilled that Nigella is returning to Channel 4 alongside Anthony and Ludo. ‘The Taste promises to be a hugely exciting and compelling competition with stellar talent and exceptional cooking at its heart.’ The series will see 12 contestants split into groups, then face challenges together and as individuals.
In a twist, there are blind taste tests meaning one of the three star judges could send home one of their own acts if their dishes don’t impress. Henrik Pabst, Senior Vice President Sales UK, is also delighted Nigella is returning to Channel 4 after her eight-part cookery series, Forever Summer with Nigella, aired on the network in 2002. He added: ‘Channel 4 is the home of top-notch cooking shows and The Taste is the icing on the cake. It brings Nigella Lawson back to Channel 4, where audiences first fell in love with her.’
On the show, each of the famed culinary experts coach a team of four amateur and professional cooks, facing a variety of team and individual challenges, and elimination rounds. At the end of each episode, the mentors judge the competitors’ dishes blind, with no knowledge of whose creation they’re sampling. They are not even told what they’re eating, how it was prepared, or whom they could be sending home.
The judges taste just a single spoonful which decides whether or not they make it past the audition phase and into the competition. ‘It’s all about the taste, and nothing but the taste,’ Nigella said of the show.