Top Chef Amateurs is the latest spinoff from the team behind Top Chef. The new series introduces amateur chefs into the kitchen, and lets them compete in Top Chef challenges. Behind the scenes, tons of work went into choosing the challenges, adapting them, and making sure that the fans were getting the full Top Chef experience. The show is about celebrating Top Chef's devoted fan base, and the history of the show. Recently, the executive producers spilled all of the details in an exclusive interview with Screen Rant.
Top Chef Amateurs is a half hour show where two amateur chef super fans get to compete in the Top Chef kitchen. Each amateur is paired with a former Top Chef contestant to help them create their dish. The amateurs are given an adapted version of a classic Top Chef challenge, and compete for the win. The show is hosted by Gail Simmons, who also sits on the judging . Two different all-star chefs will judge with her, with different all-stars judging each episode. The episodes stand alone, meaning that different amateurs and all-stars will appear in every episode.
Executive producers Zoe Jackson and Cat Sullivan spoke to Screen Rant in an exclusive interview about their work on Top Chef Amateurs. The two revealed that their goal was to give the fans the ultimate experience, and part of that was digging into Top Chef's history. "Zoe and I dug through 700 challenges to get - quite literally 701 challenges - to get to the core of what makes Top Chef so magical," said Cat, "We tried to bring the magic of those challenges into the kitchen when we adapted them." Challenges were modified to fit the time limit of the show, as well as to give the amateurs a better chance at success. "We wanted to make sure we were paying homage to the history of Top Chef while we were choosing things," said Zoe.
The challenges weren't the only way to show off how far Top Chef has come. Many fan favorite chefs have competed on multiple seasons of the show, and returned for Top Chef Amateurs. Zoe and Cat made sure to choose chefs "from all across seasons," and the stellar cast includes Richard Blais, Melissa King, Joe Flamm and Shirley Chung. Cat and Zoe have each worked on quite a few seasons of Top Chef, but were quick to mention the rest of the crew has been together for a long time as well. "Working on the regular show is really hard - it's really fun, but tough," explained Zoe, "The crew being able to see the amateurs' reactions to all their hard work was something really special."
Creating a special experience for the fans and even the crew was extremely rewarding for the executive producers. The show is a lighthearted version of Top Chef that explores the funny side of competing in extreme cooking challenges. Throughout the last eighteen seasons of Top Chef everyone from the chefs to the crew has worked very hard to bring fans entertainment; now, we're getting to celebrate all of that with Top Chef Amateurs.
Top Chef Amateurs airs on Bravo on Thursday nights at 9PM EST.