28% Of People Think This Food Competition Show Has The Most Entertaining Format- Mashed Survey
Before cooking shows and competitions ever aired on TV, a food scientist named Dr. Édouard de Pomiane shared recipes across radio waves in 1923 (per Home Energy Remodeling). In the 1940s, the first national cooking show, "I Love to Eat," made its way to television, and in 1993, Food Network officially launched, drawing in millions of fans. Now, along with TV programs, cooking shows are being uploaded to YouTube and other social media outlets. After proving its ability to excel in several mediums, the basic cooking show evolved into cooking competitions.
According to The Atlantic, the number of cooking competition shows on Food Network increased from two to 16 between 2005 and 2014. "Iron Chef," which was created in 1999 Japan, was among the first of its kind, racking up 372,000 viewers each episode. From there, shows continued to emerge, including "Chopped," "Cutthroat Kitchen," "Beat Bobby Flay," and many more. To keep each show different from the next, they follow different rules and formats. This left us at Mashed curious to see which show structure our readers think rises above the rest.
'Hell's Kitchen' takes first place
Mashed recently conducted a survey of 604 readers to find out which cooking competition show has the best format. In first place with 28.48% of votes was "Hell's Kitchen" followed by "Great British Bake Off" with 22.52% of votes. "Guy's Grocery Games" came in third place with 15.40% of votes, and "Chopped" garnered 14.74% of votes. The last two positions were filled by "Iron Chef" with 10.43% of votes and "Top Chef" with 8.44% of votes.
Per Plugged In, the winner of our poll, "Hell's Kitchen," divides prospective chefs into red and blue teams. Chefs are then asked to prepare specific items and present them in front of Chef Gordon Ramsay, with the weakest links at risk of being sent home. Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the show is Ramsay himself, who is known for spewing insults at contestants when their skills aren't up to par. Viewers love it, though, which is what's propelled the show to the top of our survey.