Cook at All Costs

In this show there are three amateur chefs who each start with 25000 and they have two rounds where they compete to try to make the best dish to impress a famous chef. In the first round each chef makes a bid for which box of ingredients they want. The chef with the lowest bid gets the "save" box which has low costing ingredients that test a chef and make them elevate these items. The chef with the highest bid gets the "spend" box that includes luxury ingredients that should be easy to make an amazing dish out of. And the chef with the middle bid gets the "surprise" box which has some unique ingredients that make the chef think on their feet.

In the second round the winner the spend box is 8000, the surprise box is 6000 and the save box is 4000 and the winner of the first round gets to choose which box they have and which box their competitors have, price tags included. Then the winner of this round gets to take all the money left in their bank. But the show would be better if the winner of the first round won something like a 1000.

Also during each round the chefs get to bid on upgrades. These upgrades add some comedy to the show because the chefs bid ridiculous amounts of money for ingredients that should be cheap. For example one chef bids about 1000 on some potatoes. It also adds bidding wars to the show which are good to watch as well.

These auctions also introduce some blind bids where the chefs can bid on an item but they don't know what it is. The chefs also get to bid on unique things like 3 minutes of hell from the host who is also a professional chef.

I also like this show because it's a game show that's not too complicated and that you can just watch in the background whilst doing some housework or relaxing after a long day at work. But I would like to see a British and/or celebrity version of this show. I would also like to know which dish came 2nd and 3rd, then you could introduce 2nd place prizes such as food hampers, restaurant vouchers or a chance to do some fun cooking lessons. With this addition you could really drive home the point that you don't need to spend loads on luxury ingredients to try to cook some adventurous, tasty dishes.

Considering 3/4 of the other reviews are full tens, and the other is a 1, I am writing this to give an objective take based on other cooking shows.

First, it is a properly forgettable show, the kind you don't turn off if it starts running in the background while running chores. So, some quick pros and cons in a list:

Pros: 1. Decent dishes 2. Interesting format 3. Some interesting guest chefs 4. Some money to be won by the winner

Cons: Nearly everything else.

In summary: No explanation of items in the pantry. You can't tell at all what options the contestants have.

Every episode is highly scripted, cut like an action movie, edited to the point of losing all personality, The same lines are repeated by contestants in the episodes. The faces change, but nothing sticks in your mind except for how poorly this was put together.

Unlike another suspicious reviewer here who rated the host a 10, I'd say he's one of the more annoying cooking show hosts. Cool bro-ski talks too much and often over the guest chef.

Don't renew this show and spend the budget on something more worthy.

Honestly baffled as to what the point of the first round even is. It doesn't matter in any way. Is is just to deplete their bank? The first round has no consequence or bearing on the final winner. Confusing.

Overall it's decent if you like to watch people cook, but it's basically just Chopped except they all get different baskets from each other and have to spend their prize money on surprise ingredients, which often breeds an uncomfortable energy among the contestants that the show would be better without.

The guest chefs and host are good, no complaints there.

But very odd choice of format.

I found the concept of the show to be quite captivating. A mix of gameshow and competition-cooking show.. personally appealed to me big time. I love game shows, I love reality TV, I love cooking shows, I love competition shows... and this was all of that. - Quite a diverse realm of chefs also. I am excited for season 2! - Well, I hope others give this show a chance and that it gets to continue on for a few more seasons. I learned quite a bit from the show too.. the chefs are always trying to throw in little tips or personal favourite methods.

I think what appealed to me the most was the competitive element and seeing how much a chef is willing to lose just for their shot to enhance their dish.

Half the show is good! Love the concept!

However Netflix very forcibly has suppressed the potential cash winnings - embarrassingly so. Winner of first round should get all their money back or more, second round should be 10k win min, and most importantly - there should not be minimum bids. If Netflix only wanted to average $10k winnings then they should've just stick with that and removed the bidding aspect.

There needs to be a path to $25k per game, or an extremely low chance at $50k. That would take this game to another level.

When the second round started on the first episode and they started min bids at $4k for save box - I'm not sure I ever felt that type of cringe for a "game show"

Do better Netflix.