A pretty standard Food Network competition show with a lot of familiar faces. Which is fine. I certainly enjoy these types of shows.
The big problem with this one is that the central concept of "cooks vs cons" plays no part in the actual competition. It doesn't make one whit of difference if the judges figure out the true identities of the contestants. It's just a grafted-on idea that gives them something to (repetitively) discuss.
They need to integrate the mystery aspect of the show into the competition.
Something like this:
1. Don't tell how many cooks and cons there are. Change up the ratio. Can't always be two and two. Makes it too easy/predictable.
2. Make the base prize the same for both cooks and cons, but add a bonus component at the end. If the winning contestant managed to fool the judges, they get an extra $5000 or something. This would give all the contestants incentive to deceive. Cons trying to pull off some pro techniques, cooks trying to dumb down certain aspects of their skills to come across as more amateurish.
Would make things way more interesting.
The big problem with this one is that the central concept of "cooks vs cons" plays no part in the actual competition. It doesn't make one whit of difference if the judges figure out the true identities of the contestants. It's just a grafted-on idea that gives them something to (repetitively) discuss.
They need to integrate the mystery aspect of the show into the competition.
Something like this:
1. Don't tell how many cooks and cons there are. Change up the ratio. Can't always be two and two. Makes it too easy/predictable.
2. Make the base prize the same for both cooks and cons, but add a bonus component at the end. If the winning contestant managed to fool the judges, they get an extra $5000 or something. This would give all the contestants incentive to deceive. Cons trying to pull off some pro techniques, cooks trying to dumb down certain aspects of their skills to come across as more amateurish.
Would make things way more interesting.