Cook at all Costs

I love all types of cooking competition shows.. (Faves: GBBO, Sugar Rush, Nailed It, Chopped, Masterchef, etc etc) so I am also here for this series.

This show takes the "bidding mystery boxes" and just cemented it as its foundation. Simple yet fun. The contestants get to bid from $ to $$$ to ???. Then additional ingredients are sent out which they can live bid on and it can get funny coz a simple potato or tomato will reach for a lot.

The vibe sometimes feel extra competitive when they're in a bidding war so there's some good tension. The dishes aren't crazy since the ingredient sets they get have some sort of coherence (well except for the surprise box lol) but they do make it better especially with no pantry. It does make me salivate while watching.

The host is great. He feels natural with his banters. He doesn't feel over the top or scripted like in some shows. No need for added gimik.

If they get more season I wish they'd add another judge. Nothing against 1 judge but I feel having 2 or 3 make it better for judging. But as long as they keep the blind tasting I guess I'm all good either way.

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.

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.

I love the show. It's just simple, easy to follow and fast. And things people are cooking are not difficult stuffs. The food is not fancy or it needs so much skill since they are not chefs. Also, auction makes things fun and ingredients are not so complex. But I wish people could see and hear what the judge say for their first food so that they know what the judge is looking for from each item. I don't know if they actually did through some kind of monitor. That wasn't clear in the show. I'm saying this because I have watched 4 episodes so far and no one is winning from the spend box since the judge is expecting higher from the spend box. Anyways, Neflix has made a lot of cooking shows so far. And I think this one is one of the best. I like the Netflix's Iron chef and American bbq showdown too. You should watch them if you didn't.

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.