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The best cooking competition shows include memorable contestants, fun rules, creative challenges, and hosts and judges who know what they're talking about and know how to talk about it. With recent cooking shows and movies like The Bear, Chef's Table, The Great British Baking Show, and more being so prevalent in pop culture in recent years, it might feel like cooking-related shows are having a moment. In truth, there's rarely been a time when cooking shows haven't been popular, most often represented by the many popular cooking competition shows that have aired for decades.

Cooking shows have been popular since television has been popular, with Cook's Night Out airing in the UK in 1937, Julia Child hosting her series, The French Chef in the 1960s, and many more series following close behind all across the globe. However, it wasn't until 1993 and the creation of the Food Network that cooking and reality...

“Love Island USA” has hit its stride.

Season 6 of the Peacock reality dating show was the No. 1 most-watched streaming original series in the U.S. during the week of July 5-11, hitting 919.1 million minutes watched, per Luminate. While Season 6 has consistently ranked on Luminate’s charts since its debut during the June 14-20 window, this has been its biggest week by far, marking a 61% jump in viewership from the previous week and a 257% increase from its debut week. Of course, much of the increase is due to the sheer amount of content now available — 27 episodes had been released by July 11 — but it’s clear that the series’ popularity has seen solid growth over time.

The No. 2 title of the week was “The Bear” Season 3, which hit 630.7 million minutes watched in its first full week of availability on Hulu. “The Boys” Season 4 followed with 471.4 million minutes watched during this window, which...

Steve Burton is officially dating Michelle Lundstrom, Daily Drama reported on Wednesday.

Although the outlet didn’t share any additional information about the couple, specifically how long they’ve been together, nor where or how they met, it did publish two undated photos of the pair out and about in New York City (see here).

In one photo, Burton and Lundstrom are seen smiling while walking around with their hands intertwined. In another, the couple poses atop the Empire State Building’s Observation Deck, which provides an impressive view of the New York skyline.

Burton and Lundstrom have not gone “social media official,” whereby publicly acknowledging their relationship with photos and declarations. Still, Daily Drama, which houses Burton’s podcast that he co-hosts with Bradford Anderson (“General Hospital”), indicated Burton confirmed the relationship with them directly.

The relationship news comes nearly six months after Burton finalized his divorce from ex-wife Sheree Gustin,...

Is Midwest the Best?

As a Northeast gal, I'll have to stand beside my region.

And we kicked things off nicely during the premiere.

Even though I didn't see my people, I heard my people. Buffalonians will chant "Let's Go Buffalo" anywhere; deal with it.

Nevertheless, I don't mind putting some respect on the Midwest, and they brought all the heart and the heat from the Heartland during MasterChef Season 13 Episode 2.

Fifty Countries in a Trench Coat

Masterchef Tastes of America understands the assignment and understands it well, putting some recognition on the sheer diversity in food spanning across the States.

How does the saying go? The US is like 50 countries in a trenchcoat, and there's no better indicator of that than our food profile, which not only varies from region to region but state to state and damn near county to county.

And that's what makes this latest season of Masterchef a sheer delight,...

We Americans are fascinated with food and the people who prepare and serve it. A quick glance at all of the reality cooking/competition shows on television will confirm this. You’ve got everything from “Master Chef” to “Iron Chef” to “Next Level Chef” to “Chef’s Table,” “Chopped,” “The Great British Bake-Off” and “The American Barbecue Showdown,” for starters. But the legacy of scripted TV shows about cooking and restaurant-ing isn’t nearly as epic, which is why FX on Hulu’s “The Bear” was such a revelation when it launched last summer.

“The Bear” introduced up to the pressure-cooker life inside an Italian beef sandwich shop in Chicago. It captured the visceral, adrenalin-pumping chaos of the food industry in a way nothing had before, showing us just how unglamorous and dangerous (and yet colorful and compelling) a kitchen can be. After just eight episodes, it’s already probably the...

There are a lot of undiscovered gems hidden among the popular reality shows on Netflix, and when it comes to great culinary competitions, one that is definitely worth a watch is The American Barbecue Showdown. The small series, which Netflix released in 2020, follows Southern barbecue masters with various degrees of experience as they attempt to win the coveted title of American Barbecue Champion. While the process of maintaining different temperatures and textures is hard enough, The American Barbecue Showdown raises the stakes even higher with exotic proteins, small time limits, and unexpected curveballs.

While The American Barbecue Showdown is similar to shows that feature home cooks with little professional experience like MasterChef, its contestants have more than enough talent to rival trained chefs on other programs like Hell's Kitchen and HBO's The Big Brunch. The eight contestants who are passionate about food and even more particular about smoking meats—Tina,...

Finally, some good, quality, prestige television. The hit Netflix competitive TV series based on every elementary school teacher's least favorite game, "Floor is Lava" is back for a second season, baby! 

Created by Megan McGrath and Irad Eyal and hosted by Rutledge Wood, "Floor is Lava" sees contestants forced to make their way through an obstacle course, hopping between platforms and walls, all while trying to avoid falling into a pool of goo that looks a lot like someone's spit after eating a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The show takes the childhood whimsy of trying to...

The post Floor is Lava Season 2 Trailer: They Have a Volcano Now appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Iron Chef is back in the kitchen after Netflix cooked up a deal to bring back the classic food format.

The streamer has ordered Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, a reboot of the series that had a couple of incarnations in the U.S. including a Food Network series that featured the likes of Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck.

Netflix has had previous success rebooting linear formats – arguably its biggest non-scripted hit has been Queer Eye, which is based on the Bravo series.

The series, which is expected to be dished up later this year, is based on a Japanese format from Fuji Television Network. It has been handed an eight-episode order.

The culinary competition, considered one of the toughest gastronomic challenges that chefs can face, will feature five new Iron Chefs, who will welcome Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they’ll...

The Circle is looking more like a Möbius strip, now that Netflix has renewed the reality series for another two seasons behind the upcoming Season 3.

Additionally, the streaming titan has picked up both Indian Matchmaking and The American Barbecue Showdown for second seasons, while greenlighting a new unscripted series titled Roaring Twenties.

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Season 3 of The Circle is due to arrive this fall,...

Netflix is continuing to double down on unscripted.

The streamer has handed out renewals to a trio of shows: The Circle, Indian Matchmaking and The American Barbecue Showdown.

This comes as it prepares a major casting call and ordered a new series, Roaring Twenties, set in Austin, Texas.

The U.S. version of The Circle, the Studio Lambert-produced format that was originated for the UK’s Channel 4, will return for Seasons 4 and 5. This comes ahead of the fall launch of Season 3.

Netflix revealed that Season 2, which shook up how it was scheduled, was watched by 14M households within 28 days of its April premiere. Michelle Buteau will return to host both seasons of the show, which sees a cast contestants flirt, befriend, piss off and compete in challenges against each other to earn a cash prize as top influencer and catfisher

The Circle is produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group.

“The Circle,” “Indian Matchmaking,” and “The American Barbecue Showdown” have all been renewed at Netflix.

“The Circle” has been renewed for both Seasons 4 and 5, with Season 3 of that series due to debut this fall. “Indian Matchmaking” and “The American Barbecue Showdown” have both been renewed for Season 2. In addition, Netflix has ordered the unscripted series “The Roaring Twenties,” which will follow eight twenty-somethings living together in Austin, TX.

Netflix has also announced that it is launching the largest ever open reality series casting call. Fans will be able to submit a video of themselves across a wide variety of reality genres at the new NetflixReality.com site.

“Whether you love competition or cooking, dating or decor, style or a social experiment, we might have a show for you — either now or someday soon,” said Brandon Riegg, vice president of unscripted and documentary series. “Just select a category and submit your...

Netflix has renewed “The Circle” for Seasons 4 and 5 (with Season 3 set to debut this fall), picked up second seasons of both “Indian Matchmaking” and “The American Barbecue Showdown,” and ordered new Austin, Texas-set reality show “Roaring Twenties,” the streaming service revealed Monday.

And if you’re a fan of any of those shows, or other unscripted Netflix series, you’re in luck, because “the largest reality casting call ever” has been opened by Netflix to search for contestants for its reality programs via NetflixReality.com.

“Reality TV is a powerful genre. It has the ability to make you invested in who is going to win the big competition or find true love (or at least a good showmance). It also has the ability to bring people together from all walks of life,” Netflix’s vice president of unscripted and documentary series, Brandon Riegg, said in a blog post published Monday.

It’s only fitting that in 2020 — the year of the coronavirus — Netflix’s top titles include stand-up comedies, “sad movies” and “home baking shows.”

The streaming giant released year-end viewing trends on Thursday that also showed that October was the biggest month for comedy consumption, with audiences seeking to quell pre-election anxiety. “Hubie Halloween,” “The Wrong Missy,” “Space Force,” “Holidate” and “Kevin Hart: Zero Fucks Given” were the most popular comedy titles of the year.

In the three weeks following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, viewing soared for titles that reflected the Black experience: “13th” saw the most growth, with viewing up more than 5,000%. “LA 92,” “Dear White People,” “Time: The Kalief Browder Story” and “American Son” views also skyrocketed.

Netflix users also gravitated toward twice as much romance in 2020 as the year prior, with films “The Kissing Booth 2,” “Princess Switch: Switched Again” and...

Netflix has revealed some color about its subscribers’ viewing habits during 2020.

The streamer saw foreign-language dramas such as Spain’s The Platform and Germany’s Barbarians boom, romance titles doubled in popularity and action titles such as Extraction and Cobra Kai flexed their muscles over the last twelves.

Some of the most interesting data provided by Netflix as part of its What We Watched 2020 report was around the pandemic and civil unrest over the summer. In March, as Covid-19 was starting to ravage the world outside of China, viewers were searching for home baking shows with almost a 50% rise from the previous month – a boon for the likes of Nailed It! and The Great British Bake Off.

The following month, searches for sad movies spiked nearly 30%, while subscribers were also calling out for stand-up shows between March and April. October was our biggest month for comedy viewing generally. Hubie Halloween,...