''The Taste'' is a British cooking

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

that aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

from 7 January to 11 March 2014. The judges and mentors are English chef and TV personality

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. She attended Godolphin and Latymer School, London. After graduating from the University of Oxford, where she was a member of Lady Margaret Hall, Lawson st ...

, American chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain and French chef Ludo Lefebvre.

Format

The UK version followed the U.S. format, but with only 12 contestants (three teams of four) taking part. The general format sees contestants (a mixture of professional chefs and home cooks) present spoonfuls of food to impress the judges,

, Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre, and avoid weekly elimination. The first episode, the auditions, somewhat resemble the blind auditions featured in ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', with a number of hopefuls preparing spoonfuls of food and the mentors judging them, unaware of the person who has cooked it. Afterwards, the judges meet the cook, and decide if they want them as part of their team or not. If more than one judge offers the contestant a place on their team, they get to choose between them. This process continues until the judges have four people each in their kitchens. The following episodes consist of two challenges. In the first challenge, with the help of their mentors, the contestants prepare a spoonful of food to impress a guest judge. Each spoon must follow a particular criterion or brief chosen by the guest judge, relating to the week's theme. The mentor of each kitchen ( Lawson, Bourdain and

Lefebvre Lefebvre () is a common northern French surname. Other variations include Lefèbvre, Lefèvre, Lefeuvre (western France) and Lefébure (northern France and Normandy). In the Occitan and Arpitan extension area, the variation is Fabre, Favre, Faur ...

) then pick the best spoon from their kitchen to be presented to the guest judge. The guest judge then tastes each spoon and decides which is the best. The contestant who made the guest judge's favourite spoon receives immunity from the week's elimination. The elimination challenge consists of the contestants preparing a spoon that fits in with the episode's theme. The mentors blind judge each spoon, and decide on the best dish, and the bottom three dishes. The bottom three discuss what went wrong with their respective mentors, and the mentors decide whom to send home.

Judges

is the head judge and mentor. She is joined by Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre, who both appear alongside her in the US version. The show ran for ten episodes which span 60 minutes; each team will have four contestants. Channel 4 will broadcast ''The Taste UK'' in 2014 and then broadcast the original US version later in the year. There was some speculation after Lawson's divorce case with Charles Saatchi, specifically the release of photos which appeared to show Saatchi with his hands around Lawson's neck, that she may not continue with the show, but Channel 4 continued with production; and confirmed that the show would continue to be shown on 7 January 2014.

Contestants

The series began on 7 January 2014 when the three mentors picked the four contestants they wanted to join their kitchens.

Production

A British version of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

The Taste ''The Taste'' is an American cooking-themed reality competition series on ABC. It aired from January 22, 2013, through January 22, 2015. On May 7, 2015, ABC canceled ''The Taste'' after three seasons. Format ''The Taste'' season begins with blin ...

'' was commissioned by

in July 2013. This marked Lawson's return to Channel 4 after a decade away from it. The format was sold to the UK broadcaster by its distributor, Red Arrow International. The series was filmed during September and October 2013 at the Pinewood Studios. The promotional trailer caused a stir on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

due to its risqué nature.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taste 2014 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings 2010s British game shows British cooking television shows British television series based on American television series Channel 4 original programming English-language television shows Food reality television series