''Top Cooku Dupe Cooku'' (often abbreviated as ''TCDC'') is an Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language comedy-based cooking competition show, produced by Media Masons. The series aired on Sun TV and

Sun NXT Sun NXT (read as "Sun Next") is an Indian subscription video on demand over-the-top streaming service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017 and has content in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi a ...

from 19 May 2024 to 29 September 2024 The show is produced and judged by Chef Venkatesh Bhat, along with Judge Chef Rammohan supported by Binny Krishnakumar and hosted by Rakesh.

Format

The contestants are referred to as "Top Cooku" and would be paired up with a "Dupe Cooku" each week. Some episodes would feature one or more guest judges. ; Elimination box selection In the beginning of each episode, the Top Cooku's will be given two boxes. One box will have a card saying elimination episode while the other box will have a card saying no elimination episode. The contestants must come up with an agreement to select a box to decide if there will be an elimination or not. If a no elimination card was selected for two consecutive weeks, the third week would be a compulsory elimination round. ; Rapid fire round In this round, the Top Cooku's will be given a simple task to complete within 120 seconds. Winner of the Rapid fire can choose their desired Dupe Cooku while others will be paired through a random selection chamber. ; Golden table challenge After pairing up, teams take part in a 20-minute quick-fire cooking task called the Golden Table Challenge. The winning team earns the right to cook at a special golden workstation equipped with premium amenities and enjoys exclusive privileges for the rest of the episode — such as immunity, priority access to ingredients, and additional support from their chef mentor. ; Main challenge In each episode, all teams participate in a themed main cooking challenge, where they must create dishes based on a given concept or cuisine. The chefs can guide their teams from a dugout and are allowed a limited “Chef’s Time-Out” to step into the kitchen and offer verbal instructions. Teams are judged on taste, presentation, and creativity by the judges, and the lowest-scoring cook faces elimination. ; Wild card entry In the mid-season one or more Top Cook's dubbed as "Wild Card entries" will join the contestants. ; Final stage In the final stage of the season all episodes would be either elimination or ticket to Finale rounds leading up to the Season Finale.

Judges and hosts

Series overview

Season 1 (2024)

Production

Development

Media Masons producer Ravoofa announced at the end of February that their company was quitting

Star Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. The channel telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows & Tamil films. History T ...

television after 25 years. Later on the production company Media Masons decide to produce a new cooking show like '' Cooku with Comali'' on Sun TV.

Release

The first promo was unveiled on 28 April 2024. The second promo was unveiled on 1 May 2024, featuring first Contestants

FEFSI Vijayan FEFSI Vijayan is an Indian action choreographer, stunt coordinator, actor who works in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language films. He has the record of being the youngest stunt master in the Indian film industry at the age of 22. He bec ...

References

{{Sun TV shows 2024 Tamil-language television series debuts * Sun TV original programming Tamil-language cooking television series Tamil-language game shows Tamil-language reality television series Tamil-language television shows Television shows set in Tamil Nadu