’Ouchef’d’ and outdone: Competition returns to Food Network

The battle between talented home cooks and trained pros is renewed when “Outchef’d” returns for a second season, Thursday, June 15, on Food Network. Episodes will also stream on discovery+.

Hosted by NFL player-turned-chef Eddie Jackson, each episode introduces a confident home cook, who arrives on-set thinking it’s an audition but is suddenly revealed to be a full-on, head-to-head culinary battle against a world-renowned chef. As Food Network describes it, it’s immediately “lights, cameras, action,” as the participant tries to simultaneously process what’s happening and rise to the challenge.

Viewers first got a taste for the competition series when it premiered last September, and it seems to have been a hit with TV audiences and Food Network executives alike.

“Capturing the mind-blowing moment these home cooks find out they are heading straight to set to battle a culinary superstar is such fun – and the action only heightens from there,” Betsy Ayala, head of content for Food at Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement. “They have all watched cooking competitions and thought they have what it takes to win – and in ‘Outchef’d,’ we actually find out if they do!”

If you’re thinking the ambush approach doesn’t sound terribly fair, know that the show does try to level the playing field between pro and amateur(ish) competitors.

There’s an initial ingredient-themed cooking round, but after that, Jackson heads out into the streets to randomly recruit four people to serve on a blind-tasting panel. All it takes is just one vote from these four — rather than the unanimous verdict delivered on similar competitions — for the home chef to win the $5,000 prize.

In Thursday’s premiere, Rocco DiSpirito is the seasoned industry veteran who will face off against Season 2’s first competitor (reportedly, an entrepreneur). Other elite chefs competing this season are: Eric Adjepong, Kelsey Bernard Clark, Tiffani Faison, Darnell Ferguson, Alex Guarnschelli, Robert Irvine and more.

Expect shocked reactions and quick-ontheir-feet thinking from the competitors featured in Season 2 of “Outchef’d,” and don’t think the celebrity chefs will be taking it easy on the challengers, either. The new season premieres Thursday, June 15, on Food Network and discovery+.