Netflix’s New Cooking Competition Might Just Be Better Than Top Chef — Might

If you ever thought cooking competition shows didn’t get any better than Bravo’s Top Chef, Netflix could prove you wrong.

Hitting the streaming giant on Nov. 20 is a brand-new cooking competition, The Final Table. It’s been described as a blend of Top Chef and Iron Chef, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
The reality TV competition show is elevated in a few ways.

For starters, the 10-episode show sought out 24 chefs from 18 different countries, all of which will compete in teams of two for a spot at the final table of culinary icons. 

Each episode will focus on one country — U.S., India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, England, Brazil, France and Japan — and the competitors will cook those aforementioned countries’ national dishes. The dishes will then be judged by celebrity ambassadors, food critics and that country’s best chef.

For the U.S., the celebrity ambassadors are Fargo star Colin Hanks and comedian Dax Shepard, and the food critic is Times editor and former restaurant reviewer Sam Sifton. 

Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio will also make an appearance on The Final Table as an Italian ambassador.

Take a look at the full list of celeb ambassadors and food critics below.

The celeb ambassadors & judges:

• Colin Hanks and Dax Shepard (United States)
• Martha Higareda and Julio César Chávez (Mexico)
• Miguel Bosé and Ana Polvorosa (Spain)
• Gary Lineker and Cat Deeley (United Kingdom)
• Alessandra Ambrosio and Bebel Gilberto (Brazil)
• Hasan Minhaj and Ranganathan Madhavan (India)
• Alessandro Del Piero and Eleonora Cozzella (Italy)
• Estérelle Payany (France)
• Hikari Mori and Yûji Ayabe (Japan)

The food critics:

• Sam Sifton (United States)
• Mariana Camacho (Mexico)
• Borja Beneyto (Spain)
• Jay Rayner (United Kingdom)
• Josimar Melo (Brazil)
• Rashmi Uday Singh (India)
• Andrea Petrini (Italy)
• François-Régis Gaudry (France)
• Akiko Katayama (Japan)

Last but not least, we have the competitors, who are all already rock star chefs, but are fighting for the coveted title.

• Aaron Bludorn (New York, New York, U.S.) and Graham Campbell (Dundee, Scotland/U.K.)
• Darren MacLean (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Timothy Hollingsworth (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
• Shin Takagi (Kanazawa, Japan) and Ronald Hsu (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.)
• Alex Haupt (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Ash Heeger (Cape Town, South Africa)
• Shane Osborn (Hong Kong) and Mark Best (Australia)
• Monique Fiso (Wellington, New Zealand) and Amninder Sandhu (Mumbai, India)
• James Knappett (London, U.K.) and Ángel Vázquez (Puebla, Mexico)
• Jessica Lorigo (San Sebastián, Spain) and Johnny Spero (Washington, D.C., U.S.)
• Collin Brown (England) and Colibrí Jiménez (Mexico City, Mexico)
• Esdras Ochoa (Hong Kong) and Rafa Gil (Hong Kong)
• Charles Michel (Colombia and France) and Rodrigo Pacheco (Ecuador)
• Manuel Berganza (Singapore) and Benjamin Bensoussan (Madrid, Spain)

This exciting new cooking competition will be hosted by former Bon Appétit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton.

The Final Table premieres Tuesday, Nov. 20 on Netflix, just days before Thanksgiving.