Guy Fieri Says ‘Tournament of Champions’ Chefs Are Like ‘Top Athletes’
March Madness meets meats and veggies in Tournament of Champions, a new competition that puts 16 chefs — including Alex Guarnaschelli, Amanda Freitag and Eric Greenspan — into NCAA basketball – style brackets for five weeks of face-offs.
“The level at which chefs [perform] these days is very much that level of top athletes,” explains host Guy Fieri. “So it was a natural fit to plug them into a bracket system and see who comes out on top.”
The quality of the dishes counts, obviously, but each round also tests the chefs’ creativity and ability to adapt.
To mix up the challenges, Fieri says, “We built a special machine [called] the Randomizer to create insane combinations of proteins, produce, equipment, cooking styles and time.” Now that’s a game changer.
Tournament of Champions, Series Premiere, Wednesday, March 4, 10/9c, Food Network