For this sixth time, the program that airs right after the Super Bowl will be a reality show. The last time Fox had the game in 2020, it used the coveted spot to promote “The Masked Singer.”
This time, after the Chiefs/Eagles game, Fox will debut the second season of its cooking competition show “Next Level Chef’ starring Gordon Ramsay.
Typically, a show like “Next Level Chef” might draw two million overnight viewers. With the Super Bowl lead in, that number should exceed 20 million viewers, based on the recent performance of other lead-out programs.
Irascible British chef Ramsay has been a staple on Fox for 18 years, starting with “Hell’s Kitchen.” In this particular competition, chefs compete on three different levels, each kitchen on top of the other. The top kitchen is the best equipped and the chefs there get first dibs on ingredients. The ones on the bottom have the worst facilities and the leftovers.
Ramsay has a team of six chefs competing with those of two other celebrity chefs: Ayesha Arrington and former Atlanta chef Richard Blais, who won “Top Chef: All Stars” in 2011.
Atlanta’s own Darryl Taylor will be one of 18 chefs vying for a shot at the $250,000. He is on Blais’ team and for his first meal that he’ll make on Sunday’s episode, he opted for a lamb chop with a seasonal vegetable medley. (”Medley,” Ramsey mused on the show. “That term sounds older than Martha Stewart!”)
“We’re doing this for the ATL!” Blais said early in the competition to Taylor.
Here is a quick thumbnail of Taylor, one of the older chefs on the cast.
Darryl Taylor
Age: 52
Profession: catering chef for Epicurean Drama
Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Current residence: Tucker
Originally wanted to be a: singer, inspired by Usher, Freddy Jackson and Luther Vandross
Moved into: wedding cakes for several years
Who he has cooked for in Atlanta: Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, Phaedra Parks, Sherée Whitfield (he has appeared on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and “Married to Medicine”)
On Ramsay: “I’ve always looked up to Gordon Ramsay. He cooks with passion. Everything about him is passion. He’s a really cool cat. I got to spend some time with him and it really touched me.”
After watching season one vs. reality: “I thought I could do this with my eyes closed. But it’s difficult. Very hard. There were ridiculous time restrictions. And it was hard to grab ingredients with no basket.”
Comeback kid: “I am a four-year kidney transplant recipient. I spent 17 years on dialysis. I now have a new lease on life.”
How the show helped him: “I went into it as a great chef. But I’ve come back feeling like I can now up my game even more. Just watching those young cats cooking their butts off was inspiring. There was a 21-year-old who was cooking like she was 65.”
His Super Bowl/”Next Level Chef” watch party signature dish: “I have created a great seven-layer Mexican dip. It has layers of cream cheese mousse, cilantro, ground beef, chicken, sour cream, refried beans and layers of scallions and red onions.”
IF YOU WATCH
“Next Level Chief,” airing after the Super Bowl on Fox, Sunday, Feb. 12, and available the next day on Hulu
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