PICK OF TODAY’S TV

NEXT LEVEL CHEF, 9PM, ITV1

‘THERE’S only one temperature, and it’s perfection.’ Gordon Ramsay is back, and hoping that this bombastic new cooking contest will get our juices flowing. It’s a format imported from America, and it’s the impressive studio that sets it apart — part gimmick, part intrinsic ingredient of the competition. Set over three floors, it resembles a modern glass-fronted skyscraper — grim basement at the bottom, shiny bright penthouse suite at the top. Think MasterChef meets RoboCop. The aim for the 12 contestants — pros and ambitious amateurs both — is to ‘level up’. If their dishes impress, they get out of the hole and cook in the next kitchen up, hoping to earn a coveted place in the penthouse kitchen with its state-of-the-art facilities. Of course, any chef worth their salt should be able to cook up delicious food with only basic equipment — a knife, a pan, some heat — but this show doesn’t intend to go easy on its contestants. Gordon shouts confidently as host, with an accompanying eardrum assault on the soundtrack, but he isn’t alone; he’s joined by Nyesha Arrington, winner of the U.S. version of the show, and Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth to judge and lead teams in each of the three kitchens. Only one chef will win the £100,000 first prize, which also comes with an unrivalled year-long mentorship from Nyesha, Gordon and Paul (pictured) to help make culinary dreams become a reality.