Ante up: Celebrity chefs bet big in after-hours culinary poker challenge
Cooking requires focus, quick thinking and talent — and so does poker. Hosted by Eric Adjepong (“Alex Vs. America”), the all-new, highstakes cooking competition, “Wildcard Kitchen,” serves up challenges like never before, with new episodes airing Tuesdays on Food Network. “We’re serving up our first-ever after-hours culinary poker game in [an] all-new series,” Food Network announced in a recent news release. “In each episode,” they say, “host Eric Adjepong takes over the test kitchen after hours with an exclusive invitation for three chefs to bring $5,000 to play across three hands of his underground culinary poker game.”
“The competitors, who all know each other well, have scores to settle and personal stakes to lose as they battle to create dishes based on the cards they are dealt and bet using their own instincts and cold, hard cash. The luck of the draw determines the dishes and cooking time, while wildcards deal unpredictable challenges into the mix that test the chefs like never before. From surf and turf with peanut butter to live crab with kimchi, anything can happen in ‘Wildcard Kitchen’ as mystery guest judges use blind taste tests to determine who walks away the high roller with bragging rights and cash from their fellow chefs.”
With a novel concept and a hot pot of cash, many Food Network favorites have jumped at the opportunity to participate in this series’ inaugural season, leading to a lineup of competitors including “Chopped” judges Maneet Chauhan, Brian Malarkey and Marc Murphy; Italian cuisine masters Gabriele Bertaccini (“Ciao House”), Rocco Dispirito (“Rocco’s Dinner Party”) and Antonia Lofaso (“Cutthroat Kitchen”); and best friends Stephanie Izard (“Guy’s Grocery Games: All-Star Invitational”), Joe Sasto (“The Great Food Truck Race”) and Justin Sutherland (“Fast Foodies”). Judging their skills will be talented guest stars Anne Burrell (“Secrets of a Restaurant Chef”), Esther Choi (“Her Name Is Chef,” 2021) and Scott Conant (“Outchef’d”), who ultimately have the final say in who “rolled with the dices” the best, and who should have folded when they had the chance.
Betsy Ayala, head of content and food at Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “’Wildcard Kitchen’ makes viewers feel like they are behind the scenes for an exclusive late-night poker game with their favorite chefs. The competition and good-natured trash talk is fierce, funny and unlike anything Food Network has offered.”
Fresh, fun and flavorful, “Wildcard Kitchen” airs Tuesdays on Food Network.