Alton Brown to co-host new ‘Iron Chef ’ reboot; cast includes Ming Tsai, Marcus Samuelsson
This summer, TV’s most intense cooking competition is returning. “Iron Chef,” long beloved for pitting chefs in head-to-head, unpredictable competition, is getting a reboot on Netflix June 15.
Alton Brown will return as host alongside newcomer Kristen Kish, who you might remember as the Season 10 “Top Chef ” winner. And, of course, no “Iron Chef ” show would be complete without Mark Dacascos, who’ll reprise his role as “The Chairman.”
This year’s cast of competing chefs includes: Curtis Stone, Dominique Crenn, Gabriela Cámara, Marcus Samuelsson and Ming Tsai.
Before the announcement, during an interview with USA TODAY about his last “Good Eats” cookbook, Brown spoke about wanting to return to Kitchen Stadium.
“I’d love to make more ‘Iron Chef ’ episodes because that was like going to grad school for me and I’d like to go back for my PhD,” he said in April.
Brown and Dacascos helmed “Iron Chef America” for 13 seasons on Food Network where Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Jose Garces and Masaharu Morimoto were among the Iron Chefs. Like the Netflix version, it was based on the popular Japanese format developed by Fuji Television Network.
Netflix’s reboot, officially called “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend,” will be a bingeable set of eight, 45-minute episodes released all at once. Five yet-to-beannounced Iron Chefs will be pitted against Challenger Chefs and be “pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity,” according to a release. The most successful challenger will return in a grand finale battle to be named the first ever “Iron Legend.”
Netflix also plans to release “Iron Chef Mexico” and “Iron Chef Brazil” this year.