The blind judging on Outchef’d means that the show is likely not staged, even if it does lie to its contestants at the beginning of each episode.
Outchef’d may trick its contestants to get them into the competition in the first place, but there is not much else about the show’s format that suggests that it is staged.
Is Outchef’d staged?
Most reality competition shows all inevitably attract the “this cannot be real” or “this show is rigged” comments at one point or another.
But a show like Outchef’d, which is literally built on the premise of trickery, seem a bit more suspicious right from the get-go.
The fake auditions that are meant to get the contestants into the studio in the first place are obviously staged and form the whole shock-value around each episode.
However, the fact that the show uses six randomly-selected, “regular” judges to determine the winner of the eventual face-offs in a blind taste-test means that it would likely take way too much administration and coordination for the show to be staged.
To add to this, the outcomes of the first season of the show were pretty well-balanced between the expert celebrity chefs and the amateur home cooks.
So it does not seem like the Outchef’d production team is pushing for any particular side to win more often that the other.
Outchef’d is all about putting your money where your mouth is
Jane Latman, the President of Home & Food Content and Streaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, revealed that the whole point of Outchef’d is to give Food Network fans who believe that they could easily compete on one of the Network’s shows the chance to put that assumption to the test.
If this is the case, it would not make sense to stage the show in a way that gives the amateurs an unfair advantage.
Some elements of Outchef’d may be played up for the camera
Though there has not been much evidence to suggest that Outchef’d is staged, this does not mean that the show is boring. The show’s production team likely employs some clever editing tactics to up the drama factor.
Outchef’d may not have a dramatic hallway for the chefs to walk down, or an intimidating podium for the judges to sit on, but clever editing and timing can make the show seem more intense.
Outchef’d is not as unfair as it seems
The reason why many people think Outchef’d is staged is because the celebrity chefs’ chances of getting the winning vote from all six judges seem so slim.
However, as Reddit user ShinySquirrelChaser pointed out, this does not seem as unfair. Especially when you remember that the unsuspecting contestants have to go up against experienced, professional chefs without nay preparation.
