Iron Chef UK takes the familiar Iron Chef formula, replaces the head on head aspect with a team, makes the competition a week long, and adds a £1000 prize for the winning chef. What Iron Chef UK doesn’t do is make any of this entertaining.
4 challengers compete against a chairman-chosen Iron Chef, either Martin Blunos, Judy Joo, Sanjay Dwivedi and Tom Aikens. On the ‘Friday Final’, the weeks top contestants face off against the week’s top Chefs. Each team member cooks up one component of the meal, whereas the Iron Chef and his crew cook up four.
The host Olly Smith is irritating, and his puns are terrible. They were delivered with such sincerity that it pained me. His lines are all delivered with the tone of comedian David Mitchell doing his ‘Football’ skit. David Mitchell is far more entertaining than Iron Chef UK, so here’s the skit:
The Japanese Iron Chef had a great thing going with the story at the beginning of each episode. Sure, it may have been a load of scripted crap, but it was an entertaining narrative for those of us that tuned into Iron Chef weekly. This UK spin off does away with it completely, and worst of all does away with the challenger choosing which Iron Chef they want to compete against.
The host irritatingly darts around and interviews each competitor and banters with the other commentator on camera, taking the focus away from the food.
And on this first episode, the secret ingredient is … beef? Really?
It’s still not as bad as Chef VS City, and I’d rather watch Mario Batali sweat into his food whilst wearing silly shoes and shorts.
Iron Chef UK can be seen on the UK’s Channel 4.
