Review of Secret Chef

So much of what makes competition cooking shows watchable is the host(s). When you're relying on civilians for your charisma you're already betting on long-shots. The central gimmick to this was good enough to grow from, but it just gets hindered over and over again by its own ostensibly clever machinations. And the biggest wart for me was how the challenges were so often unachievable by the competitors in the time allotted. Which leads me to the other reason to watch cooking competitions-to be educated/inspired. Since the completed dishes on this show were very often less than presentable, they definitely weren't inspiring and since a lot of the methods involved in preparing the dishes were rushed and constrained by bizarre parameters they also were rarely educational or edifying.

A somewhat entertaining spectacle but it needs retooling to become worth making another season.