A lineup of talented chefs are going head-to-head in the new season of Food Network’s “Bobby’s Triple Threat.”
Hosted by Bobby Flay, the competition features a trio of chefs, called “titans,” that will represent him in a cooking competition against top-level chefs. This season’s titans are Tiffany Derry, Michael Voltaggio, and Brooke Williamson.
Derry was excited to take part in this season of “Bobby’s Triple Threat.” She says that she was chosen after Flay visited her restaurant unannounced one day.
“He came to the restaurant, ate everything on the menu and flew back out that same day,” said Derry. “That’s how seriously he took finding the right people. [The titans are] all very different and we all cook a little bit differently, which is great, but we also have different backgrounds that led us to cook the way we cook, and he wanted to understand all of that.”
In each episode of “Bobby’s Triple Threat,” the competitor must go up against each titan over three rounds. In the first two rounds, Flay selects the surprise main ingredients that must be incorporated in two dishes and the challenging chef will pick which titans they want to go up against. In the third and final round, the challenging chef will get to pick the ingredients to incorporate into the dish.
After each round, a single judge will do a blind taste test and score each dish. If the challenging chef has the highest amount of points by the end of the three rounds against the three titans, they earn a $25,000 cash prize.
“No matter what happens in rounds one and two, in round three you can still win or lose. The chefs and the caliber that’s coming in, it’s always more of a close score. All of the chefs are crazy good,” said Derry. “In round three, the competing chef comes in, brings their two ingredients and ideally, they know what they’re going to make with those two ingredients, so it’s almost like they got the upper hand.”
For Derry, the hardest part about the competition is the pressure that she puts on herself along the way.
“I think for me, the challenging part is the pressure I put on myself. I don’t want to lose but I also don’t want to lose for Bobby,” said Derry. “I’m often telling myself like, ok, all is, well, just cook, don’t think about all the other things, just cook. Once I start cooking, it will settle. It’s right before the cooking and then waiting on the answer from the judges when you feel all the things.”
That said, Derry says that the mystery ingredients can often throw the chefs for a loop amid the competition.
“When you’re waiting, you’re thinking the craziest things. You’re always like, what is it gonna be, trying to figure it out,” said Derry. “Then, once you see [the ingredients], your mind is automatically thinking, maybe I should this, okay I can do that, I can figure this out.”
Some of this season’s competitors who will take on the titans will include Michael Symon, Jose Garces, Scott Conant, Kelsey Bernard Clark, Esther Choi, Kelvin Fernandez, Byron Gomez, Rashida Holmes, Mei Lin, and Shota Nakajima. Derry says that the competition is fierce this season, and viewers are going to see it all come out in the kitchen.
“I think we have some fantastic chefs that are coming on. Last season was amazing, but this season, it’s a fight every round and the chefs have the upper hand,” said Derry. “I feel like they’re kind of learning about us more than we know about ourselves sometimes just watching that footage and understanding how the show works, and they’re just ready to fight.”
The second season of “Bobby’s Triple Threat” premieres on Tuesday, Aug. 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
