Cooks vs. Cons is a culinary competition series that aired on the Food Network between 2016 and 2017. Hosted by chef and restaurateur Geoffrey Zakarian, the program brought together two types of competitors: professionally trained chefs (“cooks”) and talented amateur cooks (“cons”) who possessed impressive kitchen skills despite lacking formal culinary training.
Each episode featured four contestants competing in two preliminary cooking rounds. In the opening round, contestants prepared dishes based on a specific ingredient or culinary theme. The judges evaluated the food without knowing whether the competitor was a professional chef or an amateur cook. During the judging, the panel attempted to determine which contestants were the professionals and which were the amateurs.
The remaining contestants then faced a final round in which they prepared a dish for a cash prize. During the first season, the guessing element affected the prize: a professional chef who won received $10,000, while an amateur chef who managed to deceive the judges received $15,000. However, from the second season onwards, this format was changed, with the winner receiving a flat prize of $10,000.
The judging panel included chefs and Food Network personalities such as Alex Guarnaschelli, Amanda Freitag, and Jet Tila. Other judges included Anne Burrell, Richard Blais, Marcus Samuelsson, Scott Conant, Aarti Sequeira, and Carla Hall, with Daphne Oz serving as the most consistent recurring judge during the show’s run.
