Food Network is betting big on a new competition series, tapping television personality Terry Crews to host what it calls its largest home cook competition ever. The show, titled 100 Cooks, will bring together amateur chefs from diverse backgrounds for an elimination gauntlet with a top prize of $250,000.
According to a network press release, the series will feature 100 home cooks from “all walks of life”—including stay-at-home parents, attorneys, and firefighters—who share a passion for cooking. They will face a series of challenges designed to test their culinary skills under pressure. The format includes a “Challenge Mixer” that randomly selects contestants and dictates the tasks, ranging from fast-paced trivia contests to 30-minute do-or-die cooking battles.
Joining Crews as judges are Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, a familiar face on Food Network, and culinary content creator Nick DiGiovanni, who has built a large following on social media. Their role will be to evaluate the dishes and determine who advances through the rounds until only one remains.
Crews is no stranger to hosting duties. He currently serves as the host of America’s Got Talent and has previously hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and the Netflix reality competition Ultimate Beastmaster. His addition to the Food Network lineup signals the network’s effort to broaden its audience and inject a fresh personality into its programming.
The competition is set to premiere on June 7, and the network is positioning it as a major event in the crowded reality TV landscape. With a prize of up to $250,000 and a field of 100 contestants, the stakes are high for both the participants and the network’s ratings.
This move comes as Food Network continues to evolve its programming to compete with streaming services and other cable networks. By bringing in a host with mainstream appeal like Crews, the network hopes to attract viewers who might not typically tune into cooking shows. The series also reflects a broader trend in reality TV toward larger casts and higher stakes, as networks vie for audience attention in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
