NEED TO KNOW
Champion boxer and chef Laila Ali is stepping back into a new ring — this time, a culinary one — to host Food Network’s newest competition series, Chef Grudge Match, where chefs settle their biggest beefs in a single, winner-takes-all round.
Premiering Monday, Aug. 12, the show pits rival culinary pros against each other in head-to-head battles for a $10,000 cash prize, the losing chef’s most coveted knife and lifelong bragging rights. Resident judge, Jet Tila, and rotating guest judges will decide who walks away victorious.
Food Network
Ali’s no stranger to cooking competition shows, having competed and won on two seasons of Chopped. While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE, the professional boxer-turned-home chef says the new show is nothing like stepping into the boxing ring, having its own brand of incomparable anxiety.
“When you’re stepping into a boxing ring, you’ve got to worry about somebody trying to take your head off,” says Ali. “I’ve competed on cooking shows before, and it’s just a whole different level of anxiety. I love hosting the show rather than being one of the competitors.”
Each episode features rival chefs with deeply personal disputes — some professional, some even romantic. “We have chefs that might have felt like the other chef stole a recipe from them, and then went and started a business,” Ali explains. “It’s like, ‘No, that was actually not your recipe, I created it. Who’s the better chef?’ Well, let’s settle it right here, right now, with one round, head to head, in a culinary battle.”
Some of the rivalries go beyond recipe feuds. “We’ve got chefs who have these bold attitudes and egos, with their big resumes,” she reveals. “One of my favorite battles was a husband-and-wife chef team. The wife challenged her husband because she wanted to be the lead chef instead of the sous chef. Whoever won that day would be the lead chef — it was a really fun one to watch.”
Of course, the stakes are high, especially when a chef’s prized knife is on the line. “There’s always a story behind the knife,” Ali notes. “‘This was my first chef knife,’ or, ‘This was a gift.’ They don’t want to give that knife up.”
Food Network
Ali says success in the Chef Grudge Match arena comes down to quick thinking and confidence. “You have to make a quick decision in what you’re going to prepare,” she explains. “You can’t come knowing exactly what you’re going to make — you have to make the choice on the spot and be 100% all in.”
And with a live studio audience reacting to every move, Ali highlights, the energy stays electric. “You get the oohs and the ahs,” Ali says. “It makes it a lot of fun.”
Chef Grudge Match will premiere on Aug. 12 at 9 p.m. ET on Food Network and streams next day on HBO Max.
