Julia Child-Inspired Cooking Competition Set at Food Network and Discovery Plus (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterBon appetit! A cooking competition inspired by culinary legend Julia Child and featuring her “superfans” as contestants has been ordered at Food Network and Discovery Plus, Variety has learned exclusively.Based on the legacy of Child, who motivated generations of home cooks with her talent, enthusiasm and humor, “The Julia Child Challenge” will see eight top-notch home cooks compete in high-stakes culinary challenges to find out who has the fire, skill and passion to win the first-ever primetime competition series dedicated to all things Julia, per the show’s official description.

The competitors, all Julia Child superfans, share personal stories about their hero, cook in a kitchen recreated in the likeness of where Julia herself cooked, using the same ingredients Julia used and are even guided by Julia herself through a larger-than-life television screen right in the middle of all the action. “The Julia Child Challenge” features Antonia Lofaso as head judge and a rotating panel of guest judges who will decide which competitor wins the life-changing grand prize that literally follows in Julia’s footsteps: an all-expense paid three-month cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu.“Julia Child is a culinary hero to cooks everywhere – her love of food and sense of humor set the tone for this one-of-a-kind competition,” Courtney White, president of Food Network and streaming food content at Discovery Inc., told Variety. “From the kitchen set to Julia’s own words, the level of detail in each episode can only be described as mind-blowing.