Warner Bros. International Television Production Serves Up "Chef In Your Ear" Across Europe
“Chef In Your Ear” subjects each country’s brightest chefs to the ultimate kitchen competition: Which chef can prepare the best restaurant-quality dish — by remote control? The high-stakes, high-energy competition challenges two chefs to deliver dishes as good and as tasty as the food they make themselves. But there’s a twist. Each dish must be prepared, cooked and plated by a complete kitchen novice wearing an earpiece and working against the clock.
Created by The Format People and originally produced by HLP Canada, the series established itself as a bona fide hit when it debuted on Canada’s Food Network in August 2015, with the premiere ranking as the #1 Monday telecast on the channel all year with Total Viewers.
Representing the worldwide TV rights, excluding Asia, WBITVP has successfully introduced the format to European audiences through a number of local production deals:
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• WBITVP Germany is producing 15 episodes for ZDF, premiering in mid-October.
• In Belgium, VIER has commissioned a 16-episode series, and for the first time, the format will be stripped daily. BlazHoffski Belgium (a WBITVP company) produced the show.
• BlazHoffski Holland (a WBITVP company) produced 14 episodes of a celebrity version for AVRO-TROS/NPO 3 which aired earlier this summer. The format proved to be appointment viewing, regularly achieving a +200% increase with all demographics compared to its lead-in.
In Asia, “Chef In Your Ear” is distributed by Bomanbridge. The Canadian version has sold to Pan Asian NBCU network Diva, and the format has been adapted for two seasons in Korea for CJ E&M, with an option for Mongolia.
Andrew Zein, Senior Vice President, Creative, Format Development and Sales WBITVP, commented: “‘Chef In Your Ear’ is the perfect recipe — one part cooking, two celebrity chefs and two challenged contestants — making a perfect TV format for markets across Europe.”
About Warner Bros. International Television Production:
Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) produces local scripted and non-scripted programming through its network of local production operations in 16 countries across the U.K., Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand. WBITVP’s production operations are responsible for both original programming as well as local versions of formats owned and controlled by the Warner Bros. Television Group, such as “The Bachelor,” “First Dates,” “Little Big Shots,” “500 Questions,” “Impractical Jokers” and “Who Do You Think You Are?” Where WBITVP has no local production capability, it licenses Warner Bros. formats to third parties.