After more than a decade off-air, Ten is reviving Ready Steady Cook for not only a new generation but also a new primetime slot.
Rachael Brand, executive producer at Paramount ANZ Brand Studio and network producer for Ready Steady Cook told Mediaweek that the rebooted cooking program is being slotted in on Friday nights to get viewers thinking of recipes for the weekend.
“It’s perfect viewing at the end of a busy week,” she said.
“We wanted something fun, warm and family-friendly and the reboot is exactly that. It also provides so much practicality as well for the weekend and the week ahead in terms of food and recipes.
“The inbuilt nostalgia of the show is perfect for that primetime slot.”
The show will welcome some of Australia’s best chefs, who will join forces with everyday Aussie home cooks to cook meals using only five ingredients.
Brand said the foundations and format of the show are very similar to the original; the network didn’t want to mess with that because it’s well-known and loved, and has worked for so many years in different countries.
In the original version of the show, episodes would usually end with two chefs working together to create a dish. However, the reboot pits the chefs against each other.
“In our shiny primetime version, we have our celebrity chefs go head-to-head for the final challenge. We’ve really gamified it so it’s a different food challenge every episode and they have only 10 minutes to come up with something cheffy,” Brand said.
“What some of them do come up with in 10 minutes is quite outrageous, it’s going to blow viewers’ minds.”
The celebrity chefs set to make an appearance include Adriano Zumbo, Hayden Quinn, Anna Polyviou, Khanh Ong, Mindy Woods, Sarah Todd, Sergio Perera, Diana Chan, Alastair McLeod, Mike Reid, Adam D’Sylva and Alice Zaslavsky.
Speaking on the chefs, Brand said the reboot allows viewers to get to know them in a different kind of way.
“Everyone knows the chefs for their accolades but the way the show is formatted, it allows them to share their stories about cooking throughout their life and viewers will learn things about them that we wouldn’t know about before.”
While the Friday night primetime slot is more competitive than ever with the return of the NRL and AFL, Brand is confident that the family-friendly nature of the show will resonate deeply with new and returning viewers.
“Any cooking show is about entertainment, but it’s also about connections, connecting with our chefs, our host Miguel Maestre and of course, the food, which viewers can make in their own kitchen.”
Woolworths is the main sponsor for the reboot, with integrations including shopping lists, contestant bags and ingredients.
Ready Steady Cook is produced by Endemol Shine Australia, and premieres Friday 8 March at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play.