Chefs vs. Wild

The creators of Alone, Leftfield Productions made a show with similar elements titled Chefs vs Wild. It's an unusual blend of Alone style survival and a cooking show. Participants are dropped in a forested area on an island between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. Gear restrictions are generally the same as the Alone show, no food, no tent, no matches, etc. Even though Chefs vs Wild was made by the same production company as Alone it has a different structure since participating survivalists are paired with a world class chef. The survivalist's job is to keep the chef alive, since the chefs just show up with their clothes, and to forage as many wild ingredients from the forest within the time allowed. Each episode ends with two teams in a wild foods cooking competition. So the conclusion of each episode is nothing like Alone but a lot of the story elements are similar. The cooking esthetic is very primitive because the outdoor kitchen is solely powered by open fires and manual utensils. No propane, no natural gas, no electricity and no running water.

I liked Episode 2 more than Episode 1, but maybe I'm biased.

You have to be kidding me. This is what we have for cooking shows now? 30 years ago cooking shows taught you recipes and techniques. You learned useful skills to try and replicate in the home kitchen. You got ideas for Christmas gifts for the he chefs in your life.

Now we have this idiocy. Not only don't you learn anything useful you can't manage to replicate their dishes or techniques because they spend most of the show in manufactured danger to work up pathos. They only cook for a short part of the show and it's got more jump cuts than a Liam Neison action scene. You get nothing out of this dumpster fire of a show.

I desperately hope they aren't filming 2023 episodes.

Enjoy watching the differing characters of the chefs and survivalists and their trek through the wilderness. Interesting introduction to foraging. Beautiful landscape. Would like to go there. Kind of fun to root for the less asinine chef -- of course this is by design. One could argue this is a waste of resources, using the helicopter to fly in contestants and filming crew to the heart of a jungle, but that is true about many things. Definitely not a "woke" show as one review put it, as there is nothing woke about wasting resources for entertainment. I kind of view this show as in the same category as a zoo, introducing folks to a bit of nature, without the reality of death, decay, and disease. Still fun.

If you're looking for a survivalist show where people struggle to stay alive, this is not that. What it is, is a fun new way to do a cooking show where the contestants have to forage their own ingredients.

I do think that highlighting the survival aspect a bit more would be interesting but for a show trying to highlight foraging and cooking, it's accomplishing its goals. You do see chefs exhausted because they are getting minimal sleep, and affected by the lack of food or quality food.

If you are excited about new culinary experiences I would highly recommend this show. If you are looking for a show based on people surviving in the wilderness, this is not that. The cooking element is what makes this show fun, different, and exciting.