The Taste is a reality cooking competition show in which competitors are judged blindly on just one thing: the taste of their food.

At the beginning of each season, both professional chefs and amateur cooks prepare their best dish in hopes of being chosen for one of the judges’ teams. The teams, like everything else, are chosen blindly. Judges are often surprised by who they pick to be on their own team.

Once the teams have been decided, each judge mentors their team for the team challenges, which are judged by a guest judge each week. The winning team has the benefit of working with the guest judge on the individual challenge. Individual challenges vary each week, but usually include a theme that is open to some interpretation, such as “Good with Beer,” “Guilty Pleasures,” and “Seduction.”

At the end of each episode of The Taste, the judges / mentors blindly taste each dish, deciding which cook will be sent home based on the taste of the dish. The catch? A mentor could easily be the reason a member of their own team is sent home.

The judges of The Taste are:

• Anthony Bourdain
• Nigella Lawson
• Ludo Lefebvre
• Marcus Samuelson (Seasons 2 and 3)
• Brian Malarkey (Season 1)