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Season 2 winner Leandra Makaya

Showbiz Reporter
SEASON three of popular cooking competition, Battle of the Chefs Harare, is back and will start being broadcast on ZBCtv next month.

Sixteen chefs will be in the running for the $10 000 prize money, starting April 6. The show, sponsored by TM Pick n Pay, will have 13 episodes which will air every Thursday from 7PM. It will be simultaneously made available on YouTube and Facebook.

The show’s executive producer, Joseph Bunga, said last year’s winner, Leandra Makaya, seemed to have inspired a gender upturn as there were a lot of female entrants this year.

“Season 3 is bursting with a sensational cast, an electrifying pace and delicious dishes from across the globe, sampling cuisines from countries such as America, Italy and China, as well as showcasing the best our local cuisine has to offer.

“The show, and this season in particular, celebrates a gastronomic diversity and innovation in the country. It celebrates the ability of Zimbabweans to overcome and compete on an international stage in quality of food.”

This year, the show will feature Chef Stephen Hyde as the chief judge accompanied by Innocent Masuku, Cherylyn Conlon, Karen Mutasa, Karl Eckard and Tafadzwa Anifasi.

“The beautiful and vivacious Zihlo will be the host of the third season continuing from the last one,” said Bunga.

The participants will be announced later this month.

“The contestants will be announced in a systematic fashion on our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram starting this month,” said Bunga.

Colt Wentworth-Browne, Battle of the Chefs associate producer said the competition would have a more challenging format where the 16 chefs will be tested on their innovation and skill.

“Following the format set in place in Season 2, the chefs will battle it out across three challenges — the technical, innovation and the set recipe challenge. After each challenge, the judges will score their efforts and at the end of the episode, the chefs with the highest and lowest scores will be announced — with the losing chef being stripped of their chef’s jacket,” said Wentworth-Browne.