NFL, Food Network Team for Tailgate Cooking Competition Show
Food Network is teaming up with the NFL for a new primetime competition series that celebrates the art of tailgating.
In the six-episode “NFL Tailgate Takedown,” hosts Sunny Anderson and New England Patriots Hall-of-Famer Vince Wilfork will president over tailgate chefs going head-to-head in one-hour episodes shot on location at an NFL stadium tailgate just before the big game, with each tailgating duo representing one of the two NFL teams competing that day. The chefs will endure three themed cooking rounds that feature “each city’s authentic tailgate dishes” — like New England lobster rolls and Philly cheesesteaks — for an “epic battle of hometown pride.”
The show’s rotating panel of judges, which includes Kelsey Barnard Clark, Eddie Jackson, Ali Khan and Ian Rapoport, will decide who wins the grand prize each week: VIP seats on the 50-yard line at the game they are ahead of, and their own “Yum-Bardi Trophy.”
Per the show’s description: “In each episode, Sunny and Vince welcome two teams of talented tailgating duos outside the stadium on game day – one representing their home turf and the other fans of the visiting team. In the first round – known as “The First Down” – each team must create a platter of their best bite-sized snacks with a dip that represents their city’s flavors. The winner of round one, as determined by a rotating panel of judges, gets an advantage and selects a significant ingredient to their hometown that both teams must use in round two. In