“Always under a time restraint”: Next Level Chef Nyesha Arrington reflects on being a mentor for contestants

Next Level Chef season 4 premiere episode was released exclusively on FOX on February 13, 2025. In this series, judges who also play the role of mentors, Gordon Ramsay, Richard Blais, and Nyesha Arrington evaluate the dishes by rating them from worst to best. This time, the chefs are divided into three categories pro chefs, social media chefs, and home cooks.

As per the competitive nature of the show, the chefs have to work their way up from the basement level to the top level to protect themselves from possible elimination. Only five chefs are to make it to the final teams of the judges while others will be sent home.

In the basement level, poor-quality kitchen supplies are given to the chefs, and their creativity and using limited supplies to cook delicious dishes are tested. The top level on the other hand gives the chefs the liberty and access to high-quality supplies.

During a conversation with Parade on February 14, 2025, judge Nyesha Arrington talked about the overall show format as well as the $250,000 grand prize at stake. The Next Level Chef judge said:

“Time is always our biggest challenge. If I could have days with these people, it'd be amazing. But we have minutes. And so the goal is always to download as much information as possible, clearly communicate as possible with these chefs. That's always the challenge because we're always under a time restraint terrific.”

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Next Level Chef Nyesha Arrington talks about the show's format

During her interview, the Next Level Chef judge Nyesha shared what fans can expect from season 4. This time, the mentors will provide assistance and guidance to their teams once the chefs have showcased their time management and creativity skills. Nyesha also hinted at "little twists and turns" as well as "lots of fun" that fans will love to watch, she said:

“We're serving up greatness. We're serving up excitement and lots of fun little twists and turns this season, one which you may have heard of. The judges, the mentors, are getting in the kitchen alongside our teams at some point, throwing on an apron, so that's going to be fun to watch."

The three categorizations of home chefs, social media chefs, and pro chefs have given the contestants a separate "genre" to showcase their abilities. Nyesha chimed in on the show format and the reason behind dividing the contestants into categories, she said:

“Each genre of cooking–home cook, social media chef or pro chef–has different strengths, same as our kitchens. A home chef may not be as comfortable in a pro chef kitchen."

The Next Level Chef judge continued elaborating on the levels within the competition that define the comfort level of each chef and which equipment they are used to incorporate while cooking. Nyesha said:

"A pro chef might not be as comfortable in the basement because they're used to working with top-of-the-line equipment and ingredients. So, those three hierarchies–both with the chefs and in the kitchens– levels the playing field out.”

New episodes of the Next Level Chef season 4 air every week on Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Fox. The upcoming episode 2 will highlight the competitive nature between home chefs out of which some will be eliminated while others will make it to the next round of the show.