Celebrity Cooking Showdown

A short-lived cooking competition where nine celebrites in a timed cook-off to make three gourmet meals before a live studio audience.

Broadcast
NBC April 17,2006-April 22,2006

Host
Alan Thicke

Gameplay
The competition was divided into three "preliminary rounds", where each contestant was paired with a famous chef. The three chefs participating were Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora, and Govind Armstrong, all of whom had  been on Food Network's Iron Chef America. Each contestant had to prepare three dishes (an appetizer, a main course and a desert) within 50 minutes. To aid them, after the second commercial break had passed (roughly 15-20 minutes into the contest) each team was allowed two "chef's passes" (one by the chef and one by the contestant) In order to activate the chef's pass, either the contestant or the chef must place their towel into a wire basket just outside the kitchen area. A horn as if to end a hockey period would go off and this would allow the chef to come into the kitchen for two minutes and assist the contestant, Only one chef could be in the kitchen area on a chef's ass at a time. Also, when only five minutes remains in the contest, the chefs are allowed to return for whatever last-minute advice and help they can give.

As a disadvantage for each contestant, two ingredidents for their dishes are not in their kitchen area. Instead, they are kept in the pantry located on an elevated stage behind where the chefs stand. Once the contestant realizes that the ingredients are missing, they must run over and find them in the pantry.

When time runs out, the judges (event planner Colin Cowie and food critic Gael Greene) evalue the fimal product. In order for a dish to be considered, it must be finished and on the judge's paltform when the clock hits zero. The judges then evaluate each meal on a scale of 1-10 using two criteria: flavor and presentation. Each judge can give a maximum of 20 points, so a perfect score for a contestant would be 40.

The top winner from each preliminary round advanced to the final round.

Celebrity Participants

 * Alison Sweeney (Days of our Lives/The Biggest Loser)
 * Chelsea Cooley (Miss USA 2005)
 * Cindy Margolis (Actress/Model)
 * Tony Gonzalez (Tight End, NFL's Kansas City Chief's)
 * Big Kenny (Half of Country Music duo Big & Rich)
 * Patti LaBelle (R&B Singer)
 * Gabrielle Reece (Former professional beach volleyball player)
 * Tom Arnold (Actor/Comedian)
 * Ashley Parker Angel (Pop Rock Singer)
 * Colin Cowie (Celebrity Party Planner) Served as a judge on the show

Trivia
Sean "Diddy" Combs is one of the exeutive producers of the series.

Earlier articles on the show stated that Food Network host and author Sandra Lee would serve as co-host, However she never appeared on the program when it aired.