Take a moment to think about the core premise of a food competition show. The chefs are gathered not to serve restaurant guests, nor to cook according to their own creative ambitions, but to make food that aligns with arbitrary and often completely ridiculous set-ups that are intended to make cooking more difficult than it actually is. What else do you call it when everyone on Top Chef has to cook using only utensils and ingredients found in the 1700s, or when the Chopped contestants are given a box of cotton candy and beef jerky? The shows will try to convince you that it is a test of these professionals’ ability to think on their feet in a stressful environment, but that is a lie. This is comedy.
Gastronauts knows this. And the competition comedy show, which recently wrapped its second season on Dropout TV, has the viral clips to prove it. “Food competition shows are extremely bizarre in general, and I feel very lucky that with mine we get to lean into them being bizarre rather than having to pretend like they’re not,” says host Jordan Myrick. The competition show, which just wrapped, is the Walk Hard to the rest of food television’s Walk The Line; the parody that reveals every trope for what it is, such that it becomes impossible to watch regular food competition shows again without seeing them for the unintentionally absurdist performance art pieces they are.