Will Tennyson’s request for chicken Parmesan and spicy vodka pasta immediately gives the challenge a useful structure: Joshua has to adapt his cooking to foods each guest already loves rather than simply arriving with a predetermined menu. The playful tour of Tennyson’s home gym and enormous collection of protein products also establishes the loose, personality-driven format before the cooking begins. Their pull-up competition runs a little long, but the easy chemistry keeps the opening from feeling like a conventional celebrity cameo.
The actual cooking is detailed enough to give the entertainment some culinary substance. Gochujang replaces tomato paste in the spicy pasta, guanciale provides richness, and the chicken Parmesan is built around panko-crusted cutlets, sauce and plenty of cheese. Tennyson’s enthusiastic response—calling the chicken Parmesan the best he has had and ultimately awarding a 10—provides a strong first payoff, even if the recurring threat of cutting Joshua’s hair is obviously a lightweight attempt to manufacture stakes around meals that are otherwise enjoyable on their own.
The Sidemen section is more chaotic and arguably funnier because the requested dish is simply beans on toast with cheese. Turning that deliberately basic comfort food into a homemade version with smoky bacon, pork stock, white beans, sourdough, Gruyère and Parmesan creates a clever tension between nostalgia and culinary ambition. The mixed reaction is also valuable: one person prefers a more familiar version, while the final score lands at exactly 8. That prevents the entire concept from becoming an uninterrupted procession of celebrity praise.
Enes’s mushroom pasta offers the cleanest showcase of technique. Browning multiple varieties of mushrooms before adding butter, garlic, shallot, thyme, wine, cream, lemon, pasta water and Parmesan gives the segment a clear progression, while Enes specifically praises the pasta’s texture, restrained amount of sauce and richness before giving it a 9.25. The tour of the $13 million property fits naturally with his real-estate persona, although the repeated emphasis on enormous homes, views and luxury features sometimes pushes the cooking itself into the background.
Brent Rivera’s pork katsu introduces another worthwhile variation by substituting highly marbled Spanish pork for a more conventional approach. The preparation remains easy to follow, covering the flavored mayonnaise, cabbage dressing, breading and frying process without becoming bogged down in instruction. Brent’s 9.5 rating is extremely positive, but his comparison with katsu he has eaten in Japan gives the reaction at least some personal context rather than reducing it to a generic compliment.
Maya Higa’s sanctuary provides the biggest change of pace and the most interesting challenge. Time spent with the emus and rescued marmosets gives the visit an identity beyond touring another expensive home, and Maya explains that the sanctuary uses its animals for conservation education while describing health problems suffered by marmosets previously kept as pets. The cooking constraint is also genuinely different: Joshua acknowledges his limited experience with vegan food and responds with a cauliflower ceviche tostada and a mushroom-based mole taco rather than merely imitating one of his earlier dishes without meat.
Across all five stops, the format succeeds because each guest changes both the requested food and the surrounding atmosphere. The rapid editing, jokes and house tours keep the pace energetic, while enough preparation detail remains to make the meals interesting to viewers who actually care about cooking. The weakest element is the artificial haircut jeopardy, especially as repeated high scores make the outcome increasingly predictable, but the exact 8 from the Sidemen and Maya’s combined 9 at least provide some variation in a concept that could easily have become overly congratulatory.
Pros
- Each guest provides a distinct culinary challenge, from chicken Parmesan and beans on toast to katsu and vegan dishes.
- The cooking segments explain ingredients and techniques without overwhelming the entertainment-focused pacing.
- The Sidemen’s more divided reaction adds useful uncertainty to an otherwise extremely positive series of tastings.
- Maya Higa’s sanctuary visit gives the final section a different setting and introduces meaningful context about animal rescue and conservation education.
- Strong chemistry with the guests makes the home visits feel more substantial than simple celebrity appearances.
Cons
- The haircut penalty creates fairly superficial stakes and becomes less convincing as strong ratings accumulate.
- Lengthy home tours and comedy detours occasionally distract from the central cooking concept.
- Most guests respond with exceptionally high scores, limiting the amount of serious culinary criticism.
- Some of the rapid banter and transitions make individual cooking steps less clear than they could be.
A smart combination of celebrity access, personalized cooking and contrasting locations keeps the five-stop concept entertaining despite its predictable scoring gimmick. The food remains substantial enough to anchor the spectacle, while the Sidemen’s nostalgia test and Maya Higa’s vegan challenge provide the most useful departures from the formula.
