The Taste
The Taste was an American cooking-themed reality competition series on ABC. It aired from January 22, 2013, through January 22, 2015. On May 7, 2015, ABC canceled The Taste after three seasons.
Format
The Taste season begins with blind auditions of both professional and amateur cooks during which four judges, who double as mentors, taste one spoonful of food from each contestant without knowing who cooked it or what all the ingredients were. Each judge decides whether or not they would like the contestant on his or her team by pressing a button ; the buttons are hidden from the other judges. The four then meet the contestant and press a button to reveal their votes. If exactly one judge votes yes, that contestant automatically joins that judge's four-member team. If more than one judge votes yes, the contestant chooses among them.Once the 16 contestants are chosen, each episode consists of team and individual challenges on a weekly theme.
In the team challenge, the contestants work for one hour with coaching from their mentors. Each mentor selects one dish to represent his or her team, which is tasted by a guest judge. The team with the best taste is rewarded with a private session with the guest judge, while the mentor of team who places last in the challenge must eliminate one of their contestants.
In the individual challenge, the contestants work without assistance for one hour. Each episode ends with the mentors tasting all the competitors' dishes without knowing what it is, how it was prepared, who created it, or whom they will be eliminating, awarding a gold star to the dish they liked the most and a red star to the dish they liked the least. The contestant or contestants with the worst bite of food is eliminated from the competition in the first two seasons.
Starting in the third season, the two contestants who receive the highest number of red stars in the individual challenge compete in a 40 minute, sudden-death taste-off. The mentors are not allowed to touch the contestants' food in this challenge. The competitor who has the best bite of food in the taste-off advances to the next stage of the competition, while the other competitor is eliminated.
Other aspects of the team and individual challenges vary by season. See season breakdowns for details.
Judges
The judges/mentors are Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and Marcus Samuelsson. Brian Malarkey served on the panel for the first season. Bourdain and Lawson also serve as executive producers.Michelin Guide chef David Kinch was a guest judge on episode 4 of season one, titled "Daring Pairings". Chef José Andrés was a guest judge on the season one finale, "The Taste Finale: Triple Threat".
Episodes
Season 1 (2013)
Format
In the team challenge, the creator of the best dish receives immunity from elimination for that episode.In the individual challenge, the creators of the worst two dishes are eliminated from the competition.
Finalists
Cooks are organized into four "Kitchen" groups, each with a mentor.Contestant progress
;TeamEpisodes
Season 2 (2014)
Format
In the team challenge, the mentor of the team which created the worst dish must eliminate a member of his team.In the individual challenge, the contestant who created the worst dish is eliminated.
Finalists
Cooks are organized into four "Kitchen" groups, each with a mentor.Contestant progress
;Team- Because Jacquelyn quit during the judging of the team challenge, Marcus was not required to eliminate a member of his team even though his team lost the challenge.
Episodes
Season 3 (2014–15)
Season 3 of The Taste premiered on December 4, 2014 with Ludo, Nigella, Marcus, and Anthony as the judges. The first episode received 3.33 million viewers.Contestants
Renee Maynard was a contestant on season 18 of The Bachelor, and Joe Arvin was a contestant on season 14 of Big Brother.Contestant progress
;TeamEpisodes
International versions
The international rights are distributed by Red Arrow International.| Countries/regions | Title | Host | Network | Top prize | Mentors | Premiere |
| The Taste | ? | OSN Yahala HD Al-Nahar TV | ? |  Alaa Sharbini Aniseh Helou Betni Kaadi Mona Mousily | December 26, 2014 | |
| The Taste Brasil | none | GNT | R$100,000 | Claude Troisgros Felipe Bronze André Mifano | 2014 | |
| 味觉大战 | ? | CCTV-2 | ? | Sun Zhaoguo Bowie Tsang Craig Auyeung | November 2013 | |
| La Prueba | Guillermo Vives | Caracol Televisión | CO$300,000,000 | Catalina Vélez Leonor Espinosa Juan Manuel Barrientos | November 26, 2014 | |
| The Taste | Christine Henning | Sat.1 | €100,000 | Frank Rosin Alexander Herrmann Léa Linster Tim Mälzer Cornelia Polletto Roland Trettl Maria Gross Tim Raue | November 13, 2013 | |
| Skonis | Andrius Butkus | LNK | 10,000 Lt | Liutauras Čeprackas Romas Zakarevičius Agnė Jagelavičiūtė Kristina Brazauskienė | October 13, 2013 | |
| The Taste | ? | RTL4 VTM | ? | Robert Kranenborg Wout Bru Herman den Blijker Gert de Mangeleer | October 29, 2013 | |
| The Taste | none | Channel 4 | ? | Anthony Bourdain Nigella Lawson Ludo Lefebvre | January 7, 2014 |
Other versions of this program has been aired in France, Canada, Australia and Indonesia.