Network Greenlights Teen Cooking Show, Novelli Docu-Series
Bravo is creating a Top Chef spin-off show that will feature teens competing to see if they have what it takes to become a “junior” top chef, officials said Wednesday.
The network is doing eight episodes of Top Chef Junior and has also made an eight-episode pick-up of the docu-series, the untitled Jean-Christophe Novelli Project.
“With Top Chef as the No. 1 food show on cable comes the natural expansion in our food domain,” Frances Berwick, Bravo Media executive vice president and general manager, said in a prepared statement. “With Top Chef Junior we’re reaching a growing market and are developing a series that will teach and test the skills of younger aspiring chefs and appeal to the whole family. We feel that Jean-Christophe Novelli’s reputation, personality and expertise will prove incredibly enticing to our passionate core audience.”
Top Chef Junior, which will be based on the Emmy-nominated hit culinary series Top Chef, will have teens aged 13 to 16 competing. Magical Elves (Top Chef, Project Runway) will produce the series, with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz serving as executive producers.
The untitled Jean-Christophe Novelli Project is a docu-series that chronicles chef Novelli’s (pictured) move to Los Angeles as he opens a cooking school and trains professional chefs and those who aspire to cook like professionals.
Novelli is hoping to expand that success to the United States and make this new business venture succeed. The series will follow Novelli as he moves to the United States, sets up the school and will chronicle as his students are tested and measured based on what they have learned.
