Common Sense Media Review
By Ashley Moulton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Cooking competition has survival-reality drama, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Chefs vs. Wild
What's the Story?
In CHEFS VS. WILD, professional chefs venture into the Canadian wilderness to forage for fine dining ingredients. Each episode features two competing chefs who, with the help of a survival guide and foraging expert, brave tough conditions for 96 hours in British Columbian wilderness. They forage edible plants like juniper berries and mushrooms, catch fish, and harvest mussels and oysters. The dueling chefs meet in an outdoor kitchen where they cook a three-course meal over open flame highlighting the foraged ingredients. The meals are judged by host Kiran Jethwa, a chef and restaurateur, and Valerie Segrest, a Native nutrition expert. The victor wins bragging rights that they not only survived the wilderness, but also created a delicious meal in rustic conditions.
Is It Any Good?
The potential audience for this show falls within an interesting Venn diagram: Top Chef foodies, Bear Grylls-type survivalists, and environmentalists. Older tweens and teens who enjoy Discovery and Nat Geo programming, as well as kid foodies, will enjoy Chefs vs. Wild. The star of the show is the astonishingly beautiful British Columbian wilderness, and learning about its hidden culinary delights is pretty interesting. On the negative side, some survival drama is played up for TV (like, couldn't they give the poor chefs some tents instead of making them construct their own shelter?). Unsurprisingly but unfortunately, a show featuring chefs who willingly test their physical limits in the wilderness sometimes has contestants who fit very neatly in the aggressive male chef stereotype. The culinary part of the show is fairly standard, but the chefs do cook up some delectable and surprising dishes. Parts of Chefs vs. Wild are compelling, but much of it doesn't really rise above cooking competition show and reality show cliches.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the producers chose to not have the contestants hunt for game in the episodes (proteins are provided for them). Why do you think they made that choice? Do you think it was the right choice to not offend some viewers, or is it hypocritical to not show killing animals when a key theme of the show is to explain where food comes from?
Since the chefs in Chefs vs. Wild are being pushed to their physical and psychological limits, some of them are unkind to the people around them. Do you think that's OK to show on screen since it's a tough competition? Why or why not?
The chefs talk about how this experience has changed how they view the ingredients they cook with and where they come from. Did this show encourage you to think more critically about the food you eat?
TV Details
- Premiere date : September 26, 2022
- Cast : Kiran Jethwa , Valerie Segrest
- Network : Hulu
- Genre : Reality TV
- Topics : Adventures , Cooking , STEM
- Character Strengths : Perseverance
- TV rating :
- Last updated : December 8, 2025
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