CBC SELLS ORIGINAL CULINARY COMPETITION SERIES FRIDGE WARS TO
THE CW NETWORK FOR BROADCAST THIS SUMMER
June 16, 2020 - CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution, the international content licensing arm of Canada’s public broadcaster, today announced the sale of CBC’s original culinary competition series FRIDGE WARS (6x60) to The CW Network in the U.S. Co-created by CBC and The Gurin Company, the series premiered on CBC in February 2020. The CW is adding the series to its Summer 2020 broadcast schedule, premiering August 2.
"When we developed Fridge Wars, we set out to create a fresh, fun and totally relatable cooking format that would speak to an entirely new generation of food lovers who were afraid of the leftovers in their own fridges,” said Phil Gurin, President, The Gurin Company. “We purposely wanted to bring a simple format to audiences everywhere, with an instantly recognizable problem, a terrific comedian host in Emma Hunter, world class chefs, fun and familiar food dilemmas, loads of comedy, and a simple game structure. We think Fridge Wars will appeal to audiences everywhere.”
“We are thrilled that Fridge Wars has landed with The CW,” said Gwen Jones McCauley, Director Content Sales, CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution. “We’re pleased by its performance on CBC’s prime time schedule and excited to be able to share it with U.S. audiences.”
“CBC is committed to creating innovative original formats like Fridge Wars that offer broad appeal for audiences in Canada and around the world," said Jennifer Dettman, Executive Director, Unscripted Content, CBC. “This series is now more timely than ever while many of us continue to spend more time cooking at home, and we are happy that it will now reach new viewers.”
An original format, FRIDGE WARS pits two celebrity chefs against one another with a challenge to create extraordinary meals using only the ingredients taken from the ordinary fridges of typical families. The improvised dinners must win over two families who act as judges to determine which chef wins each epic battle.
Each episode begins in the first family’s home where Hunter conducts a surprise fridge raid, taking everything from last week’s leftover lasagna and the condiment collection, to that questionable bag of frozen vegetables circa 2016. With the ingredients in-hand, the competition heats up at the FRIDGE WARS studio where two top chefs are given 45 minutes to create a masterpiece – cooking with the ingredients they’ve never seen for people they’ve never met.
When time’s up, the family takes their place at the dining room table, tasting each meal and scoring them on look, taste and originality. The results go in the FRIDGE WARS vault and the competition takes place again with a second family and another fridge full of challenging ingredients – this time upping the ante with a ‘What The Fridge’ (WTF) challenge that forces both chefs to adapt to a totally unique culinary crisis. With both families’ scores tabulated, the final scene reveals which chef created the most mouth-watering masterpieces and is named this week’s FRIDGE WARS champion.
FRIDGE WARS is a CBC original series, co-produced and co-created by CBC and The Gurin Company. For CBC the executive producer is Tracie Tighe, the showrunner is Barry Davis, and the series producer is Jeff Thrasher. Sally Catto is General Manager, Programming; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; Alexandra Lane is Senior Director of Production, Unscripted Content; and Ann-Marie Redmond is Executive in Charge of Production. For The Gurin Company the executive producer is Emmy® and Rose d’Or winner Phil Gurin.
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About CBC/Radio-Canada:
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution:
CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution is the licensing department of the CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster. We broaden the reach of CBC/Radio-Canada’s multiplatform content offering in both the Canadian and international markets, to inform and entertain audiences around the world. We are recognized for our unparalleled English and French content, comprised of news and short form pieces, long form programming including series and documentaries, and audio content, including radio and podcasts. With innovation and expertise we maximize the availability of CBC/Radio-Canada content through international distribution, educational sales, merchandising, archive sales and broadcast distribution.
About The Gurin Company:
The Gurin Company and Award-winning Producer/Writer Phil Gurin have been creating, acquiring, selling and producing entertainment programs all over the world. The Gurin Company is responsible for executive producing, creating and writing thousands of hours of television across multiple genres including live events, game, music, hidden camera, comedy, stunt, clip shows, factual, documentary, dramatic re-enactment, docusoaps and formatted reality. The Gurin Company’s shows have aired on every major U.S. broadcast network, many cable networks, and in over 185 countries around the world. Gurin has won four Prime Time Emmy Awards as an Executive Producer on ABC’s Shark Tank, and an international Rose d’Or (Golden Rose) for the comedy game show Oh Sit! which he co-created for The CW. His The Singing Bee (NBC/CMT) is one of the Top 30 most produced original formats in the world.
For further information, please contact:
Elizabeth Reid – Publicist, CBC
elizabeth.reid@cbc.ca | 416.205.2665
