REALITY cooking show Dapur Tempur Selebriti is back on TV9 with a new season that promises episodes of Malaysian celebrities teaming up with their family members to compete in cooking challenges.
Eight pairs of celebrity families will be tested on their culinary skills, including working (and strategising) together and coming up with their dish according to criteria and ingredients stipulated by the production team.
The pairs are comedian Achey and wife Anne; TV host and actress Ain Edruce and husband Amirul; comedian Shuib and wife Watie; artiste Bella Astillah and her mother Ina; Didie Alias and daughter Diyana; singer Wani Kayrie and her mother Mama Kay; singer Siti Sairah and husband Mohd Edane; as well as singer Lan Solo and wife Sheila.
TV9 programming and airtime management general manager Khairunnisa Kamarulzaman says the programme has built quite a following in TV9 since it premiered in November last year.
Picking up from there, the station has not only decided to come up with subsequent seasons, but it also wanted to keep on improvising and revising the format to improve the show.
This season, Khairunnisa says the participants are tested on their skills in preparing a Western menu.
Asked on the selection of participants, she replies: "The process is based on celebrities whom the production team has identified that our viewers wanted to watch, together with their chosen family members.
"Besides their popularity, we also looked at their personalities, which we hope would add to the merriment in Dapur Tempur Selebriti," she says, adding: "This programme would also be the first time the participants are appearing on a special cooking show on our channel."
She says: "We hope TV9 viewers will be entertained by this season's episodes and the colourful character of the participants.
"We're also thrilled to be collaborating with Prego and Vinda as our sponsors.
"The collaboration with Prego means that it's a perfect opportunity for the participants to prepare Western dishes.
"With Vinda, viewers will be able to see how easy it is for the participants to keep the kitchen clean, even after making a mess during the challenges," she said.
This season is hosted by the lively Fiza Frizzy, with Michael Ang and Chef Naem as permanent judges.
In each episode, two pairs of contestants will compete against each other to cook certain dishes using specific ingredients.
Each pair will choose one of three ingredients from a "Mystery Basket" to be used in their main dish.
At the end of each episode, the two judges will determine the winner based on the taste of their dishes, their presentation and teamwork.
Weekly winners will take home RM1,000 and a year's supply of Prego products. Winners of episodes 1 and 2 will receive a year's supply of Vinda products.
With only four episodes, the show will premiere on Nov 18 at 8.30pm.
The remaining three episodes will air on the same slot on the following three Saturdays.
Each episode can be streamed live on HD via Tonton (www.tonton.com.my).