The next generation of Iron Chef stands revealed

When it was announced that the classic culinary competition Iron Chef would be making a comeback on Netflix, foodies everywhere got pretty excited. After all, the franchise has become a cornerstone of food TV culture and the return of the series has been long overdue.

This time the series will be titled Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend and will see the return of Alton Brown to the series as well as the Chairman Mark Dacascos. They will be joined by newcomer Kristen Kish and a rotating panel of judges who will see if any of the challengers can beat the new group of Iron Chefs and become the first ever Iron Legend.

Of course, that’s all well and good but what foodies really want to know is who exactly will make up the next generation of Iron Chef? Who is good enough to take on that mantle and compete in a cooking competition that makes Tournament of Champions look like pop warner football game?

Well the answer has been revealed and while the new Iron Chefs may be some of the best culinary minds to be found, Netflix didn’t exactly think outside the box when picking them.

Iron Chef has five new chefs, all of whom will be familiar names.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, the new Iron Chefs are Curtis Stone, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson, Ming Tsai, and Gabriela Cámara. And if most of those names sound really familiar that’s because all of them are popular TV food personalities. In fact, all of them with the exception of Cámara appeared in the just completed third season of Tournament of Champions as judges.

Which means that Netflix went for name recognition instead of picking new Iron Chefs who may not be household names but are known for being excellent chefs. And really who can blame them? The streamer has a lot riding on the return of Iron Chef and no doubt wanted to pick chefs who would bring their fans with them.

And while the reveal may be underwhelming to most foodies, keep in mind that Netflix is looking at Iron Chef as a blossoming franchise, with Iron Chef Mexico and Iron Chef Brazil on tap for later this year.

The chefs who will be challenging the Iron Chefs in the new and improved Kitchen Stadium are Mason Hereford, Curtis Duffy, Claudette Zepeda, Esther Choi, Gregory Gourdet, Mei Lin, and Yia Vang.

Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend arrives on Netflix on June 15.

What do you think of the new Iron Chefs Guilty Eats Nation? Do you think Netflix made the right choices? Leave a comment below and let us know or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.