Plot Synopsis

Sixteen chefs -- eight Brits versus eight Americans -- compete against each other and vie for the grand prize of $100,000, as they race across America using their culinary skills and business savvy to survive elimination challenges. The race starts on the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, where Team U.K. and Team U.S. are stripped of their cash and credit cards, forcing them survive on their cooking skills, resourcefulness, ingenuity, leadership and finesse. The teams' journey takes them through New Mexico, Colorado, Dodge City (KS), and many other location on the way to their finish line in New York. In the beginning, they work as teams and cook to turn a profit. The team with the biggest profit moves on and the losing team faces team member elimination by way of a cook-off. The eight chefs on Team U.K. are: Caroline Mi Li Artiss (age 32; from London), one of the first TV chefs to be discovered on Youtube in the UK, who is half Malaysian and half English, which is reflected in her style of cooking; Samantha 'Sam' Dorling (45; Essex), founder of a burger van called The Crow's Nest, who has cooked on the QEII, at some of the most prestigious London establishments like the Garrick Club and Grosvenor House, and for many famous people including footballers, the Queen and Margaret Thatcher; Ed Hoar (31; London), an incredibly experienced and passionate cook with no formal training, who has worked for a friend's catering company for six years and has been an assistant manager of an up-market delicatessen in trendy Clapham; Mark Lloyd (36; Oxfordshire) -- a chef, forager and wild food expert -- who has trained military personnel how to cook in the most challenging situations, and is an accomplished tracker and hunter; Johnnie Mountain (44; London), restaurateur of The English Pig in Westminster, who had worked in the catering world for over 20 years before finding his true vocation in restaurant kitchens, having worked as a sous chef at Cafe Dell Ugo before going on to work with Alastair Little; Rebecca Marshman (19; Surrey), a young chef with a treasure trove of awards, whose career began when she did an apprenticeship at the famous Westminster Kingsway College in London and then continued at Rules, London's oldest restaurant, Hilton Park Lane and Gavlin; Sophie Michell (30; London), author of four books including her latest 'Love Good Food,' who has been a private chef to supermodels, movie stars and heads of state as well as working at some of London's most glamorous restaurants, including the Michelin starred Lanesborough; and Carlo Peretti (38; New York), a Yorkshire boy receiving his initial training at Thomas Danby's Culinary School in Leeds, who moved to America at 21-years-old and has, as part of the New York Wine & Culinary Center, cultivated relationships with local growers and producers. The eight chefs on Team U.S. are: Robin Bodwin (37; North Carolina) -- a private chef, caterer and certified Crossfit trainer -- who spent two years at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, two years at fine dining restaurants in Raleigh, NC, and then the rest of her time in California as a private chef to a professional hockey player and then a co-founder of a catering company; Pippa Calland (46; Los Angeles) -- a graduate of Peter Kump's New York Cooking School, the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Italy, and Beringer School for American Chefs in California -- who has worked in three Michelin-starred kitchens in New York City, Italy and Los Angeles; Stan Frazier (43; Los Angeles), an amateur chef and drummer in the rock band Sugar Ray, who started pulling meals together for all his friends and band mates on the road by getting up at 5am to go to farmers markets for incredible ingredients and by bringing home exotic pantry items in his suitcase; Phoebe Lapine (26; New York), co-founder of the website "Big Girls Small Kitchen" and author of "In the Small Kitchen," who started cooking at the age of seven when she opened Phoebe's Restaurant, a greasy spoon joint at her grandparents' house, and continued as a private chef; Ronaldo Linares (31; New Jersey), an Colombian immigrant with a Cuban father and Colombian mother, who worked as a teenager at his father's restaurant Martino's Cuban Restaurant, where he is still the executive chef and part owner; Don 'Don P' Peavy Jr. (34; New York), a catering queen with a flamboyant flare, who is a party chef for the largest events and catering firm in the New York City, as well as a cook for private clients, having created meals for many famous people including TV Chef Carla Hall, Madonna, Oprah and Obama; Bianca Rose (34; Los Angeles), owner of a gourmet dessert delivery and catering company based in Los Angeles, who had a successful career as a creative executive in the entertainment industry before starting at Le Cordon Bleu; and Cody Utzman (34; New York), a wandering cook and traveler, who travelled the globe using his culinary skills to get from place to place before serving as a private chef in Boston and then settling in New York City, where he has opened several restaurants.