“There is a hidden kitchen”: how the production of Top Chef preserves confidentiality on the set

Hidden doors, prohibited directions, “labyrinth system”… The board of Top Boss reveals many secrets in order to maintain confidentiality and the element of surprise until the end in the M6 ​​program. Explanations.

While innovating a few weeks ago with the White Box, Top Boss resumes its fundamentals this Wednesday, May 10. Because after the War of restaurants last week, it is the turn of another emblematic test of the culinary competition to land to give cold sweats to the candidates. This is the mythical Black Box. This year, he is the chief Pascal Barbot who will try to fool candidates and jurors with a 100% vegetable “taste illusion” but with meat markers. The leader of L’Astrance knows the Black Box well since he came to lend a hand to Glenn Viel last year, replacing Hélène Darroze, absent for two episodes. well known in Top Boss, Pascal Barbot had to go completely unnoticed so that no one would discover that he was behind the design of the test dish. For this, the production deployed treasures of imagination.

Top Boss : how does the production prevent candidates and jurors from meeting certain guest conductors?

“Doors must be condemned, directions forbidden, managers who prohibit access and pass the guest chefs through backdoors or through the secondary access to the set so that the candidates do not guess before the test which leader it is“, explain to us Romuald Graveleaudirector of programs for Studio 89, the production company that produces Top Boss. “There is a maze system“, he adds. “There are doors that close before others open, we have assistants everywhere who partition“, specified for his part Stephane Rotenberg during the show’s press conference.

Top Chef 2023 : there is a hidden kitchen on the board!

To these strict rules to preserve confidentiality is added another element, well hidden from prying eyes. “There’s a kitchen hidden behind big stretched black sheets“, Romuald Graveleau tells us. “It is used to make the recipes of the guest chefs when there is a tasting on the set. It’s hidden behind the scenes so the contestants don’t see it. Before the test, when the leaders or their teams are there, the candidates are forbidden to pass… Sometimes even their team leaders too! There’s a whole marked path, it’s a big logistics“, adds the producer. After fourteen seasons, Top Boss still has surprises in store for us.