'Culinary Class Wars' to return for Season 2 in late 2025

Paik Jong-won, center, and Ahn Sung-jae, right, judges of Netflix’s cooking competition show “Culinary Class Wars” evaluate contestants' food while blindfolded. Courtesy of Netflix

Netflix announced a second season for the cooking competition show "Culinary Class Wars" on Tuesday, thanks to its explosive popularity in Korea and abroad. The second season will premiere in the latter half of 2025.

Since its release on Sept. 17, "Culinary Class Wars" became the first reality show on Netflix Korea to lead the Netflix global Top 10 TV non-English category for three consecutive weeks.

The show featured a competition between the "white spoon" class of 20 established chefs and the "black spoon" class of 80 lesser-known, up-and-coming chefs.

The production team said season two will depict even fiercer clashes between the chefs of the two classes.

"We're grateful to be able to produce the second season thanks to the show's viewers. We'll strive to repay their expectations," the show's directors, Kim Hak-min and Kim Eun-ji, said.

The show captivated the world audience with unconventional missions never seen before in the culinary competition genre, creating dynamics that feel like a sporting event or a martial arts fight.

The intense competition between chefs who are serious about cooking, the show's overwhelming scale and the unpredictability of the outcome with twist after twist, have fueled the show's excitement and buzz.

Netflix cited another factor in the show's success in the two contrasting yet complementary judges — Paik Jong-won, a renowned restaurateur, and Ahn Sung-jae, Korea's one and only Michelin three-star chef — as their process of maintaining fairness while seeking the best taste received positive reactions from viewers.

Seen is a poster for Netflix’s cooking competition show “Culinary Class Wars.” Netflix said Tuesday that it decided to launch the second season of the show in late 2025. Courtesy of Netflix

Due to these factors, "Culinary Class Wars" continued to create buzz until the release of the final 12th episode last week, putting the spotlight on the participants who appeared on the show.

Data also showed the show's popularity. According to GOODDATA Corporation's FUNdex, which conducts big data polls on online buzz about cultural content here, the show ranked first for three consecutive weeks until the first week of October, in both drama and nondrama categories.

Moreover, in Gallup Korea's survey of Koreans' favorite TV shows in September, "Culinary Class Wars" became the first streaming service-original entertainment show to rank first.