Netflix’s hit Korean cooking competition is coming back for a third round, and this time it’s changing its entire format. On January 16, Netflix opened casting for season 3 of “Culinary Class Wars” (known in Korean as “Heukbaek Yorisa,” literally “Black and White Chefs”), and the biggest shift is structural: unlike the first two seasons, which pitted individual chefs against each other, season 3 will feature entire restaurant teams competing head-to-head.
Under the new rules, contestants must apply in teams of four chefs who already work together at the same restaurant, regardless of cuisine genre. Solo applications aren’t accepted, and teams can’t be assembled casually from friends or acquaintances working at different establishments, though chefs from different branches of the same restaurant brand are allowed to team up. The format shift reflects an attempt to freshen a show that has already proven itself twice over.
“Culinary Class Wars” pits Michelin-recognized celebrity chefs, nicknamed “white spoons,” against talented but lesser-known cooks dubbed “black spoons,” in elimination-style culinary battles. Season 1 premiered in 2024 and became the first Korean variety show ever to top Netflix’s global non-English TV chart for three consecutive weeks, a breakthrough moment for Korean reality programming internationally. Season 2, which ran from mid-December 2025 into January 2026, kept the momentum going, holding the number one non-English TV spot for two straight weeks and making the “Culinary Class Wars” franchise the second Korean variety series, after “Physical: 100,” to achieve that kind of sustained multi-season global chart dominance.
Season 3 production remains in the hands of the team that built the franchise’s success: PD Kim Eun-ji and writer Mo Eun-seol of Studio Slam, who led both prior seasons, will return for the new installment, with filming slated to begin in May 2026. “Thanks to the love from viewers around the world through season 2, we’ve been able to move forward with season 3,” Kim said in a statement. “We’ll do our best to deliver a show that meets the expectations viewers have for ‘Culinary Class Wars,’ with a fresh structure and new energy.”
Source: Kim Hee-sun, Financial News (Korea), January 16, 2026.
