The new season of the Food Network series Chef Grudge Match returns on Tuesday,  Aug.  12,  hosted by Hall of Fame Boxing Champ, chef, and cookbook author  Laila Ali.

Ali challenges chefs to settle their disputes in a single round, head-to-head battle with the judges, including resident judge Jet Tila, determining who walks out with $10,000 cash, the losing chef’s most coveted knife, and life-long bragging rights. Across the eight-episode season, battles will be fought over business and recipe rivalries, between students and teachers, and husband vs. wife.

“The general public doesn’t have an idea what really goes on behind the scenes of a restaurant, and we’re going to do a pretty good job at airing the dirty laundry,” Ali tells LA Weekly in a Zoom call from her Georgia home.  “You’ll get to hear both sides of the story, and the audience will be torn.  I get pretty stern about it, but in the end, it all gets settled.”

“The food world as we know it is still filled with bold chefs with big egos.  On the show, we have employees who’ve been wronged by their boss and restaurateurs defending their livelihoods from copycats and even owners whose staff have walked out during busy dinner shifts, chefs accusing other chefs of stealing their recipes,  and they are all meeting in my arena with these grudges face to face to battle it out.”

Food Network

Host Laila Ali and contestants Joe Sasto and Richie Farina go over the rules on Chef Grudge Match. (Courtesy Food Network)

The daughter of late global boxing icon and humanitarian, Muhammad Ali, Laila, leads with the light of his legacy as a four-time undefeated boxing world champion, whose record includes 24 wins (21 of which were “knockouts”) and zero losses.

The pro athlete, wellness advocate, TV host, and chef is the force behind the Laila Ali Lifestyle Brand that includes a spice line alongside her husband, former NFL star Curtis Conway. Author of Food For Life, Ali feeds her family, which includes teenagers Curtis Jr. and Sydney, from her organic garden daily. 

“We rarely go out to eat because I like to know what’s in my food,” she says. “Growing up in LA, when I lived with my father, we had a cook named Edith. That’s when I was first introduced to flavorful home cooking. My father loved his baked chicken, yams and rice, and gravy. My mom didn’t really cook a lot. When my parents divorced, I started teaching myself how to cook and would call my grandmother in Louisiana for her gumbo recipe. My mother, Veronica Porche Ali, has always been a great example of health and a role model for me.”

Also joining the new season are chefs Gabe Bertaccini, Tyler Romine, Taylor Frankel, Joe Sasto and  Maria Busato.  Guest judges joining the action across the season include Eric Adjepong, Tiffani Faison, Stephanie Izard, Eddie Jackson, Chris Oh, and Claudette Zepeda.