PREMIERE

NEW ONE-HOUR COOKING COMPETITION SERIES "THE TASTE" PREMIERES TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 ON ABC

One blind spoonful could change everything on ABC's all-new alternative series, "The Taste," an exhilarating one-hour cooking competition that puts 16 culinary competitors - from pro chefs to home cooks -- to the fire with four of the world's most notable masters of the food world who will judge their creations based on a blind taste test.

In this pressure-filled contest, the taste in a single spoonful can catapult a contender to the top or send him packing. The series features no-holds barred chef Anthony Bourdain, British food star Nigella Lawson, expert chef/author Ludo Lefebvre and chef/restaurateur Brian Malarkey. These four culinary superstars and mentors will each coach a team of four competing pro and amateur cooks chosen from a nationwide casting call, as they vie to create the best tasting dish in a state of the art kitchen. In each episode the groups will face team and individual challenges with a variety of culinary themes through various elimination rounds. At the end of each episode, the mentors will have to judge the competitors' dishes blind -- with no knowledge of whose creation they're sampling, what they're eating, how it was prepared or whom they could be sending home.

In the two-hour series premiere, "Auditions Part 1," the pressure is on when Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludovic Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey put 29 professional chefs and home cooks through their first grueling round of blind taste tests -- in which just a single spoonful will decide whether or not they make it past the audition phase and into the competition. "Auditions Part 1" airs TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on ABC. The series will air in its regular time period Tuesday, January 29 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET).

"The Taste" is from Kinetic Content and is executive-produced by Chris Coelen, Matilda Zoltowski, Emma Conway, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson. Brian Smith is the director.

"The Taste" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound. This program carries tv-14,L parental guideline.

For more information on "The Taste," visit ABC.com/The Taste.