Culinary Class Wars () is a South Korean cooking reality competition following a similar elimination-based format to Physical: 100. The first season was released on Netflix in 2024 and featured one hundred chefs divided into two classes: white spoons (veterans) and black spoons (unknown challengers), competing for the prize of million. The first three episodes of season two aired on December 16, 2025, with the last episode of the season released on January 13, 2026. In January 2026, Netflix announced the series was renewed for a team-based third season.
Judges The two judges were veteran restaurateur and celebrity chef, Paik Jong-won, and the only Michelin three-star chef in Korea, Anh Sung-jae. Despite tasting large quantities of food throughout the competition, Paik continued to eat his packed lunch between rounds.
Care was taken to ensure impartial judging. In the first black versus white round, the judges were blindfolded so that they would not be influenced by the status of the contestants. All the food was discarded after judging so that the crew and contestants could not taste it and then challenge or influence the judges' decisions.
Contestants The contestants were divided at the outset into 20 experienced chefs who were classed as White Spoons and competed under their real names, while the remaining 80 contestants were relatively unknown chefs who were classed as Black Spoons and competed under aliases.
The White Spoons of season 1 were: Ahn You-seong, Bang Ki-su, Cho Eun-ju, Choi Hyun-seok, Choi Ji-hyung, Choi Kang-rok, Edward Lee, Fabrizio Ferrari, Hwang Jin-seon, Jang Ho-joon, Jung Ji-sun, Joseph Lidgerwood, Kim Do-yoon, Kim Seung-min, Lee Young-suk, Lu Chinglai, Nam Jeong-seok, Oh Se-deuk, Park Joon-woo, and Seonkyoung Longest.
The White Spoons of season 2 were: Lee Jun, Cheon Sang-hyun, Venerable Sunjae, Son Jong-won, Kim Sung-woon, Kim Hee-eun, Kim Geon, Hu Deok-juk, Park Hyo-nam, Jennie Walldén, Shim Sung-chul, Jung Ho-young, Sam Kim, Raymon Kim, Song Hoon, Lee Geum-hee, Im Seong-geun, and Choi Yu-gang. The Hidden White Spoons were Choi Kang-rok and Kim Do-yun.
Season 1 Its format was a cookery contest with different challenges in each round and elimination of contestants until only one remained.
Round 1: Black Spoon Elimination Challenge In the first round, the 80 Black Spoons were given 100 minutes to cook a personal signature dish.
One of the judges would taste the dish, and then decide if the contestant would move on to the next round, or if they were eliminated on the spot. Contestants could also be deferred if the judge tasting their dish was unsure if they should progress to the next round, and allowed for the other judge to weigh in with a second opinion.
For this round, 20 Black Spoon chefs were chosen to advance to the next round, to match the number of White Spoon chefs. As fewer than 20 contestants had received passes to continue to the next round at the end of the cooking time, the judges chose from the deferred contestants to fill the remaining places. The 20 White Spoons were given a bye and automatically advanced to the second round.
The 20 survivors of this round and their signature dishes were as follows. The final four required a second opinion.
Goddess of Chinese Cuisine – Dongpo snowflower dumplings (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Hidden Genius – Spaghetti aglio e olio (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Genius Restaurateur – Tongyeong-style bibimbap + dried pollock-skin sundae (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Side Dish Chef – mixed-grain rice, seaweed soup with Perilla seed powder, braised Japanese Spanish mackerel, 3 kinds of seasoned vegetables (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Yeong Chicken – assorted chicken dishes (Judged by Paik Jong Won) God of Seasoning – Golden ratio Mapo tofu (Judged by Paik Jong Won) One Two Three – Bonghwa duck with Korean blackberry (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Triple Star – Lobster with pepper sauce + Lobster Kinilaw (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Auntie Omakase #1 – Assorted home-cooked meals (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Self-Made Chef – Eight Treasure meatball (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Comic Book Chef – Dongpo pork from Oishinbo + Crab Spring Roll from Iron Wok Jan (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Meat Master – Galb uignon (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Celebrities' Chef – Vegetarian Sashimi + vegetarian Futomaki (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Seung-woo's Dad – Sous vide chicken breast + winter watermelon salad (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Yakitori King – Korean chicken yakitori with various cuts (Judged by Paik Jong Won) Kitchen Boss – Braised octopus + lemon cheese pasta (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Napoli Matfia – Naples fresh pasta with 3 kinds of potato purée (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Cooking Maniac – Cod milt with curry butter sauce, fried fish with asparagus, brocoli and saffron veloute sauce (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Chef Spark – seafood fresh pasta (Judged by Anh Sung Jae) Master of School Meals – Boiled pork and Ssamjang, Gochujang-fried anchovies, Yukgaejang, kimchi, lettuce wraps (Judged by Anh Sung Jae)
Round 2: Black vs. White 1-on-1 Match In the second round, the White Spoons and Black Spoons competed against each other in 1-on-1 matches. White Spoons were called to the stage and a Black Spoon could join if they would like to challenge them. If a White Spoon received two or more opponents, they could choose whom they would like to compete against. The pair then chose between 20 fridges which contained a random ingredient they must use in any dish of their own devising. Contestants were given 70 minutes to cook their dish, then the two creations were then subject to a blind tasting by the judges who were blindfolded and hand-fed by spoon. The judges voted anonymously and then removed their blindfold if the decision was unanimous. If there was a tie, the contestants were asked to leave so that the judges could deliberate on both dishes and make a final decision. The contestant of the winning dish would then advance while the other was eliminated. At the end of the round, both judges selected one contestant each among those who were eliminated to receive a "super pass" and return to the competition.
Color key Contestant won their match and advanced to Round 3 Contestant received a "super pass" from the judges Contestant lost their match and was eliminated
Key ○ Judge voted for the White Spoon's dish ● Judge voted for the Black Spoon's dish
+ Black vs. White 1-on-1 Match results Main Ingredient White Spoon Black Spoon Judges' Vote Paik Jong-won Ahn Sung-jae Mugeunji Edward Lee (Mugeunji pork neck salad) Meat Master (Skate-bacon mugeunji samhap) ○ ○ Siraegi Jung Ji-sun (Deep-fried siraegi with black vinegar) Goddess of Chinese Cuisine (Siraegi sea bream stew) ● ○ Beef rump Lee Young-suk (Miso gomtang) Genius Restaurateur (Jeonriptugol) ○ ○ Maesaengi Cho Eun-ju (Maesaengi-flavored abalone) Kitchen Boss (Barley risotto with scallops and maesaengi ○ ○ Live octopus Jang Ho-joon Yakitori King ○ ○ Pig's trotter Ahn You-seong Yeong Chicken ○ ○ Ogyeopsal Choi Ji-hyung (Grilled Maekjeok and Kaesong-style seasoned vegetables) Triple Star (Ogyeopsal Tteokgalbi with Epoisses sauce) ● ○ Perilla oil Choi Kang-rok Seung-woo's Dad ● ○ Jang trio (Gochujang, Doenjang, Ganjang) Choi Hyun-seok One Two Three ○ ● Conger eel Joseph Lidgerwood (Light Conger Eel with Korean wild black raspberries wine) Cooking Maniac ● ● Semi-dried Rockfish Kim Do-yun Side Dish Chef ● ● Skate Fabrizio Ferrari Napoli Matfia ○ ● Matured Pumpkin Hwang Jin-seon Comic Book Chef ○ ○ Oxtail Lu Chinglai Self-Made Chef ● ● Beef tripe Oh Se-deuk Hidden Genius ● ○ Bone-in Pork sirloin Seonkyoung Longest God of Seasoning ● ○ Mackerel Kim Seung-min Auntie Omakase #1 ● ● Humpback shrimp Nam Jeong-seok Celebrities' Chef ○ ○ Pyogo mushroom Park Joon-woo Chef Spark ● ● Black Chicken Bang Ki-su Master of School Meals ● ●
Paik Jong-won chose Goddess of Chinese Cuisine to receive the super pass.
Ahn Sung-jae chose Comic Book Chef to receive the super pass.
Round 3: Black vs. White Team Match In the third round, the White Spoons and the Black Spoons divided themselves into two teams, one to cook a meat-based dish and another to cook a seafood-based dish. The White Spoon team in one category competed against the respective Black Spoon team. Each team had 200 minutes to prepare and serve their dish to a panel of 100 audience members, including the two judges. In each match the team with the most votes was declared the winner with all contestants in the team advancing to the next round.
Color key Winning Team, all members advance to Round 4 Losing Team, all members sent to the Consolation Round Head Chef
+ Black vs. White Team Match results Category White Spoon Black Spoon Contestant Dish Score Contestant Dish Score Meat Cho Eun-ju Hong shao rou with Vegetables 45 Triple Star Chinese-style Meat-Wrap with Pepper Steak and Radish Salad 55 Seonkyoung Longest Master of School Meals Jung Ji-sun Comic Book Chef Choi Kang-rok Side Dish Chef Hwang Jin-seon Auntie Omakase #1 Self-Made Chef Seafood Choi Hyun-seok Flounder Seaweed Soup 54 Chef Spark Risotto with Chinese-style Grilled Octopus and Sea Bream 46 Nam Jeong-seok Napoli Matfia Ahn You-seong Cooking Maniac Edward Lee Goddess of Chinese Cuisine Lee Young-suk Hidden Genius Jang Ho-joon
Consolation Round Exclusively for the teams that lost Round 3. Contestants had 40 minutes to prepare any dish of their devising using ingredients typically found in a convenience store. The judges tasted each dish in the order that it was finished. After all dishes were sampled, the judges selected three contestants regardless of their class to advance to Round 4.
Color key Contestant was selected to advance to Round 4 Contestant was eliminated
+ Consolation Round results Order Contestant Dish Result 1 Hwang Jin-seon Pig Trotter Cabbage Wrap Eliminated 2 Choi Kang-rok Hot Pepper Saury Eliminated 3 Cooking Maniac Ramyeon Pad thai 3rd 4 Jung Ji-sun Ramyeon You po mian 2nd 5 Goddess of Chinese Cuisine Kung Pao chicken Chow mein Eliminated 6 Seonkyoung Longest American-style Chow mein Eliminated 7 Napoli Matfia Chestnut Tiramisu 1st 8 Cho Eun-ju Chicken Breast with Pineapple Salsa Eliminated 9 Hidden Genius Tuna Mayo Toast with Grilled Cabbage & Crabmeat Eliminated 10 Chef Spark Convenience Store Carrozza Eliminated
Round 4: Black and White Mixed Team Match: Restaurant Mission For the fourth round, the contestants divided themselves into three teams of five, regardless of class. The head chefs for each team were predetermined by a survey where contestants voted on three others whom they believe are most likely to win the competition. The first place contestant (with eleven votes) was Black Spoon's Triple Star, followed by White Spoon's Choi Hyun-seok and White Spoon's Edward Lee. After all teams were decided, the restaurant mission was announced. Each team has 24 hours to create their own restaurant from the ground up, including its concept, menu items and pricing, and shopping and preparing the ingredients. After the 24 hours, all restaurants will open simultaneously to customers for 2 hours and 30 minutes. For the restaurant with the most sales, all of their members will advance to the Semifinal, while for the restaurant with the lowest sales, all of their members will be eliminated. Only eight contestants will survive based on restaurant sales and judges' evaluations.
+ Initial team assignments Team Triple Star Team Choi Hyun-seok Team Edward Lee Triple Star Choi Hyun-seok Edward Lee Self-Made Chef Ahn You-seong Lee Young-suk Side Dish Chef Jang Ho-joon Master of School Meals Nam Jeong-seok Cooking Maniac Napoli Matfia Jung Ji-sun Auntie Omakase #1 Comic Book Chef