‘Ciao House’ Hosts Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabe Bertaccini Tease Season 1 Surprises: ‘On Another Level’

usmagazine.com:

Serving up surprises! Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabe Bertaccini hosted a “dysfunctional family” of chefs on season 1 of Ciao House — and the journey was packed with twists and turns.Guarnaschelli, 53, and Bertaccini, 37, welcomed 10 talented contestants to an Italian villa for the high-stakes competition, which kicks off its debut season later this month.

The food experts all lived under one roof in Tuscany throughout filming.“The fact that they’re living together in one villa constantly, every day [and] competing for a long periods of time, [they’re] learning, traveling, thinking, writing down the recipes,” Bertaccini exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the series premiere. “I think that contributes to the factor of pressure in the kitchen.

And [thinking] like, ‘I need to win this. I’m here and I came a long way. I’m not gonna leave a loser.'”The Butter executive chef hinted that fans had to “watch the show” to see how the competitors work — and live — alongside one another.Guarnaschelli told Us that she’s “no stranger to competition shows” on the network, having appeared on Chopped, Guy’s Grocery Games, Iron Chef America, Supermarket Stakeout and more — but Ciao House brings a little extra spice to the format.“This is a competition on another level because Italy is its own character in the play,” she explained. “So you have this 11th competitor, which is the context these chefs are in. … There’s this other little layer of competition.”The Old-School Comfort Food cookbook author credited her cohost with helping her take a different approach to the series than she’s had before. “Gabe softened me up.

He softened my rough edges,” she told Us. “I think that we thought a lot about the food in terms of not just what did you make