Selena + Chef is an American television cooking show hosted by Selena Gomez that premiered on HBO Max on August 13, 2020. The first season consists of 10 episodes. In August 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on November 19, 2020, and continues into early 2021. In April 2021, the series was renewed for a third season which was released on October 28, 2021. In November 2021, the series was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on August 18, 2022. On October 2, 2023, it was announced that Gomez would return for a series of holiday specials entitled Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays that premiered on November 30, 2023 on Food Network.
Contents
Premise
Selena Gomez stars in a cooking series filmed in her home. Each episode features Selena tackling a new cuisine and guest stars a different professional chef, where they cover tips and tricks and how to deal with disasters in the kitchen. For each episode, the show donates $10,000 to the charity of the Chef's choice, often food related. In 2021, over two seasons of the show, $360,000 was raised for nonprofit organizations.
The fourth season of this cooking show was filmed in Malibu in the house from the Hannah Montana series where the main character lived.
Cast
Selena Gomez stars as the host of the series. Confirmed guests for the first season include:
Ludo Lefebvre
Antonia Lofaso
Candice Kumai
Roy Choi
Jon Shook
Vinny Dotolo
Nancy Silverton
Angelo Sosa
Tanya Holland
Daniel Holzman
Nyesha Arrington
Confirmed guests for the second season include:
Curtis Stone
JJ Johnson
José Andrés
Marcus Samuelsson
Kelis Rogers
Jordan Andino
Marcela Valladolid
Evan Funke
Graham Elliot
Aarti Sequeira
Confirmed guests for the third season include:
Kwame Onwuachi
Ayesha Curry
Aarón Sánchez
Special guests
Nana Cornett
Papa Cornett
Liz Golden
Raquelle Stevens
Theresa Mingus
Paige Reed
Fox Martindale (season 3)
Gracie Elliot Teefey (season 3–present)
Anna Collins (season 3)
Kelsey Klingensmith (season 4)
Connar Franklin (season 4)
Ashley Cook (season 4)
Episodes
Production and spin-off
On May 1, 2020, HBO Max gave a greenlight for 10-episode cooking series hosted by Selena Gomez, and developed by Aaron Saidman. Gomez executive produced the series alongside Eli Holzman, Leah Hariton, and Saidman. The series concept was inspired by Gomez's own experience and struggles with cooking for herself while in quarantine, and the producers were committed to documenting this in a way that was "unrehearsed, unfiltered and truly unscripted." On August 27, 2020, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. On April 23, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a third season. On November 10, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a fourth season.
Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, strict safety protocols were followed, with no crew members ever present in Gomez's kitchen. The chefs featured in each episode appear remotely.
In May 2023, following the merger of HBO Max parent company WarnerMedia with Food Network owner Discovery, Inc., forming Warner Bros. Discovery, Food Network announced two new then-untitled projects hosted by Gomez, leaving the fate of Selena + Chef unclear.
In October 2023, it was announced that the first of the aforementioned Food Network projects, a four-part holiday special, would be branded as an extension of the Max (formerly HBO Max) series as Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays. These specials premiered on November 30, 2023.
A spin-off, entitled Selena + Restaurant, premiered on May 2, 2024 on Food Network and follows Gomez as she attempts to create an original dish worthy of being on the restaurant's menu.
Release
The series premiered on August 13, 2020, on HBO Max. The second season premiered on November 19, 2020, and continued with more episodes on January 21, 2021. The third season was released on October 28, 2021. The fourth season was released on August 18, 2022, with the first three episodes available, followed by three more episodes each on August 25, and then the final four episodes on September 1, 2022.
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% based on 5 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6/10.
