Top Cooku Dupe Cooku

Top Cooku Dupe Cooku (often abbreviated as TCDC) is an Indian Tamil-language comedy-based cooking competition show, produced by Media Masons. The series aired on Sun TV and Sun NXT from 19 May 2024 to 29 September 2024^[1][2] The show is produced and judged by Chef Venkatesh Bhat,^[3] along with Judge Chef Rammohan supported by Binny Krishnakumar and hosted by Rakesh.^[4][5]

Top Cooku Dupe Cooku
Genre	Cookery Comedy
Directed by	Parthiv Mani
Presented by	VJ Rakesh
Judges	Venkatesh Bhat Binny Krishnakumar Chef Rammohan Mentor Chefs Chef Cheruba Chef Sai Chef Saravanan Chef Yuvasri
Country of origin	India
Original language	Tamil
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20
Production
Producer	Media Masons
Cinematography	Sudhir Koushik
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	approx. 65–75 minutes approx. 94 minutes (Finale)
Production company	Media Masons
Original release
Network	Sun TV Sun NXT
Release	19 May (2024-05-19) – 29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)

Format

The contestants are referred to as "Top Cooku" and would be paired up with a "Dupe Cooku" each week. Some episodes would feature one or more guest judges.^[6]

Elimination box selection

In the beginning of each episode, the Top Cooku's will be given two boxes. One box will have a card saying elimination episode while the other box will have a card saying no elimination episode. The contestants must come up with an agreement to select a box to decide if there will be an elimination or not. If a no elimination card was selected for two consecutive weeks, the third week would be a compulsory elimination round.^[6][7]

Rapid fire round

In this round, the Top Cooku's will be given a simple task to complete within 120 seconds. Winner of the Rapid fire can choose their desired Dupe Cooku while others will be paired through a random selection chamber.^[6]

Golden table challenge

After pairing up, teams take part in a 20-minute quick-fire cooking task called the Golden Table Challenge. The winning team earns the right to cook at a special golden workstation equipped with premium amenities and enjoys exclusive privileges for the rest of the episode — such as immunity, priority access to ingredients, and additional support from their chef mentor.

Main challenge

In each episode, all teams participate in a themed main cooking challenge, where they must create dishes based on a given concept or cuisine. The chefs can guide their teams from a dugout and are allowed a limited “Chef’s Time-Out” to step into the kitchen and offer verbal instructions. Teams are judged on taste, presentation, and creativity by the judges, and the lowest-scoring cook faces elimination.^[6]

Wild card entry

In the mid-season one or more Top Cook's dubbed as "Wild Card entries" will join the contestants.^[8]

Final stage

In the final stage of the season all episodes would be either elimination or ticket to Finale rounds leading up to the Season Finale.^[9][10]

Judges and hosts

Season	Host	Judges (in order of first appearance)			Mentor chefs
1	VJ Rakesh	Venkatesh Bhat	Binny Krishnakumar	Chef Rammohan	Chef Cheruba	Chef Sai	Chef Saravanan	Chef Yuvasri

Series overview

Series	Prize Money	Episodes		Originally released			Winners	Runners-up
				First released	Last released	Network
1	20 Lakhs	20		19 May 2024 (2024-05-19)	29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)	Sun TV Sun NXT	Narendra Prasath Sujatha Sivakumar	FEFSI Vijayan Chaitra Reddy

Season 1 (2024)

Main article: Top Cooku Dupe Cooku season 1

  Chef Cheruba Team

  Chef Sai Team

  Chef Saravanan Team

  Chef Yuvasri Team

  Eliminated

  Wildcard round

  Finalist

  Runner-up

  Winner

No.	Name	Entry episode	Episode exited	Status
1	Narendra Prasath (NP)	Episode 1	Episode 20	Winner
2	Sujatha Sivakumar	Episode 1	Episode 20	Winner
3	FEFSI Vijayan	Episode 1	Episode 20	Runner-up
4	Chaitra Reddy	Episode 1	Episode 20	2nd Runner-up
5	Subash Selvam	Episode 12	Episode 20	Finalist
6	Maneesha Mahesh	Episode 12	Episode 18	Eliminated
		Wildcard Episode 19	Episode 20	Wildcard Finalist
7	Aishwarya Dutta	Episode 1	Episode 16	Eliminated[11]
		Wildcard Episode 19
8	Sai Dheena	Episode 1	Episode 15	Eliminated[12]
		Wildcard Episode 19
9	Singampuli	Episode 1	Episode 10	Eliminated[13]
		Wildcard Episode 19
10	Shali Nivekas	Episode 1	Episode 8	Eliminated[14]
		Wildcard Episode 19
11	Sonia Agarwal	Episode 1	Episode 5	Eliminated[7]
		Wildcard Episode 19

Production

Development

Media Masons producer Ravoofa announced at the end of February that their company was quitting Star Vijay television after 25 years.^[15] Later on the production company Media Masons decide to produce a new cooking show like Cooku with Comali^[16] on Sun TV.^[17][18]

Release

The first promo was unveiled on 28 April 2024. The second promo was unveiled on 1 May 2024, featuring first Contestants FEFSI Vijayan.^[19]