It seems NBC is closing the Yes, Chef! kitchen for good. NBC has officially canceled the Martha Stewart and Jose Andres-led cooking competition series after just one season, confirming the show will not be returning for a second season.Â
The news comes nearly a year after Yes, Chef! season 1 premiered back in April 2025. The series put 12 talented chefs’ skills to the test as they tackled a series of culinary challenges designed to not only test their skills but also help them overcome their personal issues through a transformative process. Over the course of the season, Stewart and Andres mentored the chefs as they worked to impress the duo both with their dishes and their personal growth. In the end, Chef Emily Brubaker took home the $250,000 grand prize and was crowned the Yes, Chef! season 1 winner.
Following the season finale, NBC refrained from updating fans on the status of the show, which averaged 1.5 million total viewers with live+same day viewership across its run. While not a breakout series, the show held strong through its ten episodes, avoiding any major drops in viewership.Â
When the show failed to secure a place on the 2026 midseason lineup, fans began to fear the worst, but there was hope that perhaps the show was being shifted to summer. With the unveiling of NBC’s 2026 summer TV lineup, the show was nowhere to be seen on the schedule, with an official confirmation of the show’s cancellation coming shortly after.Â
NBC’s summer slate does include the return of many other favorite reality shows, with America’s Got Talent and Password kicking off their new seasons on June 2 and American Ninja Warrior returning for a new season on June 8.
As for NBC, it’ll have to head back to the drawing board when it comes to its culinary programming attempt. While the food TV genre remains a strong performer, ABC, NBC, and CBS have struggled to find a show with breakout potential in the genre that can stand up against Fox’s impressive lineup of ongoing hits, including MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, Next Level Chef, and Crime Scene Kitchen.
Hopefully, Yes, Chef!’s underwhelming performance won’t discourage NBC from looking for new food competition shows, as it’s a genre we’d love to see expanded on the broadcast front. And honestly, Yes, Chef! could have fared better if it had been released during the summer, which is a far less competitive stretch for broadcast, with the network’s biggest scripted offerings on break.Â
At least we can count on Fox to serve up new and exciting food TV shows that tend to run beyond a single season until NBC, ABC, and CBS finally find the perfect recipe for breaking through with a hit food show of their own.