Netflix Doubles Down On Unscripted Programming with Cooking Competition ‘The Final Table’, ‘Death By Magic’

By Peter White, Deadline
Published Aug. 23, 2018, 10:49 a.m. ET

Netflix is doubling down on unscripted series with a raft of new titles including a new cooking from the producers of MasterChef and a pair of magic projects.

The SVOD service has ordered The Final Table, Death by Magic and Derren Brown: Sacrifice alongside confirmation of projects including football doc Sunderland Till I Die and Jackass-meets-Wipeout-style gameshow Flinch.

The new shows were unveiled by Brandon Riegg, VP of Unscripted Originals and Acquisitions for Netflix, at the Edinburgh International TV Festival.

The Final Table is a global culinary competition series that features the world’s most renowned chefs fighting for a spot at the top table. The series features 12 teams of two chefs from around the world cooking the national dishes of Mexico, Spain, England, Brazil, France, Japan, the U.S., India and Italy. Each episode focuses on a different country and its cuisine. Celebrity chefs that will appear in the show include Enrique Olvera (Mexico), Andoni Aduriz (Spain), Clare Smyth (UK), Helena Rizzo (Brazil), Vineet Bhatia (India), Grant Achatz (US), Carlo Cracco (Italy), Yoshihiro Narisawa (Japan) and Anne-Sophie Pic (France). The series will be presented by Bon Appétit Editor at Large Andrew Knowlton.

The show was created and exec produced by MasterChef producers Robin Ashbrook and Yasmin Shackleton and is produced by theoldschool and is set to launch later this year.

Death By Magic is fronted by British magician Drummond Money-Coutts (DMC). The magician is on a mission to uncover the stories of magicians who died performing the most dangerous stunts ever attempted. He travels the world to track down where the fatal performances took place and to work out exactly what went wrong. The show is produced by Hell’s Kitchen and American Ninja Warrior producer A. Smith & Co and is exec produced by Arthur Smith, Toby Gorman, Martin Turner, Simon Dinsell and Money-Coutts. It launches later this year.

Also in magic, Derren Brown returns with a new special that uses covert psychological techniques to create a scenario in which his subject has to decide whether or not to make the ultimate sacrifice: laying down his life for a complete stranger he wouldn’t normally identify with. Derren Brown: Sacrifice, which launches later this year, is produced by Vaudeville Productions, showrunner is Ben Jessop and exec produced by Andrew O’Connor.

The SVOD service also confirmed Sunderland Till I Die, a documentary series about the British football club produced by James Corden’s Fulwell 73. The series, which is exec produced by Leo Pearlman and Ben Turner, is released on December 14.

Finally, Netflix has also confirmed Flinch, the action gameshow produced by Northern Irish indie Stellify Media, as first revealed by Deadline last November. The show is set on a remote farm in Ireland where brave and foolish contestants gather to test their nerve against three fiendish games. If they flinch, there are painful consequences both for them, and for our hosts, who have each chosen a player to represent them in the games. The series is hosted by comedians Desiree Burch, Lloyd Griffith and Seann Walsh. It launches later this year.

Riegg said, “We are looking for stories that resonate globally. We want to push the envelope and try new things. A lot of stuff we’re doing lately falls into the positive angle. We love shows that put a smile on your face.”