‘Ice-cream’s a disaster!’: behind-the-scenes secrets of Australia’s reality cooking shows

‘Food is such a vehicle for love and emotion,’ says producer and director Lin Jie Kong, pictured with Jennifer Wong on location filming Chopsticks or Fork? at Raymonds in Malua Bay. Photograph: ABC

It’s battle time on Netflix’s cooking competition Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and celebrity chef Curtis Stone is facing challenger Mason Hereford. Their task? To cook five courses in 60 minutes with the surprise ingredient (lamb). Each dish must be inspired by street food and cooked by fire.

“Allez cuisine!” shouts the host. Stone throws a whole lamb over his shoulder and runs with it to the workbench. He saws at the lamb neck, pounds furiously at spices and puffs into a charcoal blower. After a frantic hour, both chefs have miraculously created five gorgeous courses.