I hate to point down at my wristwatch in the universal sign of “time’s ticking,” but CBS, time is ticking. I really thought we’d pretty much run through the whole Spring 2026 TV schedule and learned the fates of all the canceled and renewed shows. Particularly after NBC's The Hunting Party was axed yesterday. However, one of the more intriguing entries this year is still on the bubble, and the Eye Network does not seem to be in a hurry to make a decision about it.
Yes, I’m talking about America’s Culinary Cup. The newcomer entry had an expensive-looking set, a large prize package, and much higher-end contestants than most cooking competitions, likely thanks to that big prize package. In its first season, I’d argue it did some things right and some things that could use tweaks. This is pretty typical for newbie shows.
Since CBS produces some of the best reality shows, and I thought this was generally well done for a first season series, I thought this would be an obvious pick for a second season. Turns out, this hasn’t been the case. There’s been discourse the series could go either way, and we are well into the month of June, and no decision has been made yet.
The Case For Renewing America’s Culinary Cup
Back in March, CBS was really gung ho about promoting America’s Culinary Cup. The show was the big push to garner eyeballs during March Madness. It also was put with Survivor on the TV schedule, a lead-in that should be a dream for pretty much any reality show. It’s also worth pointing out CBS is only doing one season of Survivor's other lead-in, The Amazing Race, per year, while the network still does two seasons of Survivor. Having TAR in the fall and episodes of Culinary Cup in the spring seems like it would be an idea pairing with the Jeff Probst-produced series.
It’s not that those shows have a ton in common, but as someone who watches a lot of reality competition series, I can confirm I'm not all that picky about what’s what. Plus, Padma is good TV and her rapport with Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne grew as the show wore on. It also maintained the same core audience through its first 11 episodes, as well, averaging between 1.5 and 1.9 million viewers an episode. Not amazing, but definitely consistent.
The Case For Canceling America’s Culinary Cup
The case for canceling ACC also needs to tie in with Survivor. Padma’s series was not a huge ratings behemoth during its first outing. In fact, it honestly struggled to hang on to the viewers who tuned in for Survivor. It’s also worth pointing out Survivor was airing Season 50 when America’s Culinary Cup was also on, so fans were way more excited about tuning into that series this season than they might be during a normal season.
This does not bode super well for Padma’s show. Let’s say Culinary Cup gets renewed to air next spring with Survivor again, great. Well, likely, Survivor’s numbers will be down from Season 50 just because it’s (likely) not going to be such an iconic returnee cast. If Survivor is down, the lead-in for Culinary Cup will probably be even lower for a show that is already only doing OK minus numbers. This is not great news.
I’d be interested to know how America’s Culinary Cup did on streaming. I actually watched it with my Paramount+ subscription, despite the fact I still have cable. That could be the factor teetering the series either way. I do think a lot of reality shows get better a few seasons in, and there was enough I enjoyed about America’s Culinary Cup to watch another round, but it may be too late for me to be saying this.
Still, I cannot believe CBS has not made a decision either way yet! It’s summertime!
