Cooku with Comali, also known by the acronym CWC, is an Indian Tamil-language comedy-based cooking competition show aired on Star Vijay and streams on Disney+ Hotstar where the contestants are paired each week with comedians (comalis) who are amateur cooks.[1] The first season premiered on 16 November 2019 and ended on 23 February 2020. The second season premiered on 14 November 2020 and ended on 14 April 2021. The third season premiered on 22 January 2022 and ended on 24 July 2022. The fourth season premiered on 28 January 2023 and ended on 30 July 2023. The contestants along with their comalis are challenged every week and are judged by Chef Damu and Chef Venkatesh Bhat until season 4.[2]
| Cooku with Comali | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Cookery, Comedy |
| Directed by | Parthiv Mani (Seasons 1 – 4) |
| Presented by | Rakshan (S1-S5) Manimegalai (S5) |
| Judges |
|
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Tamil |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 200+ (as of combined of four seasons) |
| Production | |
| Editors | Jaganathan Aravinth Sridhar Raghuraman Bala |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | approx.60–62 minutes |
| Production companies | Media Masons (Seasons 1 – 4) Box Office Studio (Season 5 - present) |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 16 November 2019 – present |
Production
Game format
Every week, the show starts with celebrity chefs getting paired with their Comalis.[3] Then the teams compete in Advantage Task 1 and Task 2. The teams then compete in Main Task and Immunity/Elimination Task. The Advantage task involves a minimal task in which a team does a small task and the winner of the Advantage task is given an advantage during the main task where the team can choose a time frame to work without any obstacles. During the Main task, every team is given a challenge or an obstacle that will make the cooking harder. The teams are given a specific time limit where they must cook with that time frame. Most of the cooking tasks are to be done by Comalis. The cook that gets Immunity is safe from next week's elimination and does not participate in that week. Some week are celebration rounds with no elimination.[4]
Overview
| Series | Host | Judges | Prize Money | Episodes | Originally aired | Contestants | Launch TRP Ratings | Finale TRP Ratings | Winner | Runner-up | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||||||||||
| 1 | Rakshan and Aranthangi Nisha | Chef Damodharan and Chef Venkatesh Bhat | ₹5 lakh (US$6,000) | 27 | 16 November 2019 | 23 February 2020 | Star Vijay & Disney+ Hotstar | 8 | 7.75 TVR | 10.22 TVR | Vanitha Vijayakumar | Uma Riyaz Khan | |
| 2 | Rakshan | 41 | 14 November 2020 | 14 April 2021 | 9 | 13.97 TVR | 21.39 TVR | Kani Thiru | Shakeela | ||||
| 3 | 54 | 22 January 2022 | 24 July 2022 | 12 | 11.1 TVR | 12.8 TVR | Shrutika | Darshan | |||||
| 4 | Rakshan and Manimegalai | 53 | 28 January 2023 | 30 July 2023 | 12 | 10.5 TVR | 10.9 TVR | Mime Gopi | Srushti Dange | ||||
| 5 | Chef Damodharan and Madhampatty Rangaraj | 03+ | 27 April 2024 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||
Season 1
The first season of the Tamil reality cooking TV show Cooku with Comali, that was aired first 16 November 2019. This season was hosted by Rakshan and Aranthangi Nisha. The grand finale was aired on 23 February 2020 and winner was Vanitha Vijayakumar.
Contestants
| Contestants | Status |
| Vanitha Vijaykumar | Winner |
| Uma Riyaz Khan | 1st Runner-Up |
| Ramya Pandian | 2nd Runner-Up |
| Rekha | 3rd Runner-Up |
| Priyanka Robo Shankar | Eliminated |
| Thaadi Balaji | Eliminated |
| Mohan Vaidya | Eliminated |
| Gnanasambandam | Eliminated |
Comalis
- KPY Bala ‘’’ (Winner Comali) ‘’’
- Pugazh
- Manimegalai
- Sivaangi ‘’’ (Winner Comali) ‘’’
- Thangadurai
- Sai Sakthi
- Bijili Ramesh
Season 2
The second season of the Tamil reality cooking TV show Cooku with Comali, that was aired first on 14 November 2020. This season was hosted by Rakshan. The grand finale was aired on 14 April 2021 and winner was Kani Thiru.[5]
Contestants
| Contestants | Status |
| Kani Thiru | Winner |
| Shakeela | 1st Runner-Up |
| Ashwin Kumar Lakshmikanthan | 2nd Runner-Up |
| Pavithra Lakshmi | 3rd Runner-Up |
| Baba Bhaskar | 4th Runner-Up |
| Rithika | Eliminated |
| Dharsha Gupta | Eliminated |
| Deepa Shankar | Eliminated |
| Madurai Muthu | Eliminated |
Comalis
- KPY Bala
- Pugazh
- Manimegalai
- Sivaangi ‘’’(Winner Comali) ‘’’
- Sunita Gogoi ‘’’(Winner Comali) ‘’’
- Thangadurai
- Shakthi
- Parvathy-pappu
Season 3
The third season aired on every Saturday and Sunday from 12 January 2022 to 24 July 2022 and ended with 54 Episodes. The winner of the season was Shrutika. This season is hosted by Rakshan and judged by Chef Damodharan and Chef Venkatesh Bhat.
| Contestants | Status |
| Shruthika | Winner |
| Darshan | 1st Runner-Up |
| Ammu Abhirami | 2nd Runner-Up |
| Vidyullekha Raman | 3rd Runner-Up |
| Santhosh Prathap | 4th Runner-Up |
| Grace Karunas | 5th Runner-Up |
| Vettai Muthukumar | Eliminated |
| Roshini Haripriyan | Eliminated |
| Chutti Aravind | Eliminated |
| Anthony Daasan | Eliminated |
| Manobala | Eliminated |
| Rahul Thatha | Eliminated |
Season 4
The fourth season aired on every Saturday and Sunday from 28 January 2023 to 30 July 2023 and ended with 43 Episodes. Rakshan has officially once again been appointed as the host for the fourth time. The winner of the season was Mime Gopi, Actress Srushti Dange was the runner-up.[6]
| Contestants | Status |
| Mime Gopi | Winner |
| Srushti Dange | 1st Runner-Up |
| Vichithra | 2nd Runner-Up |
| Sivaangi Krishnakumar | 3rd Runner-Up |
| Andreanne Nouyrigat | 4th Runner-Up |
| D. R. K. Kiran | 5th Runner-Up |
| Gajesh | Eliminated |
| Sherin Shringar | Eliminated |
| VJ Vishal | Eliminated |
| Raj Ayyappa | Eliminated |
| Kalaiyan | Eliminated |
| Kishore Rajkumar | Eliminated |
Season 5
The fifth season airs on every Saturday and Sunday from on April 27, 2024 at 21:30.
| Contestants | Status |
| Shaalin Zoya | |
| Akshay Kamal | |
| Dhivya Duraisamy | |
| Srikanth Deva | Eliminated |
| Pooja Venkat | |
| Vasanth Vasi | Eliminated |
| Mohammad Irfan | |
| VTV Ganesh | |
| Priyanka Deshpande | |
| Sujitha |
Moshika Ashokumar chef
Ramya Rajan chef
Reception
The series gained popularity only during its re – telecast in the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.[7] Following which the launch of the second season became one of the top rated Tamil reality television program both on television and on the digital platform Hotstar.[8][9]
The grand finale of season 2 aired on 14 April 2021 for 6 hours garnered a high viewership rating of 11.1 TVR in urban and 8.1 TVR overall with 6.58 million impressions.[10]
Adaptations
| Language | Title | Premiere date | Network | Last Aired | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kannada | Cookku with Kirikku ಕಿರಿಕ್ಕು ಜೊತೆ ಕುಕ್ಕು | 10 April 2021 | Star Suvarna | 15 August 2021 | Remake | [11] |
| Bengali | Gole Male Gol গোলে পুরুষ গোল | 25 September 2021 | Star Jalsha | 14 November 2021 | [12] | |
| Malayalam | Cook with Comedy കോമഡിക്കൊപ്പം പാചകം ചെയ്യുക | 6 May 2023 | Asianet | [13] | ||
| Hindi | Laughter Chefs- Entertainment Unlimited | Colors TV |