General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Selena + Chef

Selena + Chef is an American unscripted cooking series in which singer and actress Selena Gomez learns to cook at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, guided remotely by a different professional chef in each episode. It premiered on HBO Max on August 13, 2020, ran for four seasons and 40 episodes through September 1, 2022, and spawned the spin-offs Selena + Restaurant and Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays.³^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Unscripted 10-episode cookalong; Gomez cooks a guest chef's recipe in her own kitchen while the chef instructs by video chat¹
Run	HBO Max, August 13, 2020 to September 1, 2022; four seasons, 40 episodes; status ended³^•²
Executive producers	Gomez for July Moon Productions; Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, and Leah Hariton for The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC)¹
Charity element	Each episode highlights a different charity chosen by the guest chef¹
Production method	Robot cameras installed in Gomez's kitchen, controlled from outside the house; each season shot in about two to three weeks⁴^•⁵
Finale	"Selena + Gordon Ramsay" (September 1, 2022), the series' first in-person lesson⁶
Awards	MTV Movie + TV Award for Best New Unscripted Series (2021) and Best Lifestyle Show (2022); Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Culinary Series (2023)⁷

Spoilers

Premise and format

Each episode pairs Gomez with a different chef over video chat as they walk her through one of that chef's recipes. Gomez quarantined at home with her grandparents and best friends Liz and Raquelle, who appear as her supporting cast, and the chefs filmed themselves from their own kitchens. The show's stated premise is that Gomez, by her own account not a skilled cook, learns in real time, with kitchen mishaps such as smoking ovens and missing ingredients left in.¹^•⁸

Executive producer Aaron Saidman, a reality and nonfiction producer known for series including American Idol and Indian Matchmaking, described the production philosophy as complete authenticity: the crew did not hire culinary producers to pre-prep ingredients, and because no one outside her quarantine household could enter her kitchen, Gomez had to perform every element of each meal herself.⁸^•⁴

Seasons

Season 1 (2020). The first season premiered August 13, 2020, with the final four episodes debuting August 27. Gomez, who had just moved into a new house before shooting began in May 2020, was joined by her quarantine household as sous-chefs.³^•¹¹^•⁹

Season 2 (2020–2021). HBO Max renewed the show on August 27, 2020, the day the first season finished airing. Season 2 premiered January 20, 2021, with more challenging dishes and a new roster of chefs.¹^•⁵

Season 3 (2021). The third season premiered October 27, 2021, continuing the home-kitchen format.¹²

Season 4 (2022). The fourth season moved to a Malibu beach house and premiered August 18, 2022, with episodes rolling out through September 1. It opened with Ludo Lefebvre returning to see how much Gomez had grown, and closed with the series' first in-person lesson, with Gordon Ramsay.¹²^•⁶

Production during the pandemic

The series was ordered straight to series by HBO Max as "Untitled Cooking Project" on May 5, 2020, less than two months after lockdowns began in the United States in mid-March 2020, and premiered on August 13, 2020.³^•⁴ Saidman called it his company's first COVID production and said the team invented safety protocols as it went, with the priority that no one be put in harm's way.⁸

Remote filming. The crew installed a set of robot cameras inside Gomez's kitchen and controlled them from outside the house. Filming an episode took from a few hours to about half a day depending on the recipe, and each 10-episode season was shot in roughly two to three weeks, a pace the producers said was deliberate so the show would reach viewers while the pandemic premise was still relevant.⁴^•⁵

Chefs and dishes

The show deliberately covered a wide range of cuisines. Season 1 guests included Ludo Lefebvre, who taught Gomez a French omelet and cheese souffle, Antonia Lofaso, Candice Kumai, Roy Choi, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Nancy Silverton, Angelo Sosa, Daniel Holzman, Nyesha Arrington, and Tanya Holland.⁸^•⁹ Later seasons added chefs including Curtis Stone, José Andrés, Marcus Samuelsson, Jamie Oliver, Ayesha Curry, Kristen Kish, Priya Krishna, Paola Velez, and Gordon Ramsay.⁵^•¹⁰

Dishes ranged from Baja-style fried rice, buttermilk fried chicken, and pan-seared branzino to Filipino chicken adobo and turon, miso tahini ramen, and dog biscuits for Gomez's pets.¹^•¹¹

Reception and awards

The series won the MTV Movie + TV Award for Best New Unscripted Series in 2021 and Best Lifestyle Show in 2022, and was nominated for a 2023 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Series. It also won Realscreen Awards for studio-based food programming in 2022 and 2023 and a Critics' Choice Real TV Award for Female Star of the Year in 2022.⁷

Gomez said the show changed her relationship with cooking: "Season one I was a complete disaster and not to say I still don't have my moments, but I've come a long way." After the fourth season she rated her kitchen skills five out of 10 and said her biggest takeaway was the confidence to deviate from a recipe.¹⁰

Spin-offs and afterlife

Two spin-offs followed the series. Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays, a four-part Christmas-themed special, premiered on Food Network on November 30, 2023, with guest chefs including Eric Adjepong and Alex Guarnaschelli; it received a 2024 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Culinary Series.¹³^•¹⁴ Selena + Restaurant, which premiered May 2, 2024, moved Gomez out of her kitchen and into Los Angeles restaurants run by chefs including Wolfgang Puck, Shirley Chung, and Stephanie Izard; in each episode she highlights a charity selected by the chef and donates $10,000.¹⁵

No new season of Selena + Chef itself has been announced; episode guides list the series as ended after its September 2022 finale.²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series › Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps › Wealth, real estate, and lifestyle series

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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