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
GenreCooking show
Comedy
Directed byParthiv Mani (seasons 1–4)
Presented byRakshan (seasons 1–5)
Manimegalai (season 5)
Judges
Country of originIndia
Original languageTamil
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes200+
Production
EditorsJaganathan
Aravinth Sridhar
Raghuraman Bala
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeapprox.60–62 minutes
Production companiesMedia Masons (seasons 1–4)
Box Office Studio (season 5–present)
Original release
Network
Release16 November 2019 (2019-11-16) –
present (present)

Production

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Game format

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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

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SeriesHostJudgesPrize MoneyEpisodesOriginally airedContestantsLaunch TRP RatingsFinale TRP RatingsWinnerRunner-up
First airedLast airedNetwork
1Rakshan and Aranthangi NishaChef Damodharan and
Chef Venkatesh Bhat
5 lakh (US$6,000)2716 November 2019 (2019-11-16)23 February 2020 (2020-02-23)Star Vijay &
Disney+ Hotstar
87.75 TVR10.22 TVRVanitha VijayakumarUma Riyaz Khan
2Rakshan4114 November 2020 (2020-11-14)14 April 2021 (2021-04-14)913.97 TVR21.39 TVRKani ThiruShakeela
35422 January 2022 (2022-01-22)24 July 2022 (2022-07-24)1211.1 TVR12.8 TVRShrutikaDarshan
4Rakshan and Manimegalai5328 January 2023 (2023-01-28)30 July 2023 (2023-07-30)1210.5 TVR10.9 TVRMime GopiSrushti Dange
5Chef Damodharan and
Madhampatty Rangaraj
4627 April 2024 (2024-04-27)29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)10TBATBAPriyanka DeshpandeSujitha

Season 1

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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

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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

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Season 2

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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

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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

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Season 3

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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

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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

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The fifth season airs on every Saturday and Sunday from on April 27, 2024 at 21:30.

Contestants Status
Priyanka Deshpande Winner
Sujitha 1st Runner-Up
Mohammad Irfan 2nd Runner-Up
Pooja Venkat 3rd Runner-Up
Shaalin Zoya 4th Runner-Up
VTV Ganesh 5th Runner-Up
Vasanth Vasi Eliminated
Dhivya Duraisamy Eliminated
Srikanth Deva Eliminated
Akshay Kamal Eliminated
Moshika Eliminated

Reception

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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

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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 8 July 2023 [13]
Hindi Laughter Chefs- Entertainment Unlimited Colors TV

References

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  1. ^ Sunder, Gautam (11 February 2021). "Cooku with Comali's pugazh and Shivangi: On the show's popularity and their friendship". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021.
  2. ^ "'Cook with Comali': Why the reality show is a huge success'". www.thenewsminute.com. 12 April 2021.
  3. ^ "The genius of 'Cook with Comali'". The Hindu. 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Cooku with Comali All Season Winners, Prize Money and Runner Up Details". www.readersfusion.com. 29 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Kani is the winner of 'Cook with Comali' Season 2". The Hindu. 15 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Cooku With Comali season 4 grand finale: Mime Gopi lifts the trophy; wins cash reward Rs 5 lakh". The Times of India. 31 July 2023.
  7. ^ "The genius of 'Cook with Comali'". The Hindu. 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021.
  8. ^ "'Cook with Comali': Why the reality show is a huge success". The News Minute. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021.
  9. ^ "'Bigg Boss Tamil' attracted most eyeballs on Disney+ Hotstar in TN". The Hindu. 23 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Cook with comali 2 grand finale gets record trp; Sivaangi thanks fans". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021.
  11. ^ "'Cooku With Comali' now goes to Kannada!". Sify. Archived from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Comedy show 'Golemale Gol' to premiere on September 25". The Times of India. 15 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Cooku With Comali To Have Malayalam Version". www.filmibeat.com. 9 May 2023.
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