April 2023. The first semi-final episodes of the Golden Chef 2023 appear on Blick TV. These are episodes that portray the eight candidates in the high-stakes cooking competition. Through them, we learn, for example, that Robin Höfer's vegetarian dish "From Mother's Garden" is based on his late mother's side salad with cashew nuts. We can see the craftsmanship behind the neatly twisted rosettes of yellow, pickled beetroot and the raw-marinated marigold beds around Sandra Böhm's horseradish sorbet. And we recognize the passion for cooking and outdoorsy-ness in Shaun Rollier's meat broth, which he has refined with hand-picked pine needles. The episodes tell of inspiration, craftsmanship and passions. They accompany the chefs on their journey from training in their kitchens to the final competition.

Creative director Samuel Röthlisberger and his team explain how a TV production of this magnitude can succeed.