Mehreen Karim, a 27-year-old home cook, will make her Next Level Chef debut after Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12. Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais will appear in the Fox competition series. They will act as mentors to 18 cooks fighting for a $250,000 top prize and a one-year mentoring with all three of these legendary chefs.
Next Level Chef Season 2 reintroduces the three-level cooking stage, with ingredients and tasks suited for each level and a team of mentor chefs keeping an eye on a skilled mix of home cooks, line cooks, food truck entrepreneurs, and social media stars.
According to Fox, the official synopsis for Next Level Chef season 2 is as follows:
“Next Level Chef, produced by Studio Ramsay Global and FOX Alternative Entertainment, is the next evolution in cooking contests, with Ramsay creating a one-of-a-kind culinary gauntlet set on an iconic stage like you’ve never seen before. Each level of the three-story building has a breathtakingly diverse kitchen.”
The summary goes on to say:
“Ramsay and his co-mentors will leave no stone unturned as they individually select a group of promising cooks and take them under their wings, joined by two top names in the culinary industry, chefs Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais. As they all endeavor to identify ‘the one,’ Ramsay and his buddies will try to bring out the best in their chefs.”
Competitors will be challenged to make the most of whatever resources they are given in order to climb from the basement of the lowest level to the opulent top level to face the most difficult culinary gauntlet ever.
Mehreen Karim of Next Level Chef is a recipe creator and digital communications expert.
In Season 2 of Next Level Chef, chef Mehreen Karim will be mentored by chef Richard Blais. The Next Level Chef debutant is a freelance recipe creator, writer, editor, and photographer from Auburn, Alabama. According to LinkedIn, the reality star, known as Reenie to her fans, earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Affairs from the University of Georgia in 2017 and will finish her Master’s degree in Global Public Health from New York University in 2020.
Mehreen Karim is fluent in four languages, with French and English being her strongest, and Bengali and Arabic in the works. According to LinkedIn, Mehreen’s 12-year work experience has been broad, with various major assignments that defined her career. She worked as an STD Research Intern at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before becoming an AIESEC Account Manager.
She also interned at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. as a Women’s Health Intern. Mehreen has also worked as a Communications Assistant at NYU Work Life. She was also a Grassroots Organizer Intern for Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta before becoming a Digital Communications Specialist for NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.
She strategized messaging and communications on public policy topics such as healthcare, immigration, and civil rights for the organization’s 70,000 nationwide supporters in her capacity. Mehreen Karim now works as a Digital Recipe Production Assistant at Bon Appétit, according to her LinkedIn profile. For bonappetit.com, she produces digital recipes and tales. She also develops recipes and writes tales to educate readers about uncommon food combinations (such as caramelized dates and asparagus) as well as culinary tips and tactics (such as how to grill the chicken without a grill) in order to inspire home chefs to make meals in novel ways.
View this post on Instagram
Mehreen Karim says on her own website mehreenkarim.com about what makes her happy throughout her culinary endeavors:
“I’m happiest when I can encourage home chefs to take chances in their everyday cooking. Because adding charred dates to a fast salad or infusing a tea bag into your morning porridge is never a terrible idea. My meals are meant for hungry individuals of all ability levels, whether you’re a rookie in the kitchen or actually Gwyneth Paltrow.”
Season 2 of FOX’s Next Level Chef
Mehreen Karim will be joined by 17 other contenders who will battle with her to establish who is the most deserving cook. Chef Richard Blais, who rose to prominence on Top Chef as a runner-up in season 4 and winner of Top Chef: All-Stars, will coach Karim. He is a regular guest judge on many Food Network series. He is the owner and manager of The Crack Shack, Juniper & Ivy, and Four Flamingos.
Chef Gordon Ramsay of MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen renown, as well as Chef Nyesha Arrington, who was featured on Top Chef and Chef Hunter in 2011, will join Blais. Next Level Chef season 2 starts on FOXTV on Sunday, February 12 at 10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. PT, immediately after Super Bowl LVII, and may be viewed on Hulu.
