Food Network star to be Perfect host

US chef and Food Network star Guy Fieri has been tapped to host NBC’s upcoming primetime gameshow Perfect 10, slated to air next year, the net’s exec VP of alternate programming Paul Telegdy has announced.

Fieri won the second season of The Next Food Network Star in 2006 and went on to host a variety of shows on Food Network, including Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and Guy Off The Hook. He hosted Guy’s Big Bite and Ultimate Recipe Showdown.

Based on a format from Scandinavia’s Friday TV, now part of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Group, the US series is being produced by Universal Media Studios, together with Friday.

The show has contestants playing 10 simple games against the clock, with a prize of US$1m awaiting the winner. Craig Plestis, Tim Puntillo (Identity), Mattias Olsson and Jock Millgardh are the show’s executive producers.

After Telegdy greenlit eight one-hour episodes of Perfect 10 in September, NBC Universal’s VP of format sales, international television productions, Yvonne Pilkington told C21 that the US distributor had rights to the format outside Scandinavia, Italy and Spain. France, Turkey and Greece were also retained by Friday.