HBO Max‘s The big brunch offers a delightful twist on the cook-off concept, but the show’s biggest treat is judge Sohla El-Waylly. Sohla – as fans simply know her – has steadily built a reputation as one of the most talented, creative and outspoken voices on the food landscape. However The big brunch proves that she is more than just an incredible cook, cooking teacher or Good Appetite Test Kitchen’s abused secret weapon. Sohla El-Waylly is our next big food TV judge. Like a perfectly balanced bite, she knows how to balance the bitter and the sweet in her reviews. She’s exactly the voice the genre needs to move forward.
Created by Schott’s Creek mastermind dan levy, The big brunch is a competition where chefs who have contributed to their community compete for the best brunch. Each week, the chefs must prepare an appetizer and an entree for presenter Dan Levy and judges El-Waylly and Will Guidara. If they don’t impress, the chefs go home. If they survive the entire competition, they’ll take home $300,000.
While The big brunch features some intriguing innovations for the reality cook-off genre – There’s an in-house bartender! The dining room is adjacent to the kitchen! – it still finds its legs. The pace drags on in places, and one has to wonder if building a competition just around brunch is a good idea. That is, one The big brunch definitely speaks for it is Sohla El-Waylly.
Sohla El-Waylly is a chef, restaurant owner and educator who rose to fame as a culinary personality in the United States Good Appetite‘s hugely popular YouTube videos. El-Waylly was deputy food editor for the magazine and often found herself in the (mostly white) main cast’s videos to offer technical know-how, creative advice and physical help. When it was later revealed that the magazine’s then-editor-in-chief had once attended a party with a black face, El-Waylly led the prosecution to call for his resignation. After this scandal, that was revealed Good Appetite had a nasty habit of paying talented BIPOC chefs for a fraction of what their white counterparts were paid.
After leaving B.ASohla began appearing in a series of YouTube videos. She briefly worked in the popular Babbish Cinematic Universe before hosting her own videos for History, Food52 and The New York Times (where she is also a contributor). Through it all, Sohla El-Waylly has proven she has a rare blend of technical ability and the ability to heartily teach amateur chefs how to up their recipe game. What The big brunch shows is that she is also a brilliant reality show judge.
First off, Sohla seems to understand the function of a judge on these otherwise feel-good reality competition shows. When fellow judge Will Guidara gets annoyed that he likes all chefs and doesn’t want the editing to turn you into a villain, Sohla jokes you are the villains. After all, it’s the job of the judges to critique the hard work of these cute, hard-working chefs and shatter the dreams of the eliminated chefs.
However, Sohla is not spiteful or cruel. She is playful in her reviews and likes to create suspense before giving her prognosis for a dish. But their criticism is always constructive. She primarily seeks excellence in technology and encourages chefs to work harder. “I know you can do better,” she says like a coach. She was also the first person to state that chefs’ biggest collective blind spot was not trying their own food.
But what’s so funny about Sohla is that she gets rightfully excited when the chefs dazzle her. There is no condescending “Hollywood handshake” but pure awe for the creativity of the participants. Sohla may understand that she’s hot on the chefs’ baby faces, but she’s never dying for them to smack her with an unassailable dish.
as the children say The big brunch Judge Sohla El-Waylly understands the mandate. She fully understands and embraces her role within the ecosystem of a reality competition show. Sohla is a fair judge, she is a funny judge, but above all she is a wild judge. She’s not afraid to point out failures, nor does she celebrate chefs’ successes. She’s exactly the kind of judge Food TV needs more of (and I’m not so hoping Padma Lakshmi has her for a future season of On Speed Dial top chef).