On the new season of All-Star Academy, Robert Irvine and Andrew Zimmern are joining returning mentors Alex Guarnaschelli and Curtis Stone. The four mentors will each lead a team of home cooks through intense cooking challenges beginning on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 10|9c. In each school-themed lesson, special guest professors will judge the home cooks’ dishes, with an elimination every week. The top student who makes it through all of the eight episodes will leave with a $50,000 grand prize and earn bragging rights for his or her mentor.

The cast of guest professors includes Richard Blais, Scott Conant, Haylie Duff, Duff Goldman, Carla Hall, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, Debi Mazar, Adam Richman, Aarón Sánchez and Geoffrey Zakarian. In the premiere episode, nine home cooks enter the Academy to meet mentors Alex, Andrew, Curtis and Robert, but only eight will make it onto teams. For their first test, the competitors must prepare a dish using the contents of a lunchbox. Afterward the mentors will judge the dishes and rank them, with the lowest-ranking home cook going home. The remaining eight cooks will get to choose mentors based on their rankings. The mentors then will face off to win a Save Card, which can be used in the future to save a team member from elimination.

Upcoming episodes airing in the regular time slot on Sundays at 9|8c will include an art-themed challenge, a science-inspired test and a geography lesson. Get ready for an exciting new season of All-Star Academy, and visit All-Star Academy headquarters for a behind-the-scenes look inside the Academy classroom, hear from the mentors in exclusive interviews, browse photos of the top moments, and much more. Fans can connect using #AllStarAcademy on Twitter.

Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2016/01/all-star-academy-season-2/?oc=linkback