to eat, any food left over after the winners had eaten was usually consumed by the show's crew. Since each show usually took hours to film, the hunger expressed by the losing guests at the end was genuine. Attendants Sekiguchi's Kitchen Sekiguchi Hiroshi Sekiguchi's Assistant: Sosuke Sumitani (炭谷宗佑, an announcer at Nippon TV) Sekiguchi's Chef Sekiguchi's Mascot: DOTCHkun (ドッチくん) - Voiced by Aya Hara (原亜弥) [Later episodes of The New Dotch Cooking Show: Keisuke Mori (森圭介, an announcer at Nippon TV) becomes the new assistant] Miyake's Kitchen Miyake Yuji Miyake's Assistant: Ken Shimizu (清水健, an announcer at Yomiuri TV) Miyake's Chef Miyake's Mascot: WHICHkun (WHICHくん)- Voiced by Yuuko Mita (三田ゆう子) Regular guest: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (草彅剛) 6 other guests, usually famous Japanese entertainers or athletes. The assistants reported, newscaster-style, on the obtaining of special ingredients. The chefs were hired from a pool of highly skilled cooks. The New Dotch Cooking Show The format of the show is basically the same, except that tasting time has been completely eliminated for the contestants (Sekiguchi and Miyake still get to taste the works in progress). The contestant roster was expanded from 7 to 11 (occasionally 9), with 4 celebrity contestants (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi still appeared as a regular) and 7 (occasionally 5) additional contestants, called "Hara-Helicopters", drawn from a pool. Typically, the Hara-Helicopters are everyday people, though some groups are distinctly categorized, e.g. schoolchildren, "idols", "young men who have not eaten for 48 hours", or restaurateurs. During the preparation of the meals, the celebrity contestants would be allowed to observe each chef's methods up close, and smell/feel (not taste) the various ingredients used, while the Hara-Helicopters would watch the action from their seats overlooking the stage. In some episodes, Kusanagi would bring a plate of one of the special ingredients up to the Hara-Helicopters so they could smell it. The series went on hiatus on September 14, 2006, and returned on January 4, 2007, for a one-time only TV special. Airing time in JST 28 NNS stations: 9:00 p.m. - 9:54 p.m. every Thursday TV Miyazaki: 8:00 a.m. - 8:55 a.m. every Sunday Oita Broadcasting Sys., Inc.: 6:55 p.m. - 7:49 p.m. every Thursday Ryūkyū Broadcasting Corporation: 2:54 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. every Saturday Foreign broadcasts KIKU-TV runs a subtitled version of the show, billing as Dotchi no Ryori UTB Hollywood runs a subtitled version of show, billing as Cooking Showdown for on the English