What Is 'The Taste' Cooking Up This Season? ET Goes Behind the Scenes

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ET's Kevin Frazier went behind the scenes of The Tasteto see what the show has in store for its return Thursday and do his own judging of the chefs' dishes.

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Renowned chefs Nigella Lawson, Marcus Sammuelsson, Ludo Lefebvre and Anthony Bourdain serve as mentors/judges on the ABC show, which averaged 3.7 million viewers last season -- more than double that of Top Chef.

What makes The Taste different from other food competition shows is that the mentors/judges taste the dishes blindly to help determine their teams. Kevin did his own blind taste test, choosing Marco as the winner, which left Ludo a little bitter.

"I'm not sure you have a palette, bro," Ludo blurted.

As one of the most well-traveled chefs on Earth, Anthony gave Kevin a whiff of the worst dish he's ever had -- fermented shark.

"It's like radioactive material," said Anthony, who warned Kevin not to eat it.

"It's stuck in my nostrils," Kevin said after smelling the dish.

Nigella is all about The Taste now, but last year she was dealing with a dark time in her personal life. On June 17, 2013, the Evening Standard released photos of her now ex-husband Charles Saatchi grabbing her throat during lunch at a London restaurant.

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While Nigella officially divorced her husband last summer, earlier this year TMZ posted video of Janay Rice, who appeared to be struck in an elevator by husband Ray Rice. Nigella advises would-be critics to not be so quick to judge.

"I know so well from what's written about me in papers that often it bears very little resemblance to what's happening," said Nigella.

As far as her own situation, Nigella is grateful to have made it to the other side.

"The wonderful thing is, it's passed," said Nigella.

The Taste returns to ABC tonight at 8/7c.