On the outskirts of Toronto inside Studio 550, the Top Chef: Destination Canada  kitchen is running hot and heavy with the remaining cheftestants working through the latest Quickfire Challenge. The set featured a replica functioning dépanneur, known as a convenience store throughout Quebec. 

Comedian Punkie Johnson, a few months removed from her Saturday Night Live exit, came on to guest judge. She gained a reputation of being the “dressing room” chef and proved the perfect choice to lend her expertise in this  particular Quickfire Challenge (clip below). 

TV Insider paid a visit to witness the culinary action unfold firsthand while the May 16 episode of Season 22 was being filmed. Taking in all the bustling activity, one couldn’t help but gain a deeper appreciation for the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes. Like for those who design the spectacular set pieces for each installment of the show. The dep stocked with products in French could have brought legit business. Then there are those who put together the close-up “beauty” shots of the dishes captured in a separate space. Little things the viewer may not think about, but make all the difference from a production standpoint. To pull off what we see with the cheftestants, host Kristen Kish and judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons on camera, it takes a small army behind it. 

And the captain of that army is showrunner Doneen Arquines. She started during the first season as a production assistant for the Bravo hit and worked her way up to showrunner at the end of Season 12. Arquines, who also serves as executive producer and vice president of current programming under Magical Elves, took time in between shooting to answer our burning questions. 

What goes into choosing a destination? 

Doneen Arquines: I don’t know if there is a specific criteria other than if we haven’t been there before. We have a producer, Diana Schmedeman. It’s her job, really spending all year just thinking about next year or where we would go. The creative behind what we can do. We think, “Can it be different?” Luckily, this stage is the same stage. Top Chef Canada uses. Our set is a bit different. We partnered with them on another shoot earlier, so it worked out. They have a great team here. So, when we thought about doing something, in Canada for example, we thought that would be cool. 

How far in advance do you prepare? 

I think we have a sense around April, a few months out. 

A lot of people wonder about the recruitment of the cheftestants. Talk about the process of deciding who would be on the show every season. 

Ron Mare is our head of casting. He runs that department and does an amazing job. There is so much outreach to chefs we’ve worked with, chefs respected in the industry, alumni of Top Chef. We reach out to the James Beard Foundation folks. We reach out to Food & Wine and ask them for suggestions every year. Who is up-and-coming? Who should compete on the show? We try to get recommendations that way. People can still submit their application online as well. 

The chefs can submit themselves, but a lot of it is word of mouth where we find out who is really recommending somebody. Now there are so many alumni and people who have been on the show as guest judges and experienced what this life is like and can say, “This person will be great at this and thinking on the fly and coming up with food on the fly.” I think that is the greatest challenge honestly with Top Chef. There are so many great chefs, but a lot of them need time to develop a dish and concept before it’s ready to go. A lot of times people will hear the judges say this dish was restaurant ready in one go. That’s not an easy thing to do. 

When they come out here [on set] and are told about the challenge, they aren’t given very much notice as you’re filming, right? 

That’s it. They are learning it for the first time right there. The only time they have to think about what they are going to do is when we take them back off set where we go over the rules. That’s their opportunity for them to ask questions and relay out what the challenge parameters are, using the limited equipment, using the limited pantry. Then they can ask questions. That takes about 25, 30 minutes. That’s it. Then they go. 

What can you say in regards to the commitment needed from these chefs? We only see the challenge aspect and maybe a little background, but they are sequestered and don’t have regular access to the outside world. How does that play into things? 

I think that’s definitely the hardest part of the competition. It’s definitely something that takes a lot of getting used to. I think that weighs on a lot of people in the beginning because they are not used to it. Even though they are prepared, and we tell them this happens, they are then, “That sounds great.” Then they come in and it’s like, “This sucks.” Then by around midway they have gotten used to it and they find it’s nice not to have the distractions from home. Some people like it better than others. Some people don’t have a lot going on in terms of family at home. It depends on what’s going on at home. 

How long would you say they are away? 

They’ve been here since mid-August, so six weeks total and another week later on for the finale down the line. 

What kind of support system do they have? 

We make them aware there is always someone available to talk to. They talk to mental health professionals before they come on this show. They make them aware they are there for them. We have a whole casting team available to them 24/7 if they need anything. We try our best to keep them entertained and happy, at least during downtime. 

TOP CHEF — “From Dep Till Dawn” Episode 2210 — Pictured: (l-r) César Murillo, Massimo Piedimonte, Tristen Epps, Bailey Sullivan, Lana Lagomarsini, Shuai Wang, Vincenzo Loseto — (Photo by: David Moir/Bravo)

The food itself. There is so much food preparation. Where does it go after? 

There is stuff [out here on set] that does get thrown away because it has been sitting out for so long. Though, a lot of the food, what winds up happening if there is produce that is about to go bad or coming to the end of it’s lifespan and won’t make it to the next challenge, the culinary producers will actually give it to the chefs to take home with them. That’s because they have apartments they can cook in or put out to the craft surfaces. There are a lot of locals this year and those who have apartments can take that home to cook it. 

What is something you think would surprise people about your production? For me it’s just seeing the time and effort required to just do set design for one episode is incredible. 

That’s a great question. I think that’s a really good example. I think people probably don’t realize how many people work on the show to make all this happen because you only see what’s on cameras. There are all the production team and producers and art department and culinary, lighting, sound and all the departments Anywhere around 150 for the whole shoot. It’s pretty big, but everyone is necessary. A lot of people have been working on the show for a long time, so they have things down. 

What is unique about this season in terms of logistics? 

We were really nervous in the beginning because we already settled our dates and then realized we had scheduled the season to happen during TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival]. People are like, “Oh my god traffic will be a nightmare.” Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. That’s been nice. I think traffic has been the toughest part at the same time. The stage isn’t that far compared to other seasons. We’ve had it worse. This has actually been nice. 

The challenges themselves. What goes into creating those? Do you take in fan feedback? 

Yeah, there are a lot of us who will read tweets or listen to podcasts and learn about what people think of the show. For the most part, a lot of our team have been around for several seasons and the biggest thing for us is to come up with challenges not done before. Or if we have done it before, is there a new spin on it? The very first season they shopped in a convenience store for maybe $10 or $20 and shop for ingredients. One of our Canadian APs pitched doing the Debonair. Having French ingredients in there. We thought that was fun. 

Separately, we talked to Punkie’s team about what to do. We saw her Instagram and saw what she is doing. Then when we saw she was available we thought,” Why don’t we put these things together?” The [challenge] ends up being really hard, but it will also be fun to watch. I enjoyed watching them to let loose and use unique things. 

Top Chef: Destination Canada, Thursdays, 9/8c, Bravo