Meet the Teams Competing in 'Pitmasters'

Premiering on Food Network Monday, July 13 at 9|8c, Pitmasters is a brand-new barbecue competition that will pit nine two-person teams against each other in an open-flame showdown, judged by a legendary panel including Andrew Zimmern, Jess Pryles, Moe Cason and Ernest Servantes. From breaking down a whole hog to cooking and serving four essential BBQ proteins on a nonstop rolling schedule, only the most creative and persistent Pitmasters will survive and earn up to $50,000 in prize money.

Matt Groark, a high school culinary teacher from New Jersey and the owner of Groark Boys BBQ, has paired up with Delaware-based Max McGibbon, who recently stepped away from corporate America to make room for his true passion: food.

Esaul Ramos is the owner of 2M Smokehouse, which has received both a Michelin recommendation and a James Beard nomination. Grecia, who Esaul calls his “ace in the hole,” is a pastry chef who gained acclaim making all of the sweets at her husband’s restaurant before venturing out to open her own boutique bakeshop.

Jeremy Yoder named his popular YouTube channel Mad Scientist BBQ as a nod to his former career as a chemistry teacher. Al Frugoni, a native Argentinian, says that growing up, eating asado (barbecue) was a weekly tradition, as was learning to cook over an open fire. Today, Al organizes the largest open-fire cooking event in the United States, and it was at one of these events where the two originally met.

Ruben Santana and Hector Garate originally met on social media and turned their collab into a partnership that is ready to take down this competition. While the two both own and run their restaurants several states apart, they consider themselves family.

John Jackson and Connie DeSousa are best friends and business partners who own a hospitality group that includes multiple restaurants. Connie boasts she “can skin a pig head in 43 seconds" — the kind of accolade that might win you this particular kind of competition.

Hailing from Mississippi is mother-and-son team Leslie Roark Scott and Jacob Scott. Together, they are bringing more than six decades of experience to this competition. Leslie, a fourth-generation pitmaster, has been training her son to continue the family legacy since he was born.

Chris Williams and Frank Miller have been friends since middle school and come to this competition with barbecue in their bones. Chris hired Frank as "Employee No. 1" when he opened his first restaurant, Roy's Grille. “South Carolina is the birthplace of barbecue; it's in our DNA, it's in our heritage, it's in our culture. We were born into it,” says Chris.

Christie Vanover is the founder of Girls Can Grill. She's a fierce competitor, and her brisket won fifth place in the Jack Daniel’s World Championships. Her partner, Susie Bulloch, is the founder of Hey, Grill, Hey, a cookbook author, a professional recipe developer, a competitive pitmaster and has even helped set two Guinness World Records.

Reginald Jacob Howell and Denzel Johnson met in college and now own a restaurant together in Tacoma, Washington. With multicultural families, they like to bring Creole and Indian flavors into their cooking.

Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy and James Beard award-winning host, chef, restaurateur and philanthropist known for hosting 22 seasons of Bizarre Foods and its many spinoffs. In fact, chef Andrew has talked about how his travels to more than 150 countries while hosting Bizarre Foods showed him the popularity of open-fire cooking internationally and helped shape his love and respect for this particular culinary technique.

The Australian-born and self-named “Hardcore Carnivore” is a live-fire cooking expert. Her Hardcore Carnivore cookbook and line of cooking accessories are a testament to her passion for all things meat and barbecue.

Moe Cason is a self-taught BBQ chef who has competed in more than 250 barbecue competitions. He has also written a cookbook dedicated to his love of barbecue, competed on Chopped: Grill Masters and shared recipes on The Kitchen.

Nicknamed the "Pope of Barbecue," judge Ernest Servantes is the co-owner of Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin, Texas, which earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and was rated the No. 1 barbecue restaurant in the Lone Star State.

The clock is ticking, and the fight for fire and flavor is on. Pitmasters premieres Monday, July 13 at 9|8c on Food Network and the next day on HBO Max and discovery+.