Where Do They Film 'Barbecue Showdown'? Details

What states are famous for their barbecue? Of course Kansas comes to mind, as does Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Then there's arguably the state most admired for what it can throw down on the grill: Texas.

So which locale is the place where the Netflix reality show Barbecue Showdown is filmed? Read on to find out if it's the Lone Star State, or somewhere else.

While contestants that appear on the Netflix competition series Barbecue Showdown are from states known for their grilling prowess, such as Texas, it turns out that the show itself is not filmed in the state that's actually nicknamed the Beef State.

Instead, Barbecue Showdown is filmed in Georgia, near Atlanta, per Texas Monthly.

In fact, the third season of the smoky showdown, which kicked off July 4, 2024, and will run for eight episodes, was filmed in a new town, Gay, while the first two seasons shot in Covington.

Cameras were on hand to film the third installment of the competition in December 2023, and as it turns out, one of the contestants barely made it through the filming.

While we're drooling over the flavorful plates that are served up for the judges, according to both contestants and judges, as well as the show's host, filming Barbecue Showdown is no easy feat.

Sloan Rinaldi from Houston, Texas, confided that she was recovering from hip replacement surgery while filming for Barbecue Showdown took place. After a month of competition, she admitted, “When they said ‘That’s a wrap’ the last time, I had nothing left. I couldn’t have done one more take. I couldn’t have taken another step or said another word.”

As viewers will see upon tuning in for the series, meat grilling competitions take place in the kitchen, as well as in the great outdoors, naturally.

Aptly named judge Melissa Cookston, who according to Eater is the first woman who was ever inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame, joined the nine contestants in Georgia for filming.

Also on hand for the shoot was Kevin Bludso, serving as a judge, and host Michelle Buteau.

Michelle previously dished (pun intended) on some of the elements that contestants have to deal with while filming Barbecue Showdown. "Between the rain and the wind, they're just out here reducing and making sauces that we've never seen," the actress told GMA ahead of the show's second season.

"People are running around for like eight hours — indoors, outdoors — trying to get food on the plate," she also shared about what happens behind the scenes of filming.

For his part, Kevin said on Instagram that although filming truly tests a person, at the end of the day, everyone becomes family.

"Great memories!! BBQ Showdown is a family affair!!" he captioned a still image from the shoot. "Real talk!! Intense competition, long days, cold and hot! Extremely tough challenges … But at the end they became family … They’re very concerned for one another… Season 3 July 4th!!! The family just got bigger!!!"