Chopped (TV series)

Chopped

Intertitle
Genre Cooking show
Created by Dave Noll and Michael Krupat
Directed by Michael Pearlman
Presented by Ted Allen
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 26
No. of episodes 324 + 15 specials (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Linda Lea
  • Dave Noll
  • Vivian Sorenson (co-exec.)
Producer(s)
  • Beth Paholak
  • Tina Nguyen
  • Karey Green
  • Kirsten Moberg
  • Kate Kenny
  • Crystal Bahmaie
  • Edward Schindler (supervising prod.)
  • Jessica Paul (supervising prod.)
  • Loe Fahie (line prod.)
Editor(s)
  • Evald Ridore
  • Jonathan Soule
  • Amanda Durett Cercone
  • Erik Klein
  • Brad Yankus
  • Jimmy Drakulias (On-Line Editor)
  • Axuve Espinosa
  • Michael Wei
  • Gregory Corwin
  • Evan Wise
  • Brian D'Amico
  • Mike Stern
  • Barney Schmidt
Running time 44 mins.
Production company(s) Notional
Release
Original network Food Network
Original release January 13, 2009 (2009-01-13) – present
External links
Website

Chopped is an American reality-based cooking television game show series created by Dave Noll and Michael Krupat, with executive producer Linda Lea, and hosted by Ted Allen that pits four chefs against each other competing for a chance to win $10,000. New episodes air every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on Food Network.

Format

In each episode, four chefs compete. Their challenge is to take a mystery basket of ingredients and turn them into a dish that is judged on its creativity, presentation and taste.[1][2] The show is divided into three rounds: "Appetizer", "Entrée", and "Dessert". In each round, the chefs are given a basket containing between three and five ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must use each ingredient in some way, and although forgetting an ingredient isn't an automatic disqualification, the judges will take it into consideration. The ingredients are often not commonly prepared together. For example, in "Yucca, Watermelon, Tortillas," (originally aired on February 10, 2009) the appetizer "course baskets" contained watermelon, canned sardines, pepper jack cheese, and zucchini.

In early episodes, Ted introduced the competition to the contestants as stated: "There are three rounds: Appetizer, Entrée, and Dessert. Each round comes with its own basket of mystery ingredients and you must use every ingredient in the basket in some way. Also available to you, our pantry and fridge. Each round is timed. When the clock runs out, our judges will critique your work on presentation, taste and creativity. If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped." Some episodes would narrow the intro (in its shortest form): "You know the rules. Three rounds, mandatory mystery ingredients. If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped."

The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: 20 minutes for the Appetizer round (30 minutes in some season one episodes and some episodes with special formats, especially the teen chef episodes), and 30 minutes for the Entrée and Dessert rounds (some episodes gave the chefs 40 or 45 minutes in the entrée round to allow them to handle whole large proteins, usually poultry, e.g. turkeys, geese, or ducks, which were common mystery ingredients on Thanksgiving and Holiday episodes; another episode gave the chefs 50 minutes in the dessert round to allow proper baking time due to cake flour being a mystery ingredient; the all dessert rounds episode gave the chefs 1 hour in the 3rd round to allow enough time for them to bake and decorate their cakes). The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (three for the judges and one "beauty plate") before time runs out.[3] After each round, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste and creativity. The judges then decide which chef is "chopped," that is, eliminated from the competition when Ted says, "So whose dish is on the chopping block?" After pulling a cloche that has the losing chef's dish underneath, Ted announces, "Chef (first name) you've been Chopped." One of the judges makes a comment to the losing chef. By the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the final winner, the judges consider not only the dessert course, but the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole. The winner receives $10,000.

Production notes

According to host Ted Allen, the show's unaired pilot episode, which was taped at the Culinary School at the Art Institute of New York, was "...originally a lot more elaborate. It was set in a mansion, the host was a butler, the butler held a Chihuahua, and when a chef was chopped the losing dish was fed to the Chihuahua." The Food Network found the pilot episode "a little too weird", but decided to keep the general premise of the show in a more straightforward competition format.[4]

An episode of Chopped takes approximately 12 hours to tape, with deliberations after each round taking about 90 minutes.[4] Judging is done by consensus among the judges.[5]

While contestants do not know the ingredients ahead of time, they are given a tour of the kitchen at the start of the day and some preparations, such as pre-heating ovens and bringing water to a boil, are done in advance of each round.[3]

Injuries such as cuts and burns are fairly commonplace. A medic is always on hand in the kitchen to deal with any injuries. For safety reasons, if a contestant does suffer a cut, their food is inspected for blood before being served to the judges. If a dish may contain blood it is inadmissible, but does not necessarily result in a disqualification. If an injury is serious enough, the affected chef is given a choice to withdraw from the competition, which has happened on one occasion.

Dishes that contain ingredients that must be specially prepared are not admissible if not properly prepared. Allen will often advise contestants of this when necessary.

If a chef fails to use one of the basket ingredients the dish is still admissible, but the judges will take the omission into consideration during their deliberations. In extreme circumstances, if a chef's plates has no edible components but has edible components at their station, the judges will allow him/her to bring over the other components from their station to taste from the pot or pan, usually with consent from the other chefs first.

Special Episodes

Chopped Champions

Starting September 8, 2009, and continuing for three additional episodes, Food Network aired the "Chopped Champions Event", wherein thirteen past winners returned and faced off against each other (four per episode) to retain their title of Chopped Champion. The winner of an episode in the event earned an additional $10,000 and moved on to the next episode to face a new set of three previous champions. The winner was Darius Peacock, Executive Chef, Exceptional Taste Catering, Trenton, NJ

Starting August 31, 2010, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired the "$50,000 Tournament." Sixteen past champions competed. The winners of the first four episodes competed against each other in the "Grand Finale" for the $50,000 prize. The winner was Madison Cowan, Chef and Caterer, Avenue Inc, New York City.

Starting August 30, 2011, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired another "$50,000 Tournament," because of the first competition's popularity. Sixteen new past champions competed. The winner was Danielle Saunders, a private chef from New York City.

Starting January 15, 2013, a new season of "Chopped Champions" began airing, with sixteen new past champions competing for the $50,000 prize. The winner was Jun Tanaka, Executive Chef from London, England.

Starting March 28, 2016, another 5-part "Chopped Champions" Tournament began, featuring 16 new returning champions competing to win the $50,000 grand prize. The winner was Adam Greenburg, Corporate Executive Chef of the Barcelona Restaurant Group from Norwalk, CT.

Chopped All-Stars

Starting March 6, 2011, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired the "Chopped All-Stars" Tournament. Sixteen chefs competed. The first four episodes featured four types of chef: The Next Food Network Star contestants, Food Network celebrities, celebrity chefs, and Chopped judges. The winners of those four episodes then competed against each other in the "Grand Finale", where the winner received $50,000 to donate to a charity of his or her choice. Nate Appleman, a celebrity chef, won the competition and donated his $50,000 to Kawasaki Disease research, a disease from which his son suffered.

Starting April 8, 2012, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired the second "Chopped All-Stars" Tournament. Sixteen new chefs competed, again ranging from four different categories of chef: Iron Chef America chefs (the newest of the four categories), Food Network and Cooking Channel celebrities, The Next Food Network Star contestants, and Chopped judges. Celebrity chef & Chopped judge Marcus Samuelsson won this second competition, donating the $50,000 grand prize to the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program of New York (aka C-CAP), which helps under-served youth through culinary arts education and employment.

On April 7, 2013, the third installment of the "Chopped All-Stars" Tournament premiered on Food Network. Over the course of four episodes, sixteen chefs competed in groups of four. There were four different categories of the chefs through the episodes: Food Network vs. Cooking Channel, Mega Chefs, Chopped Judges, and celebrities, respectively. Winners of each of these rounds went on to compete against each other in the "Grand Finale" episode, where the winner received $50,000 to donate to a charity of his or her choice. Celebrity chef and Chopped judge Scott Conant won this competition, donating $50,000 to the Keep Memory Alive Foundation.

On April 28, 2015, the fourth "All-Stars" Tournament began airing, with an increased grand prize of $75,000 to the winner. As before, they are split into groups of four chefs per episode, with the winner of each of the first four episodes competing in the fifth "Grand Finale" episode for the top prize. Unlike previous tournaments, however, the 16 chefs involved were not split into "categories", but were sorted in what seems to be a more random fashion.[6] The winner was Anne Burrell who was playing for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Chopped Grill Masters

Starting July 22, 2012, and continuing for four additional episodes, Food Network aired the "Chopped Grill Masters" Tournament. Sixteen "pro" grillers competed. The winners of the first four episodes competed against each other in the "Grand Finale" for a $50,000 prize. The "Grill Masters" episodes were taped outdoors at Old Tucson Studios near Tucson, AZ. The winner was Ernest Servantes, Executive Chef at Texas Lutheran University and Pit Boss at Burnt Bean Company.[7]

In the summer of 2015, a second "Grill Masters" Tournament occurred, and was sponsored by Lea & Perrins. Like the previous "Grill Masters" Tournament, it was filmed on location and 16 "pro" grillers competed. The 4 preliminary heat winners advanced to the finals where they would compete for a $50,000 grand prize. The winner was Angie Mar. The second heat of this particular tournament marked the first time that Chopped used a brand name on a basket ingredient, which in this case was the Worcestershire sauce, possibly because the ingredient was a product of tournament sponsor Lea & Perrins.

Chopped Tournament Of Stars

During Season 19, Chopped held a 5-part "Tournament Of Stars". It was identical in format to the "All Stars" Tournaments, with 16 celebrities competing to win $50,000 for charity. The contestants were divided into 4 categorical groups for the first 4 episodes(sports stars, Rachael Vs. Guy finalists, comedians, and actors respectively). The winner was Michael Imperioli who donated his winnings to the Pure Land Project.

Chopped Ultimate Champions

During Season 21 was a 5-part "Ultimate Champions" Tournament featuring 16 returning champions(12 amateurs and 4 professional chefs) competing to win $50,000, plus a new car of the winners choice from Buick. Like most celebrity tournaments, the returning champions were divided into 4 categorical groups for the 1st 4 episodes(professionals, amateur champs, heroes, and celebrities respectively). The winner was Diana Sabater. The finale of this tournament also marked the 1st time that both civilian and celebrity contestants competed in the same episode.

Chopped Impossible

In the fall of 2015, Chopped aired a 4 part "Chopped Impossible" Tournament featuring 12 former champions competing to win a grand prize of up to $40,000. Each basket contained ingredient combinations that were more difficult than usual. In each of the 3 heats, 4 chefs competed and Restaurant Impossible host Robert Irvine served as a guest judge. The 3 finalists faced off in a 2 round finale: appetizer and entree, and the judges took both rounds into consideration when choosing the winner. The winner won a guaranteed $15,000 and competed in a "wild card" entree round against Robert Irvine for a chance to win an additional $25,000, bringing their total to $40,000. The winner was Emily Chapman, who managed to beat Robert Irvine and win the full $40,000.

Teen Tournament

In season 21, Chopped held a 5 part "Teen Tournament" featuring 16 teen chefs competing. The winners of each of the 4 heats advanced to the finale to compete for a grand prize of $65,000($25,000 for themselves plus a $40,000 culinary school scholarship). The other 3 finalists each received a $1,000 FoodNetwork.com gift certificate. 4 of the non winners from the tournament would return for a teen chef redemption episode in season 25.

In season 25, a second 5 part "Teen Tournament" was held. It was almost identical in format to the previous "Teen Tournament", with 16 teen chefs competing. The 4 winners from the preliminary rounds returned for the finale for a chance to win a $25,000 grand prize. The other 3 finalists each received a $1,000 FoodNetwork.com gift certificate, plus an authentic "Chopped" chefs coat.

Other Special Episodes

Chopped Amateurs features contestants who do not have professional training or schooling; most are self-taught. Celebrity episodes: four celebrities competing for charity. Some episodes have featured teens or children competing. Occasionally the prize is a scholarship to a culinary school. Losing contestants on these episodes often receive a consolation prize, typically a $1,000 shopping spree on foodnetwork.com. On one occurrence the prize was a $40,000 scholarship, the runner-up received a $20,000 scholarship while the other two contestants each received a $5,000 scholarship. Holiday themed episodes have also occurred featuring holiday inspired ingredients (such as a chocolate Santa on a Christmas episode or candy blood on a halloween show) and the contestants are asked to prepare holiday themed dishes. There were also several themed episodes with non-holiday themes. These themes were based on either: themed ingredients(e.g. spicy foods), world cuisines(e.g. Italian, Australian, New Orleans), chefs with the same background(notably redemption episodes featuring former contestants that got "chopped" in their first appearances), or a combination.

Judges

Judges Seasons
Specials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Alex Guarnaschelli ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Geoffrey Zakarian ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Marc Murphy ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Amanda Freitag ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Aarón Sanchez ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Chris Santos ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Scott Conant ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Jody Williams ♦ ♦ ♦
Sue Torres ♦ ♦
Josh Capon ♦
Mark Bittman ♦
Marcus Samuelsson ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Maneet Chauhan ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Ken Oringer ♦
Zakary Pelaccio ♦ ♦ ♦
Susan Feniger ♦
Seamus Mullen ♦ ♦
Sam Kass ♦ ♦
Missy Robbins ♦ ♦
Anne Burrell ♦
Elizabeth Karmel ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Alton Brown ♦
Giada De Laurentiis ♦
Bobby Flay ♦
Claudia Fleming ♦
Marco Canora ♦
Lee Anne Wong ♦ ♦
Jet Tila ♦
John Li ♦ ♦
Cheryl Barbara ♦
Ron Ben-Israel ♦
Joseph Brown ♦
Michelle Bernstein ♦ ♦
Hooni Kim ♦
Alex Stupak ♦ ♦ ♦
Bruno DiFabio ♦
Spike Mendelsohn ♦
Christina Tosi ♦ ♦ ♦
Adam Sobel ♦
Greg Koch ♦
Silvena Rowe ♦
Edi Frauneder ♦ ♦
Peter Oleyer ♦
Michael Chernow ♦
Andrew Zimmern ♦
Natasha Case ♦
Jeff Mauro ♦
Adam Moskowitz ♦
Ray Lampe ♦
Amy Mills ♦
Tim Love ♦
Roger Mooking ♦
Rocco DiSpirito ♦
Robert Irvine ♦
Johnny Iuzzini ♦
Christian Petroni ♦
Chris Cheung ♦
Eddie Jackson ♦
Tino Feliciano ♦
John Suley ♦
Nick Anderer ♦

Series overview

Season Episodes Premiere Finale
1 13 January 13, 2009 April 7, 2009
2 13 June 16, 2009 September 29, 2009
3 13 October 13, 2009 March 9, 2010
4 13 April 6, 2010 July 13, 2010
5 13 July 20, 2010 November 28, 2010
6 12 January 4, 2011 April 26, 2011
7 10 May 3, 2011 July 5, 2011
8 9 July 12, 2011 December 6, 2011
9 13 August 30, 2011 December 13, 2011
10 13 December 20, 2011 May 29, 2012
11 13 February 7, 2012 November 25, 2012
12 13 June 5, 2012 November 20, 2012
13 12 September 4, 2012 February 26, 2013
14 13 January 6, 2013 May 5, 2013
15 13 April 2, 2013 July 23, 2013
16 13 June 2, 2013 November 12, 2013
17 13 August 13, 2013 December 3, 2013
18 13 November 26, 2013 May 13, 2014
19 13 February 4, 2014 June 10, 2014
20 13 March 18, 2014 November 25, 2014
21 13 July 15, 2014 January 13, 2015
22 13 October 14, 2014 June 30, 2015
23 13 December 16, 2014 June 16, 2015
24 13 April 28, 2015 December 8, 2015
25 13 August 25, 2015 December 1, 2015
26 8 October 6, 2015 December 17, 2015
Junior 13 October 27, 2015 January 19, 2016
27 13 January 5, 2015 March 17, 2015
28 TBA March 29, 2015 TBA
Specials 15 July 22, 2012 TBA

Former contestants competing in other reality shows

Some of the contestants on Chopped would go on to appear in Fox's reality show Hell's Kitchen. William Lustberg, the runner up on the ninth episode of the first season of Chopped, was the runner up on season 9 of Hell's Kitchen. Roshni Mansukhani, the winner of the fourth episode of the second season of Chopped, was eliminated in the eighth episode of the tenth season of Hell's Kitchen. Jackie Baldassari, who was eliminated after the entrée in the tenth episode of the ninth season of Chopped, was eliminated in the ninth episode of the eleventh season of Hell's Kitchen. Finally, Anthony "Anton" Testino, who was eliminated after the appetizer in the tenth episode of the fifth season of Chopped, was eliminated in the fourteenth episode of the twelfth season of Hell's Kitchen. Some former contestants and judges from Chopped have also appeared on Beat Bobby Flay, as well as several former contestants appearing on Cutthroat Kitchen.[8]

Awards

International adaptations

Chopped Canada

Beginning January 2, 2014 Food Network also aired a Canadian version of Chopped called Chopped Canada, which features Canadian contestants and judges. That adaptation was originally hosted by Canadian born actor Dean McDermott for the first 2 seasons, and is now hosted by former CFL wide receiver Brad Smith. The rules are identical to the US counterpart as is the $10,000 prize.

Chopped South Africa

Beginning July 23, 2014, Food Network South Africa began airing a local adaptation of Chopped called Chopped South Africa.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bricker, Tierney; Mullins, Jenna (April 5, 2013). "Best TV You're Not Watching: Chopped on Food Network". eonline.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ Dave Zornow (2010-10-27). "Chop Till You Drop: Nyack Gourmet on Food Network". Nyack News. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  3. 1 2 Ekizian, John G. (April 3, 2012). "Beat the clock: Backstage secrets of chef-killer ‘Chopped’". nypost.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Ted Allen on His New Book, Crushing Chefs’ Dreams, and Chopped’s Lost Chihuahua". newyork.grubstreet.com. May 22, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ Dehnart, Andy (21 September 2010). "Chopped judge Amanda Freitag reveals judging secrets". Reality Blurred. Retrieved 2015-08-08. The judges deliberations are ‘incredibly long deliberations where none of us agree on anything,…. We really all have to be on the same page, and we really all feel strongly about that.’ In other words, decisions are unanimous.
  6. ↑ Photo gallery of the "Chopped All-Stars" Season 4 competitors
  7. ↑ Petty, Kathleen (December 2012). "Ernest Servantes". sanantoniomag.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Beat Bobby Flay Episodes". foodnetwork.com. Food Network. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Culinary Hall of Fame Induction
  10. ↑ "Chopped South Africa". Scripps Networks International (UK) Limited. 2014.

External links

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