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 23
No. of episodes 280 (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
Broadcast
Original channel Food Network
Original run January 13, 2009 – present
External links
Website

Chopped is an American reality based cooking television 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 their creativity, presentation, and taste with minimal time to plan and execute.[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 (usually four) ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain some of each ingredient in some way, and although forgetting an ingredient isn't an automatic disqualification, the judges will take such an occurrence 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.

The competitors are given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: twenty minutes for the Appetizer round (thirty minutes in some season one episodes), and thirty 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 poultry, e.g. turkeys, geese, or ducks; another gave the chefs fifty minutes in the dessert round). The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (one for each judge plus 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. Thus, by the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the 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 twelve hours to tape, with deliberations after each round taking about 90 minutes.[4] 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. 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.

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.

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", due to the popularity the first competition had. 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.

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. [5]

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.[6]

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. Chopped also ran a five episode celebrity tournament with the winner received $50,000 for their charity. Some episodes have featured teens or children competing. Occasionally the prize is a scholarship to a culinary school. Losing contestants on these epsidoes 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.

Judges

Judges Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
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 ♦
Bruno DiFabio ♦
Spike Mendelsohn ♦
Christina Tosi ♦ ♦
Adam Sobel ♦
Greg Koch ♦
Silvena Rowe ♦
Eddie Frauneder ♦
Alex Stupak ♦ ♦ ♦
Peter Oleyer ♦
Michael Chernov ♦
Andrew Zimmern ♦
Jeff Mauro ♦
Adam Moskowitz ♦

Series overview

Season Episodes Premiere Finale
1 13 January 13, 2009 April 7, 2009
2 13 June 14, 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 6 July 12, 2011 August 16, 2011
9 16 August 30, 2011 December 13, 2011
10 6 December 20, 2011 January 30, 2012
11 16 February 7, 2012 May 8, 2012
12 17 May 29, 2012 August 21, 2012
13 15 September 4, 2012 January 1, 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 February 23, 2014
19 13 February 4, 2014 May 6, 2014
20 13 March 18, 2014 November 25, 2014
21 13 July 15, 2014 January 13, 2015
22 TBA October 14, 2014 TBA
23 TBA December 16, 2014 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 eight 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.[7]

Awards

International Adaptations

Chopped Canada

Beginning January 2, 2014 Food network has also aired a Canadian adaptation of Chopped called Chopped Canada hosted by Canadian born actor Dean McDermott and featuring Canadian contestants and judges. 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.[9]

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. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ekizian, John G. (April 3, 2012). "Beat the clock: Backstage secrets of chef-killer ‘Chopped’". nypost.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "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. ↑ Photo gallery of the "Chopped All-Stars" Season 4 competitors
  6. ↑ Petty, Kathleen (December 2012). "Ernest Servantes". sanantoniomag.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Beat Bobby Flay Episodes". foodnetwork.com. Food Network. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  8. ↑ Culinary Hall of Fame Induction
  9. ↑ http://www.foodnetwork.co.za/chopped-south-africa. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links