50 Fun Facts About Chopped

Which lifestyle mogul became a Chopped judge in 2018 and supplied camel milk chocolate for a basket?

Martha Stewart was introduced as a new judge in the 2018 episode Million-Dollar Meals, built around luxury ingredients. She had already guest judged on Chopped Junior.

Which longtime Esquire magazine writer was the host of Chopped when the series began in 2009?

Ted Allen left Bravo in 2008 when Food Network offered him two hosting jobs at once, Chopped and Food Detectives. He had been a regular judge on Top Chef.

Which classic sitcom's grown-up kids judged two Chopped episodes, one themed on its Hawaii trip?

The Brady Bunch kids took the judges' seats three at a time in season 43, while home cooks tackled baskets inspired by the show and the 1970s.

How much does the winner take home on a regular Chopped episode, far less than tournaments pay?

$10,000 goes to the one chef who survives every round, while everyone who is chopped leaves with nothing. Tournament finales have paid five times as much or more.

Which pioneering TV chef inspired a 2023 Chopped tournament whose prize was a themed trip to France?

Julia Child's classic French dishes inspired every basket, such as a blooming onion standing in for her French onion soup. Sixteen chefs who knew her work competed.

Which Iron Chef did the last finalist face for $50,000 in a 2020 Chopped tournament of past winners?

Bobby Flay waited in the finale, which copied his own show: the surviving chef chose the dish, lobster ravioli, and fresh judges tasted both plates blind.

Which Chopped judge, chef of Harlem's Red Rooster, cooked the Obama presidency's first state dinner?

Marcus Samuelsson was guest chef for that November 2009 dinner, a year before Red Rooster opened. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, he later won a Chopped All-Stars tournament himself.

Which longtime Chopped judge joined Gordon Ramsay as a full-time judge on MasterChef in 2017?

Aarón Sánchez had judged Chopped since its first episode. His mother, restaurateur Zarela Martínez, sent him to New Orleans at 16 to spend a summer cooking for Paul Prudhomme.

In Chopped's unaired pilot, which dog breed was fed the losing dish each time a chef was eliminated?

A Chihuahua, held by the pilot's host, ate each chopped chef's plate. Food Network found that pilot "a little too weird" and kept only the cooking contest.

The host of Chopped first found TV fame as the food and wine expert on which Bravo makeover series?

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy cast him as its food and wine specialist in 2003, and the series won an Emmy the following year.

Which Chopped round usually gives chefs just 20 minutes to cook, ten fewer than the other two?

Appetizer comes first and is the shortest round, at 20 minutes against 30 for each of the others. Themed episodes sometimes stretch it when an ingredient needs longer.

Chopped's three judges critique each dish on presentation, taste and which third quality?

Creativity matters because the baskets are built from foods rarely cooked together, such as watermelon with canned sardines. Leaving one out counts against a chef.

Which Chopped judge, a cookbook editor's daughter, became executive chef of Butter in New York?

Alex Guarnaschelli grew up watching her mother, Maria, test recipes at home for the cookbooks she edited. She studied cooking in France before taking over at Butter, and later became an Iron Chef.

Which ingredient defined a 2021 Chopped streaming spin-off hosted by comedian Ron Funches?

Cannabis went into every dish of Chopped 420, and all five episodes arrived together on discovery+ on April 20, the date written 4/20.

What does the Chopped host lift at the judges' table to reveal the dish of the eliminated chef?

A cloche, the domed cover used in formal table service, hides the losing plate until the reveal. One judge then explains why that chef was chopped.

Which Restaurant: Impossible host judged Chopped: Impossible heats, then cooked against the winner?

Robert Irvine's 2015 tournament used baskets chosen to be harder than usual. Its champion won $15,000, then could add $25,000 by beating him in a wild-card entrée round.

Which Good Eats creator chose outrageous fan-suggested items for a 2021 Chopped tournament?

Alton Brown's five-part event was called Maniacal Baskets, with one outlandish item in each round. In the finale he surprised the chefs by doubling the prize to $50,000.

Which sitcom star, married to chef David Burtka, guest judged Chopped's 2020 diner-food episode?

Neil Patrick Harris joined the panel for Finer Diner Dining, where every basket held diner food that the chefs had to plate in an upscale way.

Which word does Chopped use for episodes where chefs who lost their first time return to try again?

Redemption episodes began in 2010 with Sweet Redemption, which brought back past runners-up. A later edition, Ultimate Redemption, reunited chefs who had lost tournament finals.

Which Indian-born Chopped judge won Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions in both 2021 and 2024?

Maneet Chauhan trained in Indian hotel kitchens and at the Culinary Institute of America, then became opening executive chef of Chicago's Vermilion at 27. Her own restaurant followed in Nashville.

Which Chopped judge, an economics graduate from Massachusetts, won The Next Iron Chef in 2011?

Geoffrey Zakarian beat Elizabeth Falkner in that finale. After finishing his economics degree he travelled to France, where he decided to become a chef instead.

Which Chopped judge opened the Italian restaurant Scarpetta and hosted 24 Hour Restaurant Battle?

Scott Conant began taking cooking classes at a community college at age 11. In 2013 he won the third Chopped All-Stars tournament and gave the $50,000 prize to the Keep Memory Alive Foundation.

Which Chopped judge from New Jersey co-hosted American Diner Revival with Ty Pennington?

Amanda Freitag was executive chef of Manhattan's Empire Diner when the makeover series began in 2015. On Iron Chef America she once lost a king crab battle by a single point, 49 to 50.

Which Chopped judge, a diplomat's son born in Milan, opened his first solo restaurant in Tribeca in 2004?

Marc Murphy lived in Milan, Paris, Rome, Genoa and Washington before he turned 12, which he calls an excellent education in French and Italian cooking.

Which Chopped judge opened New York's Stanton Social and founded a heavy metal record label in 2016?

Chris Santos got his first kitchen job at 13 in Bristol, Rhode Island. His label, Blacklight Media Records, was launched in partnership with Metal Blade Records.

Which Boston-based Chopped judge first found fame as runner-up on the debut season of Top Chef?

Tiffani Faison lost that 2006 final to Harold Dieterle. She went on to open Boston's Sweet Cheeks Q and, years later, to win a season of Tournament of Champions.

Which Worst Cooks in America host won Chopped's fourth All-Stars tournament and $75,000 for charity?

Anne Burrell was playing for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in 2015. She had fallen short in the first All-Stars tournament, finishing third in its finale.

Which Sopranos actor won Chopped's Tournament of Stars for a charity that builds schools in Tibet?

Michael Imperioli beat a field of athletes, comedians and fellow actors in 2014 and sent his $50,000 prize to the Pure Land Project.

Three Chopped plates go to the judges, so what is the fourth plate each chef must make called?

Beauty plate is the kitchen's term for the extra serving, which every chef has to finish alongside the judges' three before the clock runs out.

About how long does one Chopped episode take to tape, with each deliberation lasting 20 minutes?

12 hours of taping go into a single episode that runs about 42 minutes on air. Contestants get a tour of the kitchen beforehand, though the baskets stay secret.

How do the three Chopped judges reach each elimination decision in their lengthy deliberations?

By consensus is the rule, so all three must end up on the same page, even after deliberations that one judge has called incredibly long.

Chopped's unaired pilot was set in a mansion, where the host played what kind of household servant?

A butler, played by the narrator of VH1's The Fabulous Life, fronted the pilot. The network dropped the character but kept the premise as a more straightforward competition.

Which canned mystery ingredient is the Chopped host's favorite, for the sound it makes plopping out?

Whole chicken in a can is his pick, though he admits it is not because he loves the food. Away from the set he has written two cookbooks of his own.

Which tool turned up as a non-food surprise in a Chopped dessert basket, in an episode for firefighter chefs?

A blow torch sat in the dessert basket beside wafer sheets, pudding cups and lemon soda. Earlier in the episode the chefs had to set saganaki cheese alight with a lighter.

Chopped's first episode was named for three basket items: octopus, duck and which children's snack?

Animal crackers shared the dessert basket with prunes and cream cheese in January 2009. Season 1 episodes were simply titled with foods found in the baskets.

Which culinary body gave Chopped two 2012 awards, for its host and for best in-studio show?

James Beard Foundation medals went to the series as best show in a studio or fixed location and to its presenter as media personality. The Culinary Hall of Fame inducted Chopped that year too.

Besides the cash, what did the young winners of the spin-off Chopped Junior take home as a prize?

A chef's coat bearing the Chopped Junior name went to each winner. The series ran from 2015 to 2019 with the parent show's host in charge.

Which Canadian actor, then married to Tori Spelling, hosted the first two seasons of Chopped Canada?

Dean McDermott had won Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off before he began hosting in January 2014. A former Canadian football player, Brad Smith, took over for the last two seasons.

The first Chopped Grill Masters tournament left the studio for an outdoor film lot in which state?

Arizona's Old Tucson Studios hosted sixteen professional grillers in 2012, competing for $50,000. The next edition, three years later, moved to a farm in Queens, New York.

Which British-born chef won $50,000 in 2010 as the first Grand Champion in Chopped history?

Madison Cowan, born in Brixton, beat three other returning champions in the finale. He later won a battle on Iron Chef America with his Chopped runner-up assisting him.

Which Beatrice Inn chef won Chopped's 2015 Grill Masters tournament and later returned as a judge?

Angie Mar took the $50,000 prize a year before she bought the Beatrice Inn with her cousin. A New York Times critic who had given the restaurant zero stars awarded her version two.

Which chef won Chopped's first All-Stars tournament, giving $50,000 to Kawasaki disease research?

Nate Appleman chose that cause because his own son had suffered from the disease. He beat a 16-strong field that included Food Network stars and the show's own judges.

Which Gulf city's TV channel began airing an Arabic-language adaptation of Chopped in 2021?

Dubai TV launched its local edition on June 27, 2021, keeping the English name Chopped alongside an Arabic subtitle.

In Chopped's 2024 Legends tournament, heat winners joined a regular judge in the finale as what?

Sous chef was the reward for each heat winner, who cooked beside the judge who had invited them back. The judges themselves were the ones competing in that finale.

Which northeastern state hosted Chopped's outdoor Comfort Food Feud, where rain cut the power?

Maine was the setting for the 2020 tournament, built around bacon, burgers, mac and cheese and pizza. When the storm hit, the judges' discussion had to be filmed on phones.

How many chefs start a regular Chopped episode, each opening a basket of mystery ingredients?

Four chefs open every regular episode, each at their own station with a shared pantry and refrigerator. Only one of them leaves with any prize money.

Which bird won chefs 45 minutes rather than 30 in Chopped's holiday episode Season's Choppings?

Turkey needed the extra time to cook through properly, so the entrée clock was stretched. The same basket paired it with kale, rutabaga and marshmallows.

Along with $25,000, what did the winner of the first Chopped Teen Tournament receive?

A culinary scholarship worth $40,000 topped up the cash in season 21. In the two later teen tournaments the winners received the money alone.

Which country, alongside Canada, launched its own local version of Chopped on Food Network in 2014?

South Africa got its edition in July 2014, six months after the Canadian one began. The Canadian series lasted until 2017, when it was cancelled.

Which rapper cooked for the Jarez Music Foundation in Chopped's 2014 Tournament of Stars?

Coolio competed in a heat for alumni of Rachael vs. Guy alongside Penn Jillette, Lou Diamond Phillips and Carnie Wilson, who advanced to the finale.