Chopped (2009-present)
Chopped is an American reality cooking game show created by Michael Krupat, Dave Noll, and Linda Lea. Ted Allen is the host. The series pits four chefs against each other in a competition for a $10,000 prize. The show premiered in 2009 and airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on the Food Network.
Chopped Sweets, a dessert-themed spin-off, premiered on February 3, 2020, with Scott Conant as the host. In each episode, four chefs compete in a three-round competition, attempting to incorporate unusual ingredient combinations into dishes that are later judged by a panel of three judges. The chefs are each given a basket containing four mystery ingredients at the start of each round (typically "Appetizer," "Entrée," and "Dessert," but with occasional exceptions) and are expected to create dishes that use all of them in some way. Although failure to use an ingredient does not result in automatic disqualification, judges do consider such omissions when making their decisions.
The ingredients are not frequently prepared together. In the episode "Yucca, Watermelon, Tortillas," for example, the Appetizer ingredients included watermelon, canned sardines, pepper jack cheese, and zucchini. Each chef has his or her own station for preparing and cooking food, as well as unlimited access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. A deep fryer, a blast chiller, and an ice cream machine are among the specialized tools and equipment available to the chefs in the kitchen.
Genre: Cooking show
Running time: 42 minutes
Production company: Notional
Original release: January 13, 2009 –present
IMDb rating: 7.5/10
