Is 'Chopped' actual or pretend? Past contestants, as well as host Ted Allen, revealed what in point of fact is going on in the back of the scenes of the Food Network show.
For over a decade, the Food Network series Chopped has been putting cooks, each professional and novice, to the take a look at — throwing all varieties of random ingredients at them to see which of them can stand the heat of pageant.
But as any true fact TV fan is aware of, a display isn't as unique and unscripted as it seems. What’s real and fake about Chopped? A couple of former contestants served up some behind-the-scenes secrets and techniques.
Is 'Chopped' real?
According to previous members, the actual cooking aspects of the contest are as high-pressure as they appear. "I had never seen any of the basket ingredients beforehand, and they don’t give you any extra time to come up with ideas," two-time competitor, Michael Vignola, informed Tasting Table in 2016.
"As soon as you open the basket, the clock starts. I have no idea how I came up with the dishes I made. I just did it in the moment," he shared. "This show is real. There's no stop and go. It's very much like real kitchen life, and you have to just make it happen."
The chefs are also "being filmed from all sides," a element host Ted Allen expanded on when discussing the series with Vice in 2017.
"We have four camera operators right in front of each of the chefs," the Queer Eye alum defined, noting that manufacturers are all the time in search of memorable reaction pictures. In order to get those, Ted admitted that certain moments — equivalent to when contestants open their element baskets — are filmed more than as soon as.
Restaurant owner and multiple-time Chopped champion, Kathy Fang, advised Delish in 2016 that the large expose may be overrated on set for dramatic effect. "They really draw out the anticipation," she stated. "We were standing in front of the basket for about 15 minutes before we could open it. I was like, 'Are there any holes in the basket I can peek through?'"
Despite certain testimonials from precise participants, the show still has its skeptics. During Chopped's 3rd season, Food Network forcefully denied speculation that the festival could be rigged.
"Chopped is not fixed. We rely solely on the opinions of the three judges in each episode to eliminate contestants in each round and select a winner in the end," Allison Page, former senior vp of programming and construction, said at the time.
"Each judge will have their own opinions on the executions of the contestants' dishes, but they come to a consensus every time and agree on who will be eliminated," she added.
New York-based pastry chef, Linda Laestadius, publicly questioned the choices made in her 2010 episode after audience commented that her dish was once significantly better than fellow competitor John Sierp’s, who was selected to advance over her.
"I felt it was really weird. I'm not sure exactly what happened," she confessed to the New Times Broward-Palm Beach paper. "As far as I know, nothing's fixed, but we are not there when we are being judged, so I don't know if there is somebody influencing things."
John also spoke out about the controversy, telling the e-newsletter that a huge chew of the judges’ remarks were edited out to make it look like a tighter race. "I definitely don't think it's fixed," he shared. "They don't show A LOT of the happenings that go on."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfnsBur8eop6mdlGK%2Fpq3L