CHOPPED: Behind the Scenes
As most of you are probably aware, I've made several appearances on Food Network's Chopped. I am truly grateful for those who have watched, and sent messages (via twitter and Facebook and blogs), and have
commented their support for me. Through the show I met some great competitors and still keep in touch with some of them. In this post I want to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked to me about being on the show. Let's go!
Is the show "real"? This is a layered answer but for all intents and purposes, yes, the competition is real. The chefs are talented and battling each other, some are battling their nerves, and we're all dealing with the pressure of working in a new kitchen on national television no less. With cameras in your space and rolling you have to adjust quickly and if you don't it usually means the chopping block!
How long do you have to prepare the dish? The clock on the show is in real time. It's difficult to visually see the clock depending on where you are in the kitchen but it's definitely ticking. I am a chef, and if you've watched the show you know, who depends on squeezing out every last second from that clock. On a few occasions the show's judge Amanda Freitag has expressed her nervousness that I won't plate in time. But, I always make it by just a hair!
Is the drama real? On the episodes I was in everyone comes to the show with their own unique personality and set of skills. The production team does a good job of selecting the chefs before we ever meet. Some people are very comfortable competing and being in front of the cameras, while others have some difficulty working against the clock, and calming their own nerves. When I am competing, I barely have time to look over my shoulder at others. I attribute some of my Chopped successes to my ability to stay focused on my own dish from start to finish.
Was it sabotage aka ice cream gate? In the episode Chopped: Tailgate Fate I was in the final round against Chef Michel from Miami and we both wanted ice cream to accompany our dessert. We spoke about this and he was kind enough to let me use the machine first. There is only one machine on set for a reason. It adds some drama especially if both competitors want to make an ice cream/sorbet. I threw my mix in the machine, closed it up, and I honestly thought I had turned the machine on. It only went to the chill setting. When I went back to check on the ice cream to my surprise it was not on the on position. I immediately turned it on and let Chef Michel know. Obviously, a lot of people speculated that I set it up that way to win. Even at that point I thought that Michel might still have time to get his mix in and finish on time. At any rate, what happened, happened.
Do the Chefs know the basket ingredients beforehand? No we don't. We wish! When we all first meet we try to figure out what kind of an episode it is by comparing our backgrounds, and from that we speculate what the ingredients might be but we never know and in my experience we've never been fortunate enough to guess correctly. Let's put it this way though, even if we guessed correctly we wouldn't waste time strategizing ingredients that we aren't certain will be included. So! The real action begins when we open the basket.
I hope this answers some of my fans and the shows fans questions. If I left anything out that you're dying to know, leave questions in the comment section below!
Cheers!
Chef Seis
