I was a fan of Ted Allen from the get-go; on Queer Eye, the food writer was the member of the quintet who seemed most to act like a person rather than a media-ready persona. (Or was that his persona? Discuss!) So I was disappointed to see him gone from the judging lineup of Top Chef this season. But Bravo’s loss is Food Network’s gain, as the gastro-channel announces in its lineup of new shows for early next year:
Passion and expertise rule the kitchen on the fast-paced new series, Chopped. Hosted by Ted Allen (Food Detectives), the series challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” until the last man or woman left standing claims victory. Each week, a rotating panel of culinary elite judges including Alex Guarnaschelli, Aaron Sanchez, and Geoffrey Zakarian will decide whose dishes shine the brightest and award the winner $10,000.
It sounds like a bigger-money variation on the old, low-budget Food Network pro-am game show Ready Set Cook! (one of the few TV shows I ever went out of my way to go to a taping of, before I was a TV critic). Does TV need another chef competition? Maybe not, but I do.