A high energy, fast paced cooking competition that 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” by our panel of esteemed culinary luminaries until the last man or woman left standing claims victory.
The peaks and the valleys. Find the essential episodes — and the ones to skip.
With $10,000 at stake, there's a twist in the competition! The chefs learn that they will be required to fry something in every course. In the appetizer round, a brightly colored beverage and a stuffed pasta are part of the puzzle. A decadent finger food and a protein-packed shocker challenge the chefs in the entree basket, while a classic cookie and a wild sundae bring the fun to an exciting, frying dessert round.
The four competing chefs get budget baskets full of low-cost ingredients for every round, and they have to make basic foods burst with flavor. A box of fish sticks is the big catch in the first basket, and the second round involves a lesson in putting your best foot forward when cooking with chicken feet. Finally, cheap wine and a cake mix mingle in the last budget basket.
The chefs get fries and thighs in every basket, starting with a delicate protein paired with a newfangled starch in the appetizer basket. Bubble tea crashes the theme party in the second round, and the dessert basket features a fun, sugary twist on fries, but the chefs are challenged to make thigh meat work with dessert.
Former winners and runners up from Worst Cooks in America arrive at the Chopped Kitchen with something to prove. In the first round, the competitors do a nice job with their frog leg appetizers, but the second round has the remaining chefs struggling to cook steak correctly. Then, in the last round, the cooks rely on ready-made doughs from the pantry to help them with their cocoa powder and pear desserts.
Each point is an episode, plotted in order. Colored bands mark season boundaries. Look for the rise, the plateau, or the decline.
High votes + high rating = beloved classic. High votes + low rating = notorious stinker. Low votes + high rating = hidden gem.
One point per season. Smooths out the episode-to-episode noise to reveal the bigger arc.
Did each season build or fizzle? Green means the finale outscored the premiere. Red means the opposite. Longer arrows, bigger swings.
How steady is each season? Tightly clustered dots mean reliable quality. Scattered dots mean a wild ride.
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