Chopped where is it filmed

Remembering the tiny details is a trademark of this culinary competition, so every location is painstakingly prepared for the chefs, all the way down to boiling water in advance to save the cooks time. So take a closer look at the set behind the scenes the next time you watch this high-speed competition, especially when they move beyond the Chopped kitchen.

Where Is Chopped Actually Filmed? Moving outside the Chopped kitchen Frederick M. While the Chopped studio in New York City has been the place where chefs either thrive or crack under the pressure for 47 seasons, Martha's version takes place somewhere else entirely.

The basket revealing, cooking, judging, and eliminating will all be done outside on Chopped: Martha Rules , to keep in line with safety precautions from the COVID pandemic. The 16 competitors, the judges, and the crew all joined Martha at a farm in picturesque Kennebunkport, ME which is reportedly one of her favorite places for the five-episode spin-off. The rustic location goes along well with Martha's brand, and it also matches the theme of the ingredients that the chefs will be tasked to use.

The location change isn't the only curveball that the chefs will have to deal with. Since Martha is fully in charge, she can order the contestants to switch plates or stations at any point, and she's also going to have control of the timer.

In each of the first four episodes, four chefs will compete in regular Chopped heats. I just did it in the moment," Vignola said. However, host Ted Allen told Vice in that they do sometimes have to film the chef's reactions multiple times to get the right shot. We're looking for, 'Oh my god, it's chicken in a can,'" he said, referencing a mystery ingredient. Another former "Chopped" contestant, Kathy Fang, told Delish in that the chefs can be standing in front of the mystery ingredient basket for up to 15 minutes before opening it to get these reaction shots.

Cooking in an unfamiliar environment can be challenging — but it's made a little easier when chefs can have some of their own tools. As former contestant John Lewis told the AV Club in , the producers allow contestants to bring their own set of knives. According to the Food Network, every "Chopped" contestant is allowed to bring up to seven of their own knives. Lewis also said that contestants receive instructions for operating the different equipment in the "Chopped" kitchen —like the ice cream machine — since they aren't allowed to bring their own.

In the same interview with Tasting Tables, Vignola said that the competition is completely real. They don't stop and start throughout the rounds to try to look for the perfect shots. Ever notice the scurrying chefs beating the clock to plate not three, but four platters of food? There are only three judges, so one might wonder why there's an extra plate. Apparently, when Allen unveils the losing dish from under the infamous silver cloche, he's unveiling the fourth plate. A watched pot doesn't boil, and that's especially true when you're on the clock.

That's why "Chopped" contestants get a little help from the producers by starting off the challenge with a boiling pot of water and an oven preheated to degrees Fahrenheit, according to Lewis. Sara Nahas-Hormi is the culinary producer of "Chopped," and according to Allen, she and her team go to great lengths to come up with challenging basket ideas that can really be turned into meals. It's hard work. And finding things we haven't already used is harder and harder.

In addition to planning out each basket, the team also produces a five-page document that gives background information on each ingredient for Allen and the judges, according to Design Sponge. Sometimes, the film crew have to retake and adjust camera angles to capture the expressions and faces of all of the contestants. They cannot do this once the boxes are open; otherwise, it would give the contestants an unfair amount of time to assess their ingredients.

While the competition in the form of other participating chefs has only gotten hotter, the Choppe d show has gotten a little easier for contestants. Previously, contestants weren't shown the pantry, which immediately put them onto the back foot and into a spin. Ingredients such as spices were sometimes hidden, often by other contestants.

Some of the ingredients in the pantry also used to be rationed to up the challenge even further. In more recent times, however, these measures have been discarded. Everything looks so shipshape in the Chopped kitchen, that it's easy to make the assumption that all the kitchen appliances and equipment are state of the art. While a lot of it may be, according to one contestant, surprisingly, the ovens in the Chopped kitchen aren't all that great—not terrible, he explained, but the kind of oven that one has to keep an eye on!

For other contestants, it can take a couple of years to get admitted to the competition. And what they're specifically looking for in a contestant isn't crystal clear, as it seems like it has to be a mixture of expertise and backstory!

Tension and drama generally make for good TV and keep people gripped on a show. All shows want lots of views, so in order to keep the watchers glued, the producers seem to design Chopped to be stressful for the contestants. Getting to know the setup and pantry arrangement from scratch, attempting to cook something good with the random and difficult ingredients of the mystery boxes, and cooking under such short time frames all combine to make for a high-cortisol situation for the contestants.

The number of TV cameras ready to film all mistakes, failures, and mishaps can also be stressful for contestants! This combination of stressors works in favor of the producers as they get to catch on film a lot more drama and emotion that otherwise wouldn't come out. One of the first things chefs will need to do when accepted onto Chopped is to sign their nondisclosure agreement.

Episodes are often filmed up to a year in advance, so it makes sense that The Food Network is worried that contestants could have more than enough time to leak the show info and ruin the suspense of the episode they featured on.

Game shows and competitions almost always raise the question of fairness. Is the competition designed in such a way that everybody gets an equal opportunity? Or is it rigged? And that's station placement! According to contestant Brooke Siem, station placement ties in to two key things: proximity to the pantry and proximity to the judges.

Proximity to the pantry can play a huge role when it comes to not having to waste time when getting additional ingredients. The further away you are, the more precious minutes will be wasted running back and forth. Proximity to the judges, however, can also be valuable.