egwicht-03810 I have always enjoyed the show. Some judges are more to my taste than others, however Martha Stewart is a dreadful addition. Her comments are vague, banal, and unworthy when compared to the comments of the other judges. There does not appear to be any real understanding of the nuances of cooking

nikkiten1979 This would be an amazing show if the judges (maybe not all) judged not by the look or personality of a "chef", but by the dish served... the fact is that the judges have decided beforehand WHO their winner is going to be from the first dish - the rest is nitpicking to trick the viewer into believing that others put out an inferior dish.Another thing I don't like much about this show is lack of diversity... which is painfully lacking. Diversity in cuisines, chefs, etc. It's always the same types of food we see - same entrees, same types of appetizers, same types of desserts. Are these chefs foodies or are they looking for their own personal chefs to work in their kitchens at home?? The show as of late been very whited-out, definitely not enough people of other ethnicities (especially Black, Asian, or dark Hispanic) and if there are they VERY rareeeely win the show no matter how great a dish they present.

DKosty123 I give this show a solid rating though I have only become a recent viewer of this. I base it on the following-Ted Allen - the host, is perfect for this type of program.The contestants are real battlers.Foods chosen for this is creative.When the show finally had a "Beat Bobby Flay" Chopped episode, they came up with a field of 12 champs to try to beat him. They had a champs tourney to decide who would challenge him. While the concept was good here, they made one mistake in setting it up. The final episode only started with 3 people and Flay only had to face 1 champ in a final round. They should redo this tourney and have Flay face off with 3 former champs in all 3 courses and see if he can handle all 3 meal courses. This makes Flays victory in the tourney much like a rigged contest. It is much easier to win chopped when you only have to do 1 course. Granted the winner, just like on Flays own series, got to name what they had to make, but the difference between winning 1 course and winning all three is huge.Each regular show starts with an appetizer round, then an entree round, and then a desert round. Each round has a box of ingredients that must be used to make each course. Usually the box creates a challenge that forces the contestant to be creative.Then a panel of judges sample each dish and decides which dish should be chopped. Now if every dish is ever raw, there will be a commercial break where the judges all have to run to the water closet. Usually this does not happen, but then Ted Allen controls the proceedings quite strictly.The show is worth watching just to see how weird the food can be, and how strange the contestants and judges are. It is fun to find judges who like ostrich legs, and eel. Maybe some day the challenge will be to feature beauty mud in a dish. After all, women who use this stuff have been tasting it for years.

poetcomic1 I watched the first episode and I am still picking my jaw up off the floor. The contestants kept a constant self-pity party going through the whole show about how THEY must each win, they MUST or they will be DESTROYED. It was SICKENING.The premise of the show is to give each chef a box of bizarre and even revolting ingredients and force them to concoct a finished dish using those ingredients (which included such swill as grape jelly beans and sickening canned shrimp, okra and buttermilk (!) and to do it in a RIDICULOUSLY short amount of time. The great and truly creative chefs of the haute cuisine spend days mixing, changing and redoing elements of a dish to create something magical.... constantly changing, tasting, adjusting, tasting, Substituting this for that... and only once in awhile do they come up with a masterpiece. Some of the signature dishes of well known chefs have been through 40 or 50 versions before they are perfected. This show is a travesty and an insult because it does not even acknowledge the most fundamental aspects of true culinary art. I can count on ONE HAND the times I saw these 'chefs' even taste anything at all. The dishes these chefs were forced to come up with were so DEPRESSING.