Chopped/YMMV

• Elimination Houdini: Jason Zukas and Lauren Gerrie. What's very ironic is that both of them made it to the dessert round of the finals in their respective Chopped Champions tournament before getting eliminated by someone who is just better than them.
  • Jason Zukas in the 1st Champions was because he was considered less skilled than the other contestants, but somehow has always managed to surprise the judges with his creations. Judge Alex Guarnaschelli being particularly fond of him helped him get to the finals.
  • Lauren Gerrie was in that one episode with Cornish hens. It can be argued that she didn't do spectacularly well enough to deserve to be in the Champions tournament. She barely escaped getting chopped in the appetizer round, both of her competitors royally messed up the Cornish hens in the entrée round, and her opponent during the dessert round served cherimoya seeds. However, in the 2nd Champions she Took a Level in Badass when she produced a cake which Alex Guarnaschelli declared "the best dessert she ever ate on the show."
• Dude, Not Funny: In one competition, Zacharian criticized a chef's use of red onions, and told him exactly why it was a bad idea. The chef proceeded to do the exact same thing with them in the second round, prompting some to wonder if he was actually insulting Zacharian. When Zacharian made mention of his hope that if the chef went on to the dessert round, he at least wouldn't use red onions there, the chef quipped "I was thinking a red onion jelly." The reactions of the judges' panel said they didn't find his smartassery amusing.
• Harsher in Hindsight: A rare meta example. Iron Chef Jose Garces competes on Chopped All-Stars, getting chopped in the appetizer round. The next week, he's on Iron Chef America competing against Chopped Grand Champion Madison Cowan and "Team Chopped" in Battle Kale. The result of that ICA battle, as well as the implications of it, makes that Chopped episode especially harsh on him.
  • An in-episode example. In the 2nd Redemption episode, Yohanne Margis spilled boiling water on her legs running with a pot full of potatoes in the entrée round. In the dessert round, one of the required ingredients was potatoes. Judge Geoffrey Zakarian commented that "Considering what happened last round, that's one really bad joke."
• Heartwarming Moment: During one of the Redemption specials, one chef was competing to see her ill grandmother after having lost the chance to do so during her first appearance. She kept going after falling and spilling boiling water on her legs, resulting in second-degree burns. She made an exceptional pan perdu in the desert round, but lost in a toss-up decision. The winning chef decided to buy her a ticket to see her grandmother with his winnings.
  • The "lunch lady" episode featured a chef nearly in tears because she felt her life's work had been validated by the judges.
• The Scrappy: Judge Alex Guarnaschelli is seen this way by a lot of people who view her as being kind of snobbish sometimes.
  • On Season 2 of Chopped All-Stars, Penny Davidi was just as much of an egomaniac as she was on Season 7 of The Next Food Network Star. Though she did acknowledge that she got a bad reputation as a result of NFNS, at the end of her appearance, hardly anyone agreed that she is any better than before even though she keeps saying in the Confession Cam "This is not who I am."
    • She bragged that Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelson "are intimidated by me," and when Symon gets eliminated on a technicality, she crows "The bragging rights! I beat an Iron Chef!" Uh, no, Penny, you didn't. He lost that round because he forgot to plate some okra, so unless you somehow mind-controlled him into not plating it, then no, you didn't "beat an Iron Chef." In the next round, however, Penny ends up being a victim of her own arrogance as usual...
    • Oh and the best part? When Penny gets eliminated because she put so much saffron that it tasted bad to the judges, and Judge Amanda Freitag delivers the decision, Penny whines to the Confession Cam: "Who's really the saffron expert? Me, or Amanda?!" She then vows that this won't stop her from conquering Food Network......
    • Not only that, but she made two major errors in that round: leaving bonito skin on the fish and putting too much saffron.
  • Alex Guarneschelli at least could be considered Rescued from the Scrappy Heap by Chopped: After Hours. Turns out when she's not focusing on trying to seem "professional" about judging or cooking, she actually has a personality and it's a helpful, cheerful one. Inverted with Aaron Sanchez, who actually comes off as much more annoying and grating when just being himself.
• Small Name, Big Ego: A lot of the chefs. A lot of them. A lot. Trying to list them all would sound more like an episode synopsis. It'd be easier to list some of the traits that they typically show off.
  • A smug assurance that their victory is literally guaranteed, and there is precisely 0% chance any of the other competitors can even offer anything like a challenge.
  • A disdain for certain ingredients, especially pre-prepared ones, disparagingly calling it words to the effect of "commoner food".
  • Introductions filled with long, long lists of the prestigious restaurants they've worked in and chefs they've worked with (read: for), as opposed to talking about, say, their food.
  • A tendency to argue with the judges, as if simply informing successful restaurant owners and veteran food competition judges that they should love the food was going to change their minds.
• Squick: Tossing a salad with an open wound.
  • In general, any violation of basic food safety (preparing food with an open wound, cross-contamination, and so on).
  • Somewhat regularly, at least one chef will react to a required ingredient in this fashion; see It Tastes Like Feet. Somewhat less frequently, one of the judges will also react to a required ingredient this way.
  • Sometimes the baskets seem geared towards this, although later seasons stepped away from this.
• Tear Jerker: The last few moments of both $50,000 Chopped Championship grand finales. Even the usually stone-faced judges were bawling.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Chef Katie Rosenhouse, a perky and likeable chef who competed in two episodes, went on to compete in Sweet Genius, where she was overly smug, would complain about mandatory ingredients and even rounds (stating she hated chocolate and working with it), and would incessantly whine about how much she wanted to win because she had lost on Chopped (though she did not use the name Chopped, but it was clear what competition she was talking about).
• Took a Level In Kindness: Chef Nate Appleman, who had been the resident asshole in his season of The Next Iron Chef, went on to compete in the first All-Stars tournament, where he was humble and courteous. And in the end, just like the ending of the Chopped Champions, the judges were bawling because his son (who was suffering from Kawasaki Disease, and thus was competing for Kawasaki Disease Foundation) came out and joined his father on the victory.
• True Art Is Incomprehensible: Some chefs pull a variation of this trope when asked why they cooked their dish a certain way or why it was plated that way. They will say something like "I thought this flavor with this flavor would work" or "This dish should be plated this way because X." When it doesn't work, the chefs look like they're pretentious, even if the judges don't say it outright.
  • One example: Chef Nate Appleman proceeds to do a pappardelle soup flavored with water ^[1]. When asked why he used water to make the soup, he responded "I like the taste of water." The judges proceed to criticize him saying that the pappardelle soup does not have flavor and it's way too starchy.
  • One chef literally pulls this card straight when she leaves gooseberries unopened on the judges' plates. Her justification?

"I want you to experience the feeling of opening the gooseberries. The feeling of touching the leaves and opening it. It is an art."

• • • The judges did not take too kindly to this. Heck, even Scott Conant got really mad and outright called that chef "pretentious." Needless to say, she got chopped because of it.
• Unfortunate Implications: Aarón Sanchez apparently thinking that Latino and Hispanic chefs aren't allowed to cook anything but Latino or Hispanic style dishes. Especially disgusting when he actually asked one of these competitors "Are you ashamed of your roots?" for daring to use Asian flavors. One wonders if he considers himself locked inside the same little "ethnic flavor" box he's trying to shove them into.

1. ↑ He used fresh pasta (required ingredient) and pureed it with water, adding no flavor to it.