Chopped Season 61: Episode Guide & Ratings

Four fearless chefs take on a wild Chopped tournament event with a major curveball: There's an auction before each round to determine each chef's fourth ingredient! The chefs could end up with major advantages or extreme challenges, resulting in an unpredictable competition. In this preliminary battle, things get interesting in the appetizer round when the chef who scores the most enviable auction item ends up struggling with a basic basket ingredient. Then, the pie filling in the entrée basket isn't exactly a treat, and in the dessert round, the tables turn on the chef who seems to have the edge after the auction. The winner of each of four preliminary competitions moves on to the tournament's grand finale, where someone will score a sizable cash prize and the coveted title of Chopped Grand Champion.

In this Name Your Price tournament, the chefs uncover just three items in their mystery baskets and must bid on their fourth ingredients in a live auction. In round one, a crowded fryer derails one chef's carefully timed plans. Then, in the entrée round auction, a bidding war breaks out over a premium ingredient. In the dessert round, one chef makes ambitious plans to make ice cream, but the judges are skeptical of the approach. Only one talented competitor will move on to the tournament's grand finale.

The chefs get only three items in each basket and must bid in a live auction for a fourth ingredient. In this preliminary competition, the chef who ends up with what seems like the least desirable auction item decides to double down on the level of difficulty by using an unusual technique and flavor. Will they make something great or just make a mess? The entrée round auction includes an unusual protein that gets big bids from more than one chef. Then, in the dessert round, when both competitors decide to bake something, they take on a high risk in hopes of a high reward. The winner advances to the tournament's finale to compete for the title of Chopped Grand Champion and an enormous cash prize!

Four new competitors are ready to commit to a tournament that stretches their strategic planning abilities as well as their cooking skills. Every basket has just three items, and a live auction determines what each chef scores as their fourth ingredient. In this preliminary battle, one chef spends a ton of money to secure a favorite ingredient for his appetizer dish, raising expectations that he should be able to ace the round. Will his dish deliver? The chefs open up the second basket to discover a weird burrito, and the most promising auction item seems to be some lovely mushrooms. Then, all eyes are on the last two competitors as they race to make desserts using a fruit, booze and some pastries from the basket, plus the two very different items from the auction. Only one chef will advance to the Name Your Price tournament grand finale!

Four champions enter the kitchen ready to name their price and fight for every edge as they try to repeat a win by defeating all others! In this high stakes finale, the chefs are given a larger sum of money to bid with, and the auction levels up as the items are revealed one at a time, so the champions have no idea how bad or good each sequential ingredient might be. In an extremely fierce first round, all of the ingredients that the chefs win at auction seem challenging in their own way, and the judges' expectations are sky-high for this group of exceptional chefs. Before the entrée round, one chef's heart seems set on winning the alligator heart at auction. Then, in the decisive dessert round, a clumpy reduction seems to reduce one chef's chances of victory. But after the judges discuss all three courses, who will be the grand champion and walk away with an extraordinary sum of money, and who will be the fifteenth chef of the tournament to be chopped?