Chopped/Awesome


 * Not every episode, but about once every other episode one of chefs will completely blow the judges away with one or more dishes.
 * On a few occasions, a contestant has managed to get past the appetizer round while completely forgetting to use one of the basket items. Can you imagine how good the food had to be to compensate for that?
 * In one case, a chef's dish was so good that the judges almost passed her to the next round despite her having only finished one out of four plates.
 * While she may have been chopped that episode, her dish was so good that she was invited to redeem herself on Chopped Redemption, faring much, much better than last time.
 * A female contestant slips in the kitchen during the second round, spilling a pan full of boiling hot water over her legs, getting some pretty serious burns. What does she do? She keeps going through not just the rest of the round, but all the way to the end, despite still being in pain.
 * On the third episode of season 9, third in a new Champions tournament, the contestants are given a tough basket, and one decides to risk making a cake. She just manages to get it done properly and plate it. After tasting it, judge Alex Guarnaschelli declares it might be the best dessert she's ever had on that show. Considering all the episodes she's been a judge in since the very first season, that's saying something.
 * Not only that, but the opponent opted to make churros dusted with cinammon, cocoa powder, and instant coffee. And Alex Guarnachelli also declares that churro the best thing she ever tasted! For Alex to declare two desserts in the same round to be the best dessert she's ever had on Chopped, those two contestants had to have been really skilled.
 * A definite case of And the Fandom Rejoiced and Ho Yay, many fans wanted to see Madison Cowan and Lance Nitahara work together in a new show. What wasn't expected was they were both featured on Iron Chef America as "Team Chopped" (along with Chopped judge Amanda Freitag) in Battle Kale opposite of Jose Garces. Three guesses as to the result of that battle, and the first two don't count.
 * Chef Natalia Machado, who won the episode she competed in (and made it to the dessert round in the first Chopped Champions tournament), goes on to compete in the show Sweet Genius, which has a similar premise to Chopped, but it focuses entirely on desserts. She proceeds to win that one as well.
 * Chef Jessica Mogardo, known for having achieved victory despite being very nervous to the point of almost crying and throwing up, also competes and wins in Sweet Genius, making her and Chef Natalia the only two chefs who've competed and won in both shows.