Chopped Competitors: Pods, Grills and Sticky Fingers

Joseph Bayley
Age: 28
Sous Chef, Cobblestone Foods
Brooklyn, NY

I am a sous chef at a gourmet prepared food shop and caterer in Brooklyn, NY. My education is in formal, Western French cuisine and I apply it to all sorts of global cuisines. I've cooked on yachts and cruise ships and in foreign countries. I have an edge over the other contestants because I have a lot of experience with unpredictable ingredients. Often, I'll get to a boat and have to put together a menu with whatever is there. And I once had a job cooking for Nobel Prize winners at the South Pole and had to tweak recipes based on the barometric pressure and altitude that changed every day. I thrive in competitive environments and the worst thing that could happen to me would be to get kicked out the first.

Maristella Innocenti
Age: 42
Chef/Owner of Matilda
East Village, NYC

My cooking style is mostly my basic Tuscan cuisine. It's a simple cuisine based on good ingredients and good olive oil. I used to be a bartender in Florence. I have to give credit to my sister, she discovered my passion and I really love it. I have no school in my background. I'm pretty confident about this competition because I cook better under pressure.

Chef Name: Matthew Zappoli
Age: 30
Title/Job: Owner/Chef
Location: Tre Amici

I've been cooking for more than 15 yrs. I worked with Charlie Palmer and used to run his restaurant in Las Vegas. At the age of 24 I was the executive chef at a restaurant in Lajolla. I was one of youngest chefs ever invited to the James Beard house and was named one of the Top 5 Chefs to Watch in Bon Appetite Magazine and Rising Star Chef in Restaurant Hospitality Magazine. Now I am the Executive Chef and owner of Tre Amici Restaurantin Long Branch, New Jersey. We do traditional Italian mixed in with contemporary Italian. This show won't be much of a stretch for me because I trained at the Culinary Institute of America and we sometimes had to cook with "mystery baskets".

Moha Orchid
Age: 46
Former Chef/Owner of VENEZIA RESTAURANT
Lakewood, Ohio

I was born in Morocco, where my parents owned some farmland. I think my background and my love of farming inspired me to become a chef. My passion for food grew when I was a student in France and today I cook a mixture of Moroccan cuisine with classical French influence. I used to have a restaurant in NYC, but sadly it closed after 9/11, so I opened a new restaurant in Ohio and I must admit I miss the intensity of New York. I would like to show America what the real faces of American chefs look like – multi-national.