Chopped Competitors (Fired Up!)

Age: 28
Personal Chef
Long Island, N.Y.

I'm originally from North Carolina and studied international politics with an interest in law school before I woke up one day and realized I needed to travel the world. I flew to China and found my way around by exploring the local eateries. I discovered I’m a great chef and decided to cook from one destination to the next. I traveled for seven years throughout Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, etc., doing scuba-diving tours and cooking to pay the bills. I found adventure and would figure out my next stop with a couple of beers and other travelers. I spent a lot of time in Honduras when I was 23 and opened a vegetarian restaurant and then a café with three tables — and expanded from there. I sold the place after nine months and moved on to my next project, a New York-style deli, also in Honduras. I'd only been to New York three times but thought the novelty would fly in such a remote place. I had 85 selections of meat and 100 cheeses and dairies. I opened a bistro and made fresh sandwiches and specialty soups. I had to scheme to keep the business afloat; for example, my business partner and I went to Miami, bought $10,000 worth of cheese and meat, put them it in a freezer and boarded a boat that nearly sank off the coast of Cuba. We spent 15 days on the water. It wasn't the smartest idea, but we ended up running the deli for 18 months. We sold our shares and headed to Thailand, where I opened a place called Naked Sushi, which featured beautiful models covered in raw fish. I invited people via Facebook, and this is how I met my boyfriend, Tom, the love of my life. We moved back to America recently. I find cooking is an adventure, like traveling; it's a never-ending opportunity to create something new. I'm fearless when I do both. I think my personality will fit Chopped perfectly because I'm vivacious and bubbly. I try to be the life of the party, and I love to entertain.

Age: 42
Executive Chef, Sugo Café
Long Island, N.Y.

From the age of eight to 22, I did clowning, magic and hypnosis, and I started a production company. I studied with a Ringling Brothers clown who taught me makeup. There was a troupe in the city and my grandmother would drive me in. Then I studied magic with a family friend and started performing at birthday parties, then corporate events and colleges. I also became a card sharp at 14, playing in clubs. In fact, the movie Rounders is based on me and a dozen other people — a compilation of us playing in underground clubs in New York. They'd have a kitchen to attract players, and as the games got bigger I would cook food everyone enjoyed. But the atmosphere could be dangerous. I always wore whites so I wouldn't get arrested. Scary is lying on the floor when people have rifles over your head, robbing the place. Cooking is not too much of a stretch for me because my father was a chef and had a couple of restaurants when I grew up in Queens, N.Y. Performing became rote, stale and boring for me, but cooking doesn’t have to be that way. It's fresh and different every night. You can have disasters and have to throw things away three times. I'm a chef at an upscale restaurant with an Italian-based menu. The owner gives me a lot of freedom. As a chef I'm versed in everything. I can get through a Korean and Chinese meal, and French and Italian are easy. I've cooked in South America, and I'm starting now to cook Indian food; it's so distinctive the way they treat spices. And they know how to work a vegetable better than anybody. The last few years I've studied a lot of Eastern philosophy. One concept is "mindfulness," which means being concentrated completely in whatever you're doing. After living the life I have, Ted Allen telling me to go home will not be frightening. Being on Chopped will only be fun.

Age: 25
Line Cook, Butter (Alex Guarnaschelli's restaurant)
NYC

I'm a line cook at a popular Manhattan restaurant. I normally work the hot and cold appetizers, and sometimes I migrate over to the hot line and cook the meat and fish and whatever else is available. I've been known to work the pasty; I'm a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. My mom didn't cook so we ate out all the time. I have no memories of our family at the table eating, but I do remember wanting to make the food at the restaurants. I grew up in Oklahoma and then moved to New York about five years ago to attend the Institute of Culinary Education. I did athletics most of my childhood and high school, and cooking was more like sports to me. I was on my feet, thinking, working, moving and busting my tail. And I heard that the girls dig chefs. It's not true, though. As a cook, I'm completely unafraid of failing. I'm in a nothing-to-lose scenario since I don't have a restaurant with my name on it. After a while you just kind of get this food disease where you want to perfect your craft. It's like going to the gym and seeing results so you keep going; cooking is the same way. I'm a beast when I'm cooking. Some days I'm calm and reserved because everything is ready, but when I'm behind I'm fast and furious. To be truthful, I'm not totally comfortable when it's slow. I love the pressure of "we need it now," and you can amaze yourself when you have no choice but to do it. If I had to describe my cooking style, it would be ingredient-focused seasonal food. I like to choose what I'm going to make based on one thing — and make that the star. If I were to open a restaurant right now, it would be labeled New American style with a heavy Italian influence. I love making pasta. I feel the Chopped challenge is suited to what I do every day, especially having to think quickly and redirect what I'm doing in an instant. I'm extremely competitive and come from an ambitious family. My mom is a doctor and went to Bryn Marr, and my dad works at Howard University. When it comes to the show, I like to say, "a man, a can, a plan." I'm confident that whatever they throw at me, I can make a really good dish. If I do win I'll go out to dinner somewhere I can finally afford.

Age: 45
Executive Chef on a Mega Yacht

I'm not a normal chef, and my occupation is not land-based. Every day is something different, in fact. I just spent a year in Costa Rica, and I lived on board the yacht 24/7. I have a house in Georgia but never go home. I just look out the galley window and see we're in a different port. It's always exciting. There's a creative edge thrown in because we can't get all the food products a chef would have in a normal kitchen. So I have to be resourceful when it comes to where I get our ingredients. When we're sailing, the galley is moving. I have to know how to balance, cook and please extremely wealthy people all at the same time. I work on a 120-foot mega yacht called Rebecca — we're talking 14 bathrooms. There is a Jacuzzi on top, and the yacht can sleep 10. There's 45,000 square feet of living space. It's privately owned, and seven people live on board full-time. My boss spends the year traveling, and sometimes he brings friends and family to vacation with him. My husband is the captain of the yacht. We've been all over Europe and the Panama San Blas Islands, where I hung out with Acuna Indians and had to charter food in. I first got into cooking when I was a waitress and met a sailor who was traveling around the world. I told him he was "having all the fun. You need to bring me along." He did. I tagged along and cooked for the crew, and I found I could sort of cook. From there, I worked from boat to boat, but it's a competitive industry and one of my bosses told me I couldn't call myself a chef without taking some culinary courses. I hate to be told I can't do something, so I went to school. I went to bed every night with a culinary textbook and got three certificates from the American Culinary Federation. I'm self-taught with professional certificates in savory and pastry.