THE GAMES ARE AFOOT AS CULINARY MASTERS FACE OFF FOR FIRST-EVER "CHOPPED GOLD MEDAL GAMES"

Five-Part Tournament Premieres Tuesday, January 2nd at 10pm ET/PT on Food Network

Get Inspiration from the Mystery Basket Ingredients at FoodNetwork.com and New #InspiredBy Episode

NEW YORK - December 7, 2017 - Sixteen world-class chefs face off for the first-ever Chopped Gold Medal Games, premiering Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018 at 10pm ET/PT on Food Network. Over the five-part tournament, host Ted Allen challenges these elite competitors to create gold medal-worthy appetizers, entrées and desserts, utilizing the mystery basket of ingredients each round with a limited amount of time. A rotating panel of Chopped judges, including Scott Conant, Amanda Freitag, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy, Chris Santos, and Geoffrey Zakarian determine which four culinary contenders move on to the finale for a chance at winning the gold and walking away with $50,000. Let the games begin!

"Viewers will be amazed as these sixteen competitors flex their culinary muscles with challenging themes and ingredients that showcase their talent as well as their athleticism to deliver delectable dishes to the judges for a chance at supreme victory...and a $50,000 grand prize," said Courtney White, Senior Vice President Programming, Scripps Networks Interactive.

Through four preliminary heats, four new chefs compete each episode with one of the culinary themes they are experts in, including baking, grilling, frying, and racing the clock - which tests the chefs' speed under pressure, as they have five minutes less each round - to create their dishes and impress the judges for a shot at competing in the finale on Tuesday, January 30th at 10pm ET/PT. In the frying heat, four fry masters open their appetizer basket to see it packed with a fun fair treat, and a gamey meat. For the entrée round in the grilling heat, the chefs battle to prove why grilling is a winter "sport" worth cheering for, as they encounter a guilty-pleasure snack and a Korean side dish in the mystery basket. In the baking heat four fierce competitors must get creative with a grocery store breakfast dough and a lovely cut of lamb for the appetizer basket. And in a Chopped first, in the "racing the clock" heat, speed demons in the kitchen will have five minutes less than usual each round to create a phenomenal meal, despite being burdened with some extremely tedious prep work with such ingredients as wild watermelon and an expensive fish in the entrée round. Which chef's dishes will prove podium-worthy and earn them a spot in the finale for the chance to win the coveted gold medal and $50,000 grand prize?

Go behind the scenes of Chopped Gold Medal Games at FoodNetwork.com/Chopped. Discover photo and video highlights, relive top moments from the tournament, and get inspired by mystery basket ingredients. Join in on the conversation using #Chopped.

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FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households and draws over 46 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine's rate base has grown 13 times and is the #2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.9 million readers. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24-hour networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Scripps Networks Interactive (NASDAQ: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www,cookingchanneltv.com), HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com) and Great American Country (www.gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.