"IRON CHEF AMERICA" RETURNS TO FOOD NETWORK WITH CLASSIC FAN-FAVORITE FORMAT

Brand-New Kitchen Stadium Battles Begin Wednesday, May 16th at 9pm ET/PT

NEW YORK - April 5, 2018 - Iron Chef America is back with the franchise's classic fan-favorite format and a new ten-episode season beginning Wednesday, May 16th at 9pm ET/PT. Overseen by host Alton Brown, each standalone episode pits an up-and-coming chef competitor against an elite Iron Chef in a stunning secret ingredient battle of over-the-top edible greatness. Joining Alton and the Chairman (Marc Dacascos) this season is Chef Jet Tila, who will serve as floor reporter and, along with Alton, offer commentary on all the Kitchen Stadium action. Each week, two guest judges taste the extraordinary offerings and determine "whose cuisine reigns supreme," sending one chef into culinary infamy.

"Our audience wanted a return to classic Iron Chef America and we are thrilled to deliver just that," said Courtney White, Senior Vice President, Programming, Food Network, Cooking Channel and Travel Channel. "These epic culinary battles are fought against the backdrop of legendary Kitchen Stadium and have all the tradition, pomp and circumstance our viewers love."

In the season premiere, Chef Brittany Anderson, who is known as Richmond Virginia's schnitzel queen, hopes she doesn't leave Kitchen Stadium feeling blue after battling one of the Chairman's best: Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. Antonia Lofaso and Simon Majumdar serve as judges.

Viewers can head to Kitchen Stadium with Alton Brown and Jet Tila at FoodNetwork.com/IronChefAmerica. Jet demonstrates the essential skills every competitor should know before battle, while Alton puts viewer knowledge of secret ingredients to the test in a new quiz. Tell us your favorite Iron Chefs and battles on social media using #IronChefAmerica.

Iron Chef America is based on the format Iron Chef owned by Fuji Television Network, Inc.

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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 No. 2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.5 million readers. Food Network is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment whose portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.