Food Network
Audio By Carbonatix
Carrie Baird is heading into another round of TV cooking competitions. The former Top Chef Season 15 contestant and fan favorite in 2017 is among a dozen chefs competing in the new Food Network show Chopped Castaways, which premieres May 12.
This time, she’s trading in the Top Chef kitchen for far less tricked-out environs. The new show — billed as part Survivor, part Chopped — is set on a remote island where chefs will use primitive, open-fire cooking methods to create their meals, alongside makeshift kitchens with limited supplies and gear.
As if campfire cooking, the likelihood of harsh weather conditions, and the basic need to keep sand out of their meals weren’t enough, contestants will also face a variety of survival-based challenges in making their meals. Think archery, spearfishing, diving, and digging in sand to find or earn ingredients before facing open-fire cooking rounds. It’s all funneled through the long-running Chopped format, where chefs must create elevated dishes from mystery ingredients.
Sharp-eyed viewers of the short preview on the Food Network YouTube channel will notice such ingredients as scorpion, lighting fires with stone and flint, and what may or may not have been a snake.
And of course, what’s a reality show without the drama? Hosted by Ted Allen, and including judges like Maneet Chauhan, Marcus Samuelsson, and Gabe Bertaccini, each installment of the eight-episode series starts off with team-based competitions before shifting into individual battles as contestants compete for a $100,000 grand prize.
For Baird — of Fox & Hen and (formerly) Bar Dough fame — the appearance adds another national television credit to a career already familiar to food competition fans. She first gained a national following during Season 15 of Top Chef, where her quirky humor, vegetable-forward cooking, and “fancy toast” helped make her one of the season’s breakout personalities.
Since then, she has continued to represent Denver’s culinary scene on television, as a returning Top Chef judge, with a successful turn on Beat Bobby Flay, and also appearing on the local culinary education series Chef’n It.
Can the outdoor cooking skills she showcased during the Colorado setting of Top Chef translate to a beach environment? We know she can light a fire, but… sand? She finished in the top four during Top Chef. We’ll be tuning in to see how far she goes in Chopped.
Bar Dough is hosting a watch party tomorrow, with Baird attending and watching the show for the first time herself. The restaurant will be serving special dishes inspired by the series.
“Expect real reactions, unexpected moments, and a few surprises along the way,” says the Bar Dough reservation page. “This is not your typical watch party— this is a shared culinary experience where the story unfolds on screen and on your plate.”
Chopped Castaways premieres May 12 at 7 p.m. on Food Network, with episodes streaming the following day on HBO Max.
