We have secured another interview with a judge from Food Network’s hit show, “Chopped.” Amanda Freitag, who is a frequent judge on the show, is one of the judges for the current round of “Chopped Champions,” which began last Tuesday. The show, which pits winners of the regular show from the past few seasons, continues tonight and the five-week event concludes September 28 with a finale of the previous four winners. Anyway, here is our chat with Amanda Freitag:

Premium Hollywood: So what did you notice about the level of skill from the chefs in the “Chopped Champions” round as opposed to just the show “Chopped?”

Amanda Freitag: I noticed that the food was much more complex and the flavors were at a higher level.

PH: I’ve seen and heard (and contributed to) criticism about the judges being too harsh on the show, though that seems to have changed recently. What’s your take on that in general?

AF: Well, I would say we are nothing of the Simon Cowell sort but we take cooking and serving food very seriously. We have all been doing this essentially as long as we have been chefs and it is just like the hiring process, we have to decide if we would want that cook to cook for us every day or in this case in the “Chopped” kitchen for the next round. I don’t think any of the judges have softened up, but I myself have learned what is good criticism compared to what is just useless berating, and I am not interested in that.

PH: Do you feel like your experience on “The Next Iron Chef” (last season) gives you a different perspective than some of the other judges for this competition, and if so, how?

AF: I think my experience on “The Next Iron Chef” gave me a different perspective all around. I know what it feels like to stand in front of that judges table with cotton mouth and my heart racing and second-guessing everything I have ever done up until this moment. Aaron (Sanchez) knows what that feels like because he competed in the first season of “The Next Iron Chef” and all the other judges with the exception of Chris Santos, have battled in kitchen stadium. It makes it even more suspenseful for me because I get right in there with those cooks and I am taking the ride with them as I watch them cook, because I am a cook at heart. But you will get no sympathy from me if you cook poorly! It is just unacceptable, I know good food can be produced under those conditions……I’ve done it!

PH: What is the one ingredient you’ve seen on “Chopped” that made you shake your head and wonder how the producers could be so vindictive to the chefs?

AF: I think rattlesnake really did it for me. I have never eaten it, never cooked with it and frankly was afraid of it!

PH: Who are your favorite judges to work with on the show and why?

AF: Now you are really starting trouble! I love them all, we have a lot of fun working together. It is rare in our industry that three chefs get to sit down uninterrupted for 12 hours and share our stories. We are a deliciously dysfunctional family of judges, we are all very different and that makes for some great TV!

“Chopped Champions” airs Tuesday nights at 10pm ET/PT/ 9pm CT
on Food Network

If you haven’t seen the show, let me give you a brief synopsis. Host Ted Allen (who is the show’s lone bright spot) introduces four chefs, who are usually restaurant owners, head chefs, or seasoned sous chefs, who will go head-to-head in a competition of three rounds. Each round, they are given a basket of mystery ingredients–ingredients that usually do not go together, maybe like duck breast, avocado, maple syrup and passion fruit. They have to create an appetizer, main course and dessert–but after each round, one contestant is “chopped,” or eliminated, until the dessert round pits the two remaining chefs, who square off for a $10,000 prize.

And if we didn’t have a reference point, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, at least to me. But even Bob Tuschman, Susie Fogelson and Bobby Flay of “The Next Food Network Star” are gentle to their contestants by comparison. And if you watch “Top Chef” or the awesome new “Top Chef Masters” on Bravo, the judges have the utmost respect for the chefs that are competing. But not on “Chopped.” It’s like they go out of their way to be vindictive. Alex is the most guilty here….she has these steely eyes that cut like a hot knife through (are you ready for the pun?) Butter (the name of her NYC restaurant if you missed the joke). And if a contestant dares to try and speak while she’s speaking, she cuts them off abruptly, saying, “you can speak when I’m finished!” like a fifth grade teacher reprimanding a student. But it’s not just her. If one of the contestants doesn’t plate their dish in time, undercooks or overcooks something, doesn’t use a key ingredient properly or leaves a bone or shell on the plate, or drops a spatula on the floor and wipes it off before continuing, the judges react as if someone just made fun of their mother, or kicked their dog.

Even if the dish looks like there is no way they can say something bad about it, Alex and her cohorts always find something bad to say….ALWAYS. To make matters worse, they sometimes let contestants slide for the wrong reasons, such as not watching the clock or serving undercooked chicken–when others may have clearly been more creative but added a bit too much jalapeno that made poor wittle Amanda Freitag reach for her water.

Look, I like the show and the concept of it. But can’t these judges lighten up a bit? Get the sneer off your faces, “Chopped” judges and producers, and just have fun with it. There is no good reason for you to be pissed off at the world, and if you continue to be so, we’re just not going to watch.