If you are a Food Network fan (I’m a newbie myself) you might be into the addictive show called Chopped. In it, renowned chefs battle to beat one another—and the clock—by creating an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert out of specific ingredients they are all given in a short time frame. Some weird ingredients include peanut butter, cinnamon candies, sardines, and plenty of other curve balls. It’s a lot of fun to watch—and oddly addictive.
What would happen, I thought the other day during a commercial break, if other industries tried the Chopped formula? I think plenty of different areas could have some fun with the Chopped theme. Here are just ten of them.
10. Cops
Instead of the Cops show we all know and (don’t) love, this show features four cops as they rush to fulfill three different tasks. During the appetizer round, they must all run in circles and try to tase one another first; the main course involves chasing a fast suspect—first with a car, then on foot—and seeing who can yank him down first by his ankles. The dessert round, of course, would involve getting a map to the nearest donut shop and seeing who can not only get there first, but also A. get free donuts, B. eat them the fastest, and C. lie their way out of it to the chief with the best story.
9. Teachers
I majored in education and taught in both America and Spain, so I know what a grueling—and rewarding—gig it can be. For the first round, teachers will have to create a lesson plan based on a provided theme with provided resources—such as Ancient Greece with a basketball, some shoe laces, and a pencil. The second round will involve teaching the theme to 25 students and giving them a pop quiz to see how effective it was. The final round will include dealing with a very irate and uninvolved parent with no teeth in a conference without getting punched in the face.
8. Artists
Each round involves a medium, whether the artists are familiar (or like) them or not. One round might be oil pastels, while the other two could be sculpting or making sand art. Specific tools may also be included.
7. Writers
Round one is a poem of mystery type—it could be a limerick, diamante, haiku, or any other type of poem. Round II is a quick screenplay that has to be acted out, with its genre—comedy, drama, horror, romance, or action—provided right before the timer starts. Round III is a short story based on a prompt.
6. Clerks
Most of us have experienced either fast food, retail, or other clerk hell at some point in our lives. To get back at customers we loathed, bosses that stank, and pay that stank even worse, Clerks Chopped can be centered around Clerks a la Kevin Smith. Round I involves insulting as many customers (in a pool of 100) as one can, with points only counting if customers A. swear, B. leave, or C. become violent. Round II includes being as disgusting regarding a product as possible with whatever creative props (plunger, dog poo, butter) are given in a setting provided (restaurant, bathroom, checkout lane, etc.). Round III has each clerk compete to see who can get fired first by the same boss at the same time during a busy shift, where the boss can only fire one person.