It's a brand new season of dinner on the fly. Four chefs, three rounds, three boxes, three judges. All these threes will lead to 10 Gs.
 

Deborah Bicknese Brooklyn, NY chef/owner, Beast

Jacques Gautier Brooklyn, NY executive chef/owner, Palo Santo

Jodi Bernhard Boston head chef, Longwood Events

Anthony Paris New York City executive chef & father of two

You know the rules, and you know the lifelines. Let's meet the judges...

- Master of small plates, Chris Santos
- From Butter, Alex Guarnaschelli
- American cuisine expert Geoffrey Zakarian

Round 1: APPETIZER (20 minutes). Our first course must feature... red carrots, Chinese okra, potato knishes, and ocean perch.

Control room, give us 20... and begin!

Deborah: Knish Smash with Seared Perch
Jacques: Seared perch with Glazed Vegetables
Jodi: Seared Perch with Pickled Vegetables on a Deconstructed Knish
Anthony: Perch Escabeche with Crispy Potatoes

Ten minutes, and Jacques is still butchering his fish. Anthony is hiding a mandoline from Jodi. And with 20 seconds, Jacques doesn't have any fish on the plate.

And... TIME. And Jacques puts one fish on the plate after. That fish will not count.

Deborah's dish was a little creative, the fish is cooked perfectly, but the carrots are not evenly cooked.

Jacques... choked. It's a shame, because his vegetables and the knish were very good.

Jodi's skin wasn't crispy, but she paid attention to the vegetables. The pickle on the okra is good.

Anthony's escabeche isn't marinated, so technically, it isn't an escabeche. It tastes good, though.

Right now, it's not looking good for Jacques. A lot of interesting dishes, but nothing spectacular. But the point of this round is to make it to next. One of the players will not. The first person... to be chopped... is... Yep, JACQUES. He didn't do any justice to any of the ingredients presented.

Round 2: ENTREE (30 minutes). Next up for our surviving chefs are ... ground pork, sorghum molasses, cheese crackers, and mustard greens.

... and time starts now.

Deborah: Spicy Bacon Burger with Handcut Fries
Jodi: Pork Ragout with Mustard Greens
Anthony: Bahn Mi Sandwich

Jodi's also working on a pasta... that is not cooking. Anthony has a meatball... that is not cooking. And Deborah... perhaps may not be able to serve any food. She ends up cutting her pork on the burner and hoping something will happen.

And TIME. Deborah forgot her cheese cracker fricos. That could be trouble.

Jodi's ragout is served backwards, but the mustard greens are gritty. A ragout with pasta... great way to go.

Anthony misnames his dishes again, but the elements go well together. And Alex's meatball is not cooked all the way through.

Deborah's burger is very good, but her potatoes are flaccid and oily. The players agree to the frico addition, but it will not count.

The point of this round is to move up from the last. None of the chefs actually did, so it's going to be a tough round to call. There were a lot of time-management problems, an incomplete ragout, an incomplete burger, and an almost bahn mi.

The next person... to be chopped... is... DEBORAH. Her burger didn't come together. And the most creative item in the basket didn't make it onto the plate.

Round 3: DESSERT (30 minutes). It's heads-up on Chopped. Jody & Anthony have to turn puffed rice cereal, cognac, butterscotch candy, and pancetta into $10,000.

We're 30 from a champion... Let's go!

Jody: Pancetta Donuts with Chocolate Sauce
Anthony: Pancetta Ice Cream

Alex really thinks that it's a great basket, something that lends itself to a parfait. Both chefs are doing something ambitious, a donut and an ice cream. And both come out as planned.

And... TIME. This is going to be close.

Anthony's dish was more nervier and edgier than anything that he's ever done today. But there's one problem... the judges aren't getting pancetta.

The donut on Jodi's dessert has a lot going for it, but there's some separation on the sauce and some hardness on the donuts.

Both chefs were gutsy to finish, but this may come down to the overall meal. Anthony ALMOST had an escabeche and ALMOST had a bahn mi. Jodi came back from a disastrous starter round to make an upside down, inside out, and perfect pasta.

So who gets the money and who gets the chop?

The final chef... to be chopped... is...  JODI! Passion came through, but she had technical flaws that were hard to overlook.

So Anthony gets to pay back Uncle Sam for all of an hour's work to a tune of $10,000! Seriously, the money's going to pay back taxes. And then maybe a car.---

But who's next? Find out next week as another four chefs fight it out for $10,000 while avoiding being CHOPPED.

To see this episode in its entirety, or to apply to be a contestant on "Chopped", visit the official website at www.foodnetwork.com/chopped.