Ted Allen

Emmy Award winner Ted Allen is host of Food Network's primetime hit competition series "Chopped," which challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. The show was recognized in 2012 with two James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the restaurant and food-media world, winning one for best in-studio television program and the other for Ted's work as host.

Allen is also a frequent contributor to the network's show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," the ultimate guide to the country's most amazing meals, eats, and treats as told by food stars and chefs who spend their lives obsessing over food..from a barbecue sandwich worth driving over 1500 miles to cannoli so good that it completely healed a bad breakup.

Allen was a judge on the first four seasons of Bravo's "Top Chef" and Food Network's "Iron Chef America," and was the food and wine specialist on the groundbreaking Bravo series "Queer Eye." He is author of The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes, a collection of vibrant, all-natural dishes, and co-wrote the New York Times Best Seller Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better.

Since 1997, Allen has been a contributing editor to Esquire magazine, where he writes about food, wine, style and everything else the American man needs to know. He was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his Esquire feature on the little-known phenomenon of male breast cancer.

He also writes for such publications as Bon Appétit and Epicurious.com. Before joining Esquire, Ted was a senior editor and restaurant critic at Chicago magazine. He is the author of In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks.