Adored by the Network: Already as it's a natural companion to what's already dominating the Food Network prime time schedule, Chopped.
Cast the Expert: Rather than cast a random personality to run the show, they got Alton Brown to host the thing. As a result, he often gives commentary to the audience on what the contestants are doing correctly (or incorrectly) in a challenge, explaining the technical aspects in cooking particularly complicated dishes or how a competitor could still overcome a challenge that swaps out their standard ingredients for something more convoluted.
Colbert Bump: Alton Brown has made furious, ranting YouTube videos about the gadgets offered as sabotages. Despite the gadgets being expressly chosen to make cooking harder and results worse, sales shoot up after people see them on the program.
During the "Fruit Tart" round of "Judging the Judges," Geoffrey Zakarian says with a straight face to the judge that he loves fruit strips, and that they're underutilized. Antonia can't keep a straight face, and Alton must Face Palm to cover his own attempt which he can't fully hide either. The Webisode milks this for humor, as this footage was edited from broadcast, from Alton suggesting Geoffrey get an endorsement deal from it, and him thinking he'd get a fund together to put that on Geoffrey's tombstone.
During the judging portion of the first two rounds, Alton stands just behind the judge and often has to struggle to keep from laughing or makes silly faces when he hears the reactions to the chefs' dishes.
5. Replace all cooking implements with aluminum foil.
4. Swap all bowls for muffin tins.
3. Harvest cookie dough from cookie dough ice cream.
2. Replace all cooking implements with his childhood chemistry set.
1. Bendy straws as the sole method of moving liquid in a risotto challenge.
#EngineeredHashtag: In later seasons, when a contestant does something the showrunners expect will get discussed a lot on social media, a caption will suggest a hashtag for it.
In a more literal example, one chef was forced to attempt to make loaded hash browns on a pan shaped like a hashtag. She lost because of it.
Recycled Set: Camp Cutthroat was filmed at the exact same place as Fox's Utopia.
What Could Have Been: In one episode, where the dish was Chocolate Mousse, a sabotage would have been to replace a whisk with a moose's antlers. However, it was discovered that making the dish was literally impossible and no amount of kitchen skill or creative thinking could have changed that. As such, it was scrapped.
listing his top five favorite sabotages, which were: