14. You're not alone: the pros are also placing (figurative) bets on who will be the first to get chopped. "Well, like everybody else, we kind of pick our favorites as they walk in, and just [keep them] in the back of our minds," Allen noted to FN Dish. "But you can never really tell, and that's what's exciting about it. You never can tell, and even if someone has the best resume, that doesn't mean that they're going to get a basket that suits them or that's full of things that they're going to succeed with."
15. He does feel there's a winning recipe, though. While he doesn't discount the importance of training, "especially practicing what can you accomplish in 20 minutes, because 20 minutes flies by, 30 minutes flies by," he told FN Dish. "I think winners on Chopped are people who are very open-minded and who are quick at getting an idea and sticking to it, but also who are quick to go to plan B or plan C or plan D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O."
The key ingredient, he said, is flexibility. "You have to be able to adjust and regroup very quickly, so I would say [those are] the top things: Be open-minded, be able to come up with an idea very quickly, understand what you can cook inside of 20 or 30 minutes and be ready to change your plan if something goes terribly wrong," he said, "because chances are it will."
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