Today's Entertainment

Ian Ziering, seen recently in "The Last Sharknado: It's About Time" on Syfy "Anything that comes from NBCUniversal (which owns Syfy)!" Rebecca Jarvis of "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" on ABC "Oh, the 'Real Housewives' (shows)!" Patrick Fabian of "Better Call Saul" on AMC "I just finished watching 'Nobodies' last night, which is now canceled, which I found hilarious." Anyone who has cooked professionally has the battle scars to prove it. The slicing of the thumb with the chopping knife. The scald marks on the forearm from spattered hot oil. For us mere mortals, it can be enough to send one to the emergency room. But for the professional chefs who are contestants on Food Network's Tuesday competition series "Chopped," it's more a case of suck it up and get on with it, for the show must go on, which is what a panel of the show's judges explained to a recent gathering of journalists in Beverly Hills, Calif. "Chefs are actually pretty hardcore people who cut themselves, burn themselves, and then they want right back in," explains Amanda Freitag. "They're almost like athletes." Freitag recalls the case of Harlem, N.Y., restaurateur Yoanna Magris, a contestant in 2010 who spilled boiling water on her legs in the entree round, leaving the judges and production crew shaken. But she was so determined to win the $10,000 grand prize that she refused to exit the competition. "Her goal to be there was to get this money to go visit her grandmother, who lived in France," Freitag says. "And we had to stop production. We took her away, and we were very responsible about taking care of people if they hurt themselves. And we didn't want her to come back in. "And she refused to stop," she continues. "She said, 'I do not want to stop. I want to continue to compete.' And so, we did what we could for her. You know, she was fine, and she went back in and competed. But she didn't win. ... We contributed to get her to France." The show does have a medic on hand in case accidents occur and that does help in getting competitors back into the kitchen. But no one wants to leave if they can help it. And that mental toughness, say the judges, is part and parcel of the makeup of a chef. "You burn, you cut, you go back in," says Freitag. "These are all professional chefs," fellow judge Marc Murphy adds. "We work around knives and hot liquids and frying oils every day from eight to 10, 12 hours a day in a kitchen, so we're used to having that safety angle." "We're a strange group of people," says judge Chris Santos, "where burn scars are a source of pride." Amanda Freitag BY GEORGE DICKIE Cuts, burns, scalds – it's all part of competing on Food Network's 'Chopped' Page 8 August 27 - September 2, 2018

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