Parents' Guide to Chopped Next Gen

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Common Sense Media Review

Marty Brown By Marty Brown , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 11+

Gen Z cooking competition has diverse cast, blood, swearing.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 11+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 7+

Based on 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

On each episode of CHOPPED NEXT GEN, four up-and-coming chefs compete to win $10,000. Each of the competitors has been chosen for their innovative or forward-thinking cooking. The competition consists of three rounds: an appetizer, entree, and dessert, each of which need to be made using four surprise ingredients, which could be anything from radishes to cotton candy pickles. A panel of guest judges decides which of the dishes are most and least successful, and one chef is eliminated from the competion after each round until one winner is left standing.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 3 ):
Kids say : Not yet rated

It's always thrilling to watch a chef scramble to make an appetizer using cotton candy pickles, beef tongue, and focaccia; the trouble here is the steady letdown after seeing the mystery ingredients. Any good episode of Chopped Next Gen is dependant on so many things going right: It needs compelling contestants who take risks and make stunning cuisine, which the judges react to in a fun and illuminating way. That just doesn't happen often enough to make Chopped and all its spinoffs anything more than comfort television. Instead it feels like a diminished version of other cooking competitions. It lacks the suspense of Iron Chefs creating ambitious meals in real time, doesn't spend enough time with contestants to really give viewers anyone to root for, and, on Chopped Next Gen specifically, doesn't go deep enough into what is innovative or exciting enough about the cuisine to make it feel truly next gen.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about innovation. Why is the show called "Next Gen"? How does it highlight innovation or forward-thinking? What are some examples of "next gen" food on the show?

  • Who were you rooting for? Why? What made that chef's cuisine unique and interesting? How did they do in the competition? Why did they succeed or not succeed?

  • What obstacles came up for the contestants during the competition? How did they deal with them? Which chefs were successful despite things going wrong? What can you learn from them?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by

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What to Watch Next

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