Stephanie Izard Becomes An Iron Chef

Photo - Twitter

Tonight on the season finale of Iron Chef Gauntlet, Stephanie Izard had to beat out Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay, and Michael Symon to become an Iron Chef.  She faced one chef in three separate secret ingredient battles and had to have a higher score than the three Iron Chefs combined.

In the first secret ingredient challenge, the secret ingredient was peppers and Stephanie Izard decided to go against Bobby Flay.  The second secret ingredient challenge was cheese and Chef Izard decided to go against Michael Symon.  The final secret ingredient challenge was tilefish and Chef Izard competed against Masaharu Morimoto.

Judges Anya Fernald and Ludo Lefebvre decided that Bobby Flay won the first challenge and Stephanie Izard won the second challenge.  She had a two point lead after two rounds, and ended up winning by a score of 90 to 87.  Stephanie Izard is now an Iron Chef.

There has not been any announcements about upcoming Iron Chef America episodes, but you would think if they had a competition to crown an Iron Chef, there will be new episodes produced.  Alton Brown hinted on Twitter that it would depend on the ratings for Iron Chef Gauntlet, but I guess we will see.

Iron Chef Gauntlet Winner - Will They Become An Iron Chef?

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Iron Chef Gauntlet, the remaining three chefs had to make a simple dish using just five ingredients in the Chairman's Challenge and in a twist, one contestant was eliminated after the testing.  The remaining two chefs went on to the secret ingredient challenge which was judged by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and Ching-He Huang.

Read on to see who was eliminated and who won Iron Chef Gauntlet:

Iron Chef Gauntlet Down To The Final Three

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Iron Chef Gauntlet, the remaining four chefs were assigned a classic one-two flavor combo in the Chairman's Challenge.  The winner of this challenge was Jason Dady and the loser was Shota Nakajima.  Chef Dady got to choose who would go up against Chef Nakajima in the secret ingredient challenge and he chose Stephanie Izard.

The secret ingredient in the final challenge was chicken.  Ali Bouzari and Cat Cora were the judges of the secret ingredient challenge and they decided that Chef Nakajima would be the chef eliminated.  Stephanie Izard won by a large margin on the scorecard with it being 33 to 24.

That leaves Jason Dady, Stephanie Izard, and Sarah Grueneberg as the final three chefs in Iron Chef Gauntlet.  Next week, there will be a double elimination and the winning chef will be the chef that has a chance to become an Iron Chef on May 21st.  They will compete against Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon in a three-round gauntlet where they will have to outscore the three chefs combined.

Food Network Related News and Links

Here is some recent news involving Food Network shows and chefs/personalities from the Food Network:

Photo - Food Network

• Trisha Yearwood has a line of products sold at Williams Sonoma that are pretty expensive.  There is a $17 cocktail mix and a $13 barbeque sauce. (Link)
• Former Bachelor and Worst Cooks: Celebrity Edition contestant Chris Soules was arrested after leaving the scene of a fatal crash. (Link)
• Food Network has ordered 26 new episodes of Giada De Laurentiis related programming with new seasons of Giada Entertains and Giada’s Holiday Handbook, as well as a new series Giada’s Summer Entertaining, which is a working title. (Link)
• Ayesha Curry is opening her first restaurant in San Francisco, CA. (Link)
• A new series Incredible Edible America with the Dunhams premieres Monday June 5th and will follow around comedian Jeff Dunham and his wife as they check out food place while he is on tour. (Link)
• Katie Lee's Cooking Channel show Beach Bites with Katie Lee is returning for another season and will begin on June 1st at 10pm ET. (Link)
• A new season of Bakers Vs. Fakers premieres on Wednesday May 24th at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network.  This season will have Lorraine Pascal as the host rather than Buddy Valastro. (Link)
• Ree Drummond is allowing people to come see The Lodge on Drummond Ranch, which is where her Food Network show is filmed.  It is only for select days and there is no charge. (Link)
• The man responsible for the murder of Food Network Star season 8 contestant Cristie Schoen Codd plead guilty and was sentenced to a minimum of 59.5 years and a maximum of 74.5 years in prison. (Link)