Where to begin?
Ted Allen on The Alton Browncast:
There was a pilot made for Chopped that never aired – I have a copy of it – in which the concept was very different. The original Chopped was set in a mansion. The host of the show was the butler of the mansion, in a tuxedo. The host would hold a chihuahua. The contestants would pull up in limousines. And, each course, when somebody was chopped, their food was fed to the chihuahua.