Ted Allen is host of the primetime Food Network series “Chopped”, which in May received two James Beard Awards—one for the show itself, the other for Ted as host. He also is a frequent contributor to Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” His latest cookbook, “In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks” came out in May 2012. Since 1997, he has been a contributing writer for Esquire. Previously, Ted was a judge on the first four seasons of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” and was the food and wine specialist on the groundbreaking Bravo series “Queer Eye,” which was nominated twice for an Emmy Award twice and took the prize in 2004. He is author of “The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes” and co-wrote the New York Times Best Seller “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five’s Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better.” Ted volunteers his time to several national and local charities. 2012 marks his fifth year as spokesperson for Dining Out For Life, an annual fundraiser held on the last Thursday in April in which more than 3,000 restaurants donate a portion of the day’s proceeds to local AIDS service organizations. He was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his Esquire feature on the little-known phenomenon of male breast cancer. Ted also writes for such publications as Bon Appétit, Epicurious and Food Network Magazine. Before joining Esquire, Ted was a senior editor and restaurant critic at Chicago magazine. Ted holds an M.A. in journalism from New York University, with an advanced certificate in the school’s Science and Environmental Reporting Program, and a B.A. in psychology from Purdue University.