''The Chopping Block'' is an Australian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series which began airing on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

on 6 February 2008. Produced by

Granada Productions ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...

, it was hosted by chef

Matt Moran Matthew Moran (born 15 May 1969) is an Australian chef and restaurateur also known for being a guest on various TV cooking shows. Early life Moran was raised on a dairy farm at Badgerys Creek, west of Sydney, before moving to the outer-west ...

Catriona Rowntree Catriona Rowntree (born 19 July 1971) is an Australian television presenter. Rowntree is currently a presenter on the Nine Network's '' Getaway'' program. Career Rowntree studied journalism at Macleay College in Sydney, after working as a re ...

co-hosted the show with Moran in its first season. It ran for two series of 8 episodes each.

Format

Each week two

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

restaurants were reviewed by a secret critic (

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

broadcaster and food critic Alan Saunders) and given A$5,000. With assistance from restaurateur Matt Moran, they were given 72 hours to use that money to overhaul their menu, service and décor in an effort to win both his and the critics' approval.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Ratings

The first episode of ''The Chopping Block'' had a disappointing debut, with only 718,000 viewers nationally, a low figure for its 7:30–8:30 timeslot. An uncut repeat of the first episode was aired the following night at 10:30pm, managing a reasonable 546,000 viewers for its timeslot. The second episode fared much better, managing 1,040,000 viewers nationally - nearly 300,000 more viewers than the first episode. Overall, ratings for the second series were generally higher than the first, and both series averaged 959,517 viewers across the year.

U.S. version

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and Granada America have picked up the rights to produce the series in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The U.S. version is hosted by

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

, and features a number of changes to the format, such as multiple contestants, an ongoing objective instead of self-contained episodes, and an emphasis on competition. The first episode premiered on 11 March 2009, but was canceled due to low ratings after three episodes. After a 3-month hiatus, 'Chopping Block' returned to complete its season.

References

External links

Official Website

List of competing restaurants
* Nine Network original programming 2000s Australian reality television series 2008 Australian television series debuts 2008 Australian television series endings Food reality television series Television series by ITV Studios {{food-tv-prog-stub