Jamaican “Chopped” Champ returns for All-Stars

Fowles to compete alongside 16 previous Chopped winners

After winning our collective culinary hearts last February, Jamaican chef and Food Network’s “Chopped” champion Andre Fowles returns for another round in the “Chopped Champions” tournament.

Fowles will compete alongside 16 previous Chopped winners returning to battle in the five-part tournament, for a chance to win US$50,000 and the title of Chopped Grand Champion. He will appear in the first rounds, set to broadcast on Tuesday night, April 19^th. He will compete against Adam Sappington and Jackie Sappington, winners of the "Double Trouble" episode, and Silvia Baldini, winner of the “Fake Cake, Real Stakes” episode.

Fowles emerged victorious last February in the "Cooking Caribbean" episode of the popular culinary competition, winning bragging rights and $10,000 in prize money. It was a much-welcomed victory for the young chef, who now works as sous-chef at the popular high-end Jamaican restaurant in New York, Miss Lily’s. It’s also a dream come true for the chef, who was influenced by his grandmother to follow his dreams of becoming a chef. These dreams solidified as a student at Donald Quarrie high school in Kingston, his birthplace, and later at the Runaway Bay HEART Academy. He then later on trained at the Culinary Institute of America’s Professional Chef Program.

This success, however, is just the beginning, said Fowles in a recent interview with National Weekly. Though he still “has plenty experience to gain” before fulfilling his dream of becoming an executive chef and opening his own restaurant, Fowles say he still has his eyes on the prize.

“I’m still in the learning curve. I want to continue learning from the best,” said Fowles. “When I emerge as a head chef, I must be among the best.”