Toronto chefs will represent on the upcoming season of Chopped Canada

Fans of the tele-culinary arts know that Chopped, the popular U.S. cooking show, delivers the purest form of food-as-televised-blood-sport. There are no gratuitous gimmicks, no overblown personal dramas, and no preposterous challenges that have nothing to do with the plate. Today, Food Network Canada released some details about the soon-to-air Chopped Canada (not to be confused with the also soon-to-air Masterchef Canada), such as the premiere date—January 2—and the names of the 52 chefs who’ll be competing for the title. Nineteen of those 52 are Toronto-based, including The Beverley’s Eric Wood, Fabbrica sous-chef Missy Hui and La Société chef-de-cuisine Trevor Ritchie. They’ll be prepping dishes for celeb judges like Susur Lee and Lynn Crawford—who, based on the promo pic above, may have a smirk to rival U.S. judge Alex Guarnaschelli’s signature sneer. (We’re less confident about Canadian host Dean McDermott—a.k.a. Mr. Tori Spelling—and his ability to match Ted Allen’s natural gravitas.) Eager foodies can check out the full list of chefs on the Chopped Canada website.