Duncan’s celebrity chef Dan Hudson will be a contestant on Chopped, a popular cooking competition show on the Food Network. His episode will air on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Hudson, who was one of the original owners of Hudson’s on First restaurant in Duncan, said the show was taped more than a year ago and he has to wait until it airs until he is permitted to tell if he was the victor of the four competing chefs on the episode, and the winner of the $10,000 prize.
He said he will be at Craig Street Brew Pub on Saturday to watch the show, which airs at 6 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. on the Food Network, and he is inviting all his friends and fans to watch it with him as well.
“I can’t say right now what the outcome of the cooking contest will be, or what I prepared for the show, so people will have to wait and see on Saturday,” Hudson said.
“All I can say is that it was a lot of fun competing on Chopped.”
It’s not Hudson’s first kick at being a celebrity chef.
He appeared on a season of Top Chef Canada three years ago and, although he didn’t win that cooking contest, he said he was successful in garnering a lot of exposure for Hudson’s on First.
Hudson said the same producers from Top Chef Canada also produce Chopped, so when the show was holding auditions for chefs in Vancouver, he decided to “give it a crack”.
“It was a simple, straightforward interview and no examples of my cooking were required, as they were for my audition to be on Top Chef Canada,” he said.
Hudson is currently working temporarily as a chef at the Malahat’s newly opened Villa Eyrie Resort.
He said he will soon begin work with Liz and Lance Steward, the owners of Duncan’s Craig Street Brew Pub, Just Jake’s restaurant and Jakes at the Lake, and part owners of the Red Arrow Brew Pub in Duncan.