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Mostly a tournament, barely a season.
Season 33 is mostly not the standard format at all — five of its eight episodes are a celebrity charity tournament, the biggest proportional departure this canon has seen, on top of the format's shortest episode count.
A rhythm worth tracking.
Eight episodes tie the format's shortest run, and five of them — the majority of the season — are a Star Power celebrity charity tournament rather than the standard mystery-basket hour. Only three episodes here run the format everyone knows this canon for. The locked basket and three-round structure hold in those hours, and Ted Allen hosts throughout, but this is the thinnest stretch of pure format the show has produced.
The #35 slot.
Slot #35 of 36 in the Chopped Editor's Canon. Season 33 ranks below Season 30 for compounding the same eight-episode shortfall with a second problem: most of the season isn't the standard format at all. Five of its eight hours are a Star Power celebrity charity tournament, leaving only three episodes that run the closed-door, mystery-basket premise this canon actually measures. That's the biggest proportional departure any season in this run has taken — bigger even than Season 2's four-episode Champions block relative to its full thirteen — and unlike those earlier swings, it isn't paired with a full-length season to balance it out. What's left, once the tournament is set aside, is barely enough format to judge. Only Season 26's compounded episode-count-and-overlap problem ranks lower.
4 moments, no spoilers.
- Star Power · the majority of the season
Five of the season's eight episodes are a celebrity charity tournament, more than half the total run. Watch how thin the standard mystery-basket format actually gets here.
- The three regulars · the format's remainder
Only three hours run the standard closed-door premise this season. Watch them as the season's real link back to the format everywhere else in this canon.
- Basket reveal · steady where it still appears
The four-ingredient rule holds in the episodes that use it, regardless of how few of them there are. Watch the reveal for that same steady constraint.
- Season close · overlapping Season 32
Season 33 premieres while Season 32 is still airing, and closes out in late May 2017. Watch this run as a short, crowded, and unusually tournament-heavy season.