Season 12, Episode 3
"Chocolate Challenge"
Chopped Champion Christina Olivarez
Episode theme: chocolate
Original air date June 19, 2012
Image of chocolate-covered cherries; appetizer round ingredient.
Image by Fernando Villalobos from Pixabay
Meet the Chefs
Taryn Mumpower
Chef Taryn Mumpower is primarily known for her work in pastry. In the early 2010s, at the height of the cupcake craze, she partnered with a friend, Robyn Holt, to open an alcohol-infused cupcake business, Pick Your Poison Bake Shop. What started as a delivery-only operation selling to other Las Vegas businesses grew into a full-service “baketenders” experience where they served up vintage pin-up girl looks alongside their boozy, sweet confections. In addition to competing on Chopped, Mumpower appeared three times on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars in 2011, 2012, and 2013. She and the business relocated to Austin, TX, but sadly, Pick Your Poison permanently closed in 2014. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Richard Ingraham
Today, Chef Richard Ingraham is a highly successful personal chef who has worked with an impressive roster of celebrity clients and brands. Long before that, his first career was as a hairstylist, until he followed his passion for food and retrained in the culinary arts. In 2004, Chef Richard began a long-standing relationship working as a private chef for then-NBA player Dwayne Wade. He concentrated on combining sports nutrition and performance eating with the joy of good food. Chef Richard’s reputation developed as he built his brand cooking for dozens of athletes and entertainers. From those experiences, his network of private chefs, ChefRLI, was launched in 2010 with business partner Soley Gonzalez. In addition to competing on Chopped in 2012, Chef Ingraham is frequently seen on the culinary stage promoting partnerships with national brands such as Ciroc, Hormel, and GOYA Foods. Outside the kitchen, he's involved with community efforts around Miami, FL, to educate kids and families about healthy cooking and eating habits.
Zach Meloy
Despite finishing as the runner-up, Chef Zach Meloy parlayed his post-Chopped popularity and a crowdfunding campaign to open Better Half in 2013. It was a full-time version of PushStart Kitchen, which was a weekly underground supper club Meloy and his wife, Cristina, had been running out of a rented art studio space in Atlanta, GA. The restaurant had a successful five-year run, after which Chef Meloy moved on to a new entrepreneurial venture. Dirt Church melds his food artistry with the ceramic arts. In addition to selling his kiln creations, Chef Meloy offers private dinner services—full circle culinary experiences pairing his food with his handcrafted ceramic dinnerware. He also risked a return to reality competition cooking for an episode of Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay in 2019.
Christina Olivarez
After training at the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Christina Olivarez was recruited by MGM Resorts International to work in their Las Vegas restaurants. She spent roughly a decade rising from cook's helper to being a young executive chef at Diego restaurant inside the MGM Grand when she competed on Chopped. Since then, Chef Olivarez left the bright lights and demanding atmosphere for corporate culinary work where she develops natural sources of coloring for use in packaged foods.
Hungry for more?
Pick up a copy of Chef Richard Ingraham's cookbook Eating Well to Win: Inspired Living Through Inspired Cooking.
