Celebrity chefs reveal the best and worst parts of judging cooking-competition shows

• As part of the From the Judging Table series, Insider spoke to former and current judges from popular cooking-competition shows to find out the best and worst parts of the job.
• Judges said they enjoy getting to mentor competitors and inspire viewers at home.
• Some of the pros said they struggle with long filming days and eating a lot of food, which can make them physically ill.

Being a judge on cooking competitions like "Chopped" and "Top Chef" seems awesome — but the dreamy job has some highs and lows.

As part of the From the Judging Table series, Insider spoke to former and current judges from popular cooking shows about their job.

Read on to learn about some of the best and worst parts of being a cooking-show judge.

Some feel that mentoring other chefs is the best part of the job

As a former cooking-show competitor herself, Antonia Lofaso knows how impactful a judge's mentorship can be.

She said one of her most vivid memories as a competitor is being mentored by chef Susur Lee.

"I was making shrimp toast and he talked about my dish, giving me all these tips … ," she recalled. "We got into this banter and I was like, 'Oh my God. He's having a teaching moment with me during the judges' table and it's really incredible.'"

She told Insider that experiences like that made her want to be a better judge on shows like "Chopped," "Top Chef," and "Cutthroat Kitchen."

" ... I really wanted to set that standard for competitors, especially the next generation, the younger generation," Lofaso explained. "I like to find the things that don't seem as if they matter and point them out to show them how much they do matter."

Multiple chefs said they enjoy providing constructive feedback and boosting morale

Cat Cora, a renowned chef known for her time on "Iron Chef," told Insider she always tries to provide thoughtful feedback to competitors.

"I always feel for the person going home so I give constructive criticism," she said. "It's just never easy to deliver bad news to someone but I also know it will make them a better cook."

Damaris Phillips, judge on shows like "Guy's Grocery Games," said she also tries to give competitors a glimpse of the judging process by letting them know when decisions weren't unanimous.

"I always try to make sure the competitors know that it wasn't unanimous because when I'm competing and I know that the judges didn't all agree it makes me feel good because I feel like it was a little bit closer," Phillips added. "If it was two to one then I know at least one judge thought I won."

Some culinary pros love collaborating with fellow judges and learning from them

Carla Hall, host of the "Say Yes!" podcast and judge on Food Network's "Halloween Baking Championship," said she and her fellow judges often have a good time discussing the challenges and how they might approach them.

"I love that back and forth," Hall said. " ... A lot of that gets lost — I don't even think it makes it to camera — but we get super excited about that."

Hall said she also likes learning from her fellow judges. She told Insider she recently worked on a judging panel with celebrity chef Duff Goldman and she was "amazed."

" ... Because [Duff is] such a master cake decorator with Charm City Cakes, just to listen to him is a masterclass in and of itself and I forget that I am not the viewer," Hall said. " ... I just wish I had my phone on record every time he talks."

Some judges enjoy being able to positively impact how viewers approach food

Phillips said one of the best parts of being a judge is being able to inspire viewers to expand their culinary skills and try new things.

She said that being exposed to new and different styles of cooking on television can help viewers "want to be more curious with their palate."

"As many times as I say, 'I don't love mushrooms, but this is exceptional.' I would hope that it would make people interested in trying things," Phillips said.

"Understanding that even if you think you don't like something, you may have just had something that was improperly cooked," she added. "Like asparagus is super yucky when you overcook it. It's just torture. It tastes like sulfur and punishment all in one. But if it's done well it's beautiful."

Being a judge can also come with some glamorous perks

Phillips also told Insider that much of the judging experience is as fabulous as viewers would expect.

She said that judges are professionally styled and a crew ensures their skin is never shiny and their hair is never out of place.

"You go into hair and makeup and you look like a hot mess but you leave looking like the shiniest version of yourself," Phillips told Insider. "Somebody steams all of your clothes and picks you out things that make you look the most flattering and then you go and sit and eat people's food."

"Anybody who says there are parts of it that aren't glamorous are totally lying," she said. "It's the easiest job I've ever had."

On the other hand, multiple judges told Insider that the hardest part of the job is how much they're expected to eat

Even if the dishes are delicious, eating a lot of them in one day isn't ideal.

Lofaso told Insider that judges on cooking-competition shows can taste upwards of 12 to 15 different dishes a day, taking three to four bites of each. The restaurateur said this can be especially difficult when filming an entire season.

"It's always fun the first day when you're filming the first episode of a brand new season," Lofaso told Insider. "When you've been away on hiatus you're like, 'Woo I'm back!' And then by day four you're like, 'OK my pancreas is going to explode.' It's very taxing on your digestive system, that's all I can say."

Cora told Insider that eating so many combinations of flavors can be difficult, too.

"The stomachache (and beyond) can be very unglamorous," Cora told Insider. "After tasting so many different flavors — fatty foods, salt, sugar, acid ... it can be pretty gnarly."

Some chefs said that judging can impact their health and weight

"Chopped" judge and restaurateur Chris Santos, explained that weight gain is a common experience for beginner judges, but that he's learned to "eat just enough to properly judge the dish without finishing the plate."

In some cases, judges alter their daily routines when they're filming.

Goldman, a regular judge on "Holiday Baking Championship," told Insider that he "drinks green juice and does two hours of cardio every day while filming" to combat the amount of carbohydrates and sugar he consumes on set.

Multiple judges said that letting down hopeful chefs is the worst part of their job

Most of the judges Insider spoke with said that they know how heartbroken contestants can be when they don't win, so it makes letting them down extremely difficult.

Phillips, who previously competed on and won "The Next Food Network Star," told Insider that it's never easy disappointing people.

"If you really open yourself up to the competitors and connect with them and their stories like why they're there, what has gotten them to that point, and you know their hopes are resting on winning and they lose … it's horrible," she said. "It's the worst. It doesn't feel good for anybody in the room."

Chef Aarón Sánchez, longtime partner of the Cacique brand and a judge on shows like "MasterChef Junior" and "Chopped," agreed.

"I really hate when I have to tell someone that they've fallen short," he told Insider. "It's always a little heartbreaking, especially with the kids."

For some judges, the heavy responsibility of the job is the most difficult factor to wrestle with

Chef Maneet Chauhan, "Chopped" judge and author of "Chaat: The Best Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India," told Insider that she wishes viewers knew just how hard judging can be.

A win can greatly impact the career of a hopeful chef, she explained, and no matter how much the judges like a particular contestant, they have to choose the best dish.

"Judging is difficult! It's a very big responsibility," Chauhan said. "We make our decision on the final dish, not the people, which is hard to do."

As a cooking-competition show judge, you must be prepared for extremely long filming days

Cooking-competition shows may only be 30 minutes or an hour long, but the filming process can take the majority of a day to complete.

Multiple chefs told Insider that filming an episode of these competition shows can take 10 to 14 hours.

Richard Blais, a chef known for his time on "Top Chef" and "Guy's Grocery Games," explained that some clips even get cut down from an hour to just a few seconds.

"There's a lot of sitting around," he said. "There's tons of footage that gets shot that will never air."

He said judges often talk throughout the show while competitors are cooking, but a lot of that dialogue never airs.

Blais added, "So, there's just a whole hour of footage where the judges are talking about what's happening and it might get chopped up to be seven seconds per judge."

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