Viewers tuning into the Food Network may see a familiar face when a Bermudian chef faces the heat in a culinary game show next Tuesday.

Angelique Robinson, 32, will appear on the latest episode of Chopped and compete against three others chefs for a chance to win $10,000.

She said her time on the James Beard Award-winning show was an amazing experience and cemented the love she had for her career.

Ms Robinson said: “Yes, working in a kitchen has long hours. It’s really hard work and it’s very, very meticulous — but every once in a while, you get provided opportunities to showcase your talent, have fun, travel to other places and meet some really, really important and world-renowned people.

“I’m very fortunate in knowing that I chose the profession where I’m able to be a professional and also be very creative at the same time.”

Chopped pits chefs against each other in a three-round contest in which they must use four unusual ingredients in each dish.

The dishes, usually split into appetiser, entrée and desserts rounds, are sampled by a panel of judges who crown a winner.

Ms Robinson, who moved to the United States in 2016, said a producer for Chopped contacted her last year after scouting her Instagram page and offered her an opportunity to appear.

She added that, with every interview she passed, she edged out as many as 50 other contestants until she became one of four selected to join the show.

Ms Robinson is no stranger to cooking shows and previously appeared in another Food Network series, Guy’s Grocery Games, in 2020.

The show, similar to Chopped, pushed cooks to make appetising dishes with ingredients they selected — with the caveat of oddball challenges that range from playing games for food to trading entire shopping carts of goods.

Ms Robinson said that, while she was on Guy’s Grocery Games, she focused on making pastries and sweets.

“It’s funny,” she added. “I had to utilise a smoking gun for something sweet, which I did and I made smoked bacon jam or something on top of ricotta fritters.”

Ms Robinson was eventually crowned the winner and awarded $20,000.

She said her time on Guy’s Grocery Games taught her the importance of “TV magic” and how to put on a good show — all of which she took to her appearance on Chopped.

She explained: “All of my competitors were great chefs. There’s no doubt that all of us can cook. It’s about being thrown wrenches and producing a really good-quality show.

“If it was truly all about cooking, it would be more informational.

“I know this is about presenting a really fun personality, having fun with the judges, having fun with your competitors, understanding that yes, you’re here to play the game, but make it fun.”

However, she added that her time on Chopped was much more difficult than her first appearance because she was in a different mindset.

Ms Robinson explained: “Guy’s Grocery Games was filmed before I had my daughter, versus Chopped, where I was filming after my daughter.

“I don’t want to give anything away, but I just remember my head being 75 per cent there because the other 25 per cent was always thinking ‘I wonder if my daughter has woken up for breakfast’.”

Despite this, she said that she enjoyed getting to meet many talented chefs — some of whom she grew up watching on television.

Ms Robinson added: “That whole process was so fun and the competitors were amazing.

“Sometimes I felt like I had impostor syndrome because I was surrounded by really talented, really fun individuals but then I think ‘OK no, I deserve my flowers as well’.”

Ms Robinson runs Kuro Mama, a catering and pop-up venue in Charlotte, North Carolina, that specialises in Black American and Japanese fusion dishes.

She started the restaurant, whose name translates to “Black Mama” in Japanese, to showcase her shared experiences and interests in both cultures and styles of cooking.

Ms Robinson said: “I do visit Japan often and I just love the attention to nourishment without sacrificing quality and the unpretentiousness of how they present it.

“There’s just so many similarities to Black American culture in Japanese culture, like their utilisation of all parts of the ingredients they have available to them.”

Ms Robinson said she hoped to develop her “baby” in the future and explore different avenues of self-expression.

She added: “We are all born with a duty to express ourselves via our art styles.

“I always knew that I wanted to be a chef since I was, like, 3.”

• The newest episode of Chopped will air on April 28 at 10pm Bermuda time