Cinnaminson Middle School Student Wins $10,000 on Food Network's 'Chopped'

An 11-year-old girl from Cinnaminson is the youngest champion in the history of the Food Network television show Chopped. Lily Nichols is also $10,000 richer.

“You don’t know how much this means to me right now,” Nichols told the judges after they told her she won. “I know my dad would be proud right now.”

Nichols, a student at Cinnaminson Middle School, applied to be on the show in hopes of being selected for the first ever Kids Chopped episode.

Her hope was to win and to be able to bring her father home. Jeffrey Nichols had suffered a traumatic brain injury after he fell off a ladder and hit his head on Sept. 29, 2013.

“Bringing home this news to my family is going to be awesome,” Nichols said. “Maybe give them a piece of little Lily sunshine.”

Nichols was among thousands of applicants. Following a phone interview and an in-person interview, Nichols was among four children selected to appear on the show.

She competed against three other kids her age in an episode titled “Short Order Cooks.” It was the first kids episode of the reality show that pits four chefs against each other for a shot at $10,000.

The contestants competed in three categories, including an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. Each contestant is given a box of the same mystery ingredients and given a set amount of time to make each dish.

After each round, she is eliminated, or “chopped.”

For her appetizer, she took ground beef, tomatoes, cotton candy and slider buns and turned it into “Mom-mom’s meatball slider with cotton candy coconut milk sauce.”

“I don’t know where you came from with this sauce,” Judge Scott Conant told her. “It is spectacular.”

She also impressed the judges with the way she used bread crumbs to transform her tomatoes. Each dish is served with a side of criticism, and in this case, she was told her meatballs needed more flavor.

For her main course, she made broccoli rabe and flatbread out of Broccoli Rabe, chicken tenders, sour gummy candy and baked pizza dough.

Her dessert was a ”Fresh and Fruity Trifle,” a parfait made using Banana pudding, vanilla ice cream, icing and brownie mix, along with blueberries and raspberries.

Throughout the competition, she was told her sophistication was “shocking,” and Judge Alex Guarnaschelli called her the “little engine that could.”

It wasn’t easy at all times. During preparation of her main course, she suffered a temporary setback when she cut her finger and she was criticized for not draining her broccoli rabe, but she didn’t give up.

“I wanted to prove I wanted this $10,000 and I want to do this when I grow up,” Nichols said during the competition. “I’m going to take risks and show the judges what I can do,” she said.

As each round went by and she survived the chopping block, she inched closer to her goal.

Finally, the 11-year-old stood alone before a group of food professionals, having earned their respect.

She also won the competition for the most important man in her life.

“It was me and my dad, we had this special bond,” she said during the show. “He’s the funniest guy ever. He does cartoon character impressions. He’s a goofy guy, but he can also be really serious. He’s a Math wizard. He brings me up when I’m having a bad day.”

Unfortunately, Nichols’ triumph was followed by tragedy.

Three days after the show was taped in April, her father succumbed to his injuries.

The episode aired Tuesday night. Nearly six months after the show was taped, Lily’s mother, Lisa Nichols, is proud of the way the strength her daughter has shown and her ability to put a positive spin on the situation.

“The airing of this show is bittersweet for her family,” Cinnaminson Superintendent of Schools Dr. Salvatore J. Illuzzi said in a message to the community before the show aired. “No matter what the outcome of the show, please help in congratulating her for being so courageous and resilient during the most tragic time of her life.”

The attached photo was provided by Lisa Nichols