STAGE TUBE: Geoffrey Zakarian Wins Food Network's NEXT IRON CHEF

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After an epic, eight-episode competition of culinary greats, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian was crowned winner in last night's action-packed finale of The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs. New York-based ZakarIan Went up against San Francisco Chef Elizabeth Falkner in the season's final holiday-themed showdown in Kitchen Stadium, where Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto joined the judging panel to determine who would join their elite culinary society. Zakarian's first Iron Chef America battle will air on Sunday, December 25th at 9pm ET/PT.

"Chef Zakarian's talent, skill and passion throughout this intense, all-star competition has been astounding to watch," said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Programming and Production, Food Network. "Geoffrey is the embodiment of what being an Iron Chef is all about - he pushes the limits of creativity and innovation with his food, and that will certainly make his upcoming battles great entertainment."

Zakarian, a master of Modern American cuisine, has presided over some of the country's top kitchens over the past 25 years. He opened two New York City restaurants, Town and Country, both of which received three stars from The New York Times. Currently, Geoffrey is Chef/ Partner at The Lambs Club and The National in New York City, the Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City and the newly opened Tudor House in Miami. Outside of his restaurant ventures, Zakarian's cookbook, Town/Country: 150 Recipes for Life Around the Table was widely acclaimed when released, and he has appeared on Chopped, Chopped All-Stars, Iron Chef America, Best Thing I Ever Ate and 24-Hour Restaurant Battle on Food Network.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs debuted on October 30th with a record season premiere, ranking 2nd for the night among ad-supported cable networks. The series has garnered 26.6 million total viewers P2+ to date, and is averaging +38% increase over last season. Hosted by Alton Brown, this unprecedented season featured all-star competitors Anne Burrell (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Worst Cooks in America); Michael Chiarello (Bottega Restaurant, Napa Valley, Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello); Elizabeth Falkner (Citizen Cake, San Francisco, Iron Chef America - challenger); Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter, The Darby, New York, Alex's Day Off, Chopped); Chuck Hughes (Garde Manger, Montreal, Chuck's Day Off); Robert Irvine (Robert Irvine's eat!, Hilton Head Island, Restaurant Impossible); Beau MacMillan (Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, Phoenix, Iron Chef America - challenger); Spike Mendelsohn (Good Stuff Eatery, Washington D.C., Iron Chef America - challenger) and Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster Harlem, New York, 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, Chopped). Original Next Iron Chef Michael Symon, esteemed food journalist Simon Majumdar and UK Iron Chef Judy Joo served as this season's judges.

Viewers can visit www.FoodNetwork.com/NIC for exclusive interviews with the winner and contestants, photo galleries from each episode and interactive content, including a fan vote on which eliminated chef from any season to date deserves a second chance to become The Next Iron Chef.

The Next Iron Chef is produced by Triage Entertainment in conjunction with Food Network and is based partially on the format Iron Chef owned by Fuji Television Network, Inc.

FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring and empowering through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine has tripled its rate base and delivers a circulation of 1.25 million. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24 hour networks in Great Britain, India, Asia and Africa. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com)

To view highlights from last night's final competition, click below!