Younger fans of Alton Brown’s Iron Chef America might be surprised to learn that the popular cooking competition is actually a remake. The original Iron Chef aired on the Fuji Japanese Television network from 1993 to 1999, and it became a cultural phenomenon in the United States when episodes began airing in syndication on the Food Network. The competition took place in Kitchen Stadium, where competing chefs from high-end restaurants across the globe would come to challenge the Iron Chefs, the champions of their chosen field of cuisine who were hosted in Kitchen Stadium, who were also successful restaurateurs.
The theatrics of the show and the educational element made it incredibly popular, and it was referenced several times in pop culture like in episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, and there was even an Iron Chef drinking game that revolved around the show's many catchphrases. After 300 competitors and 20 years since the show’s end, this is where the stars of the original Japanese version ended up.
10 Chairman Kaga
The show was hosted by Chairman Kaga, a character played by famous Japanese actor Takeshi Kaga. Kaga’s eccentric presentation of the competition’s theme ingredient and his foppish and bright clothes were as fun to watch as the chefs cooking. Today Kaga continues to act and has starred in several Japanese shows and films as well as several plays.
9 Kenji Fukui
Fukui has been a television announcer for his entire career, but he is best known for his time as the play-by-play announcer of Iron Chef. Fukui continues to host today and now works on the show Tamori Japonica Logos. He is one of the longest-working hosts on the Fuji network.
8 Dr. Yukio Hattori
Hattori is a culinary and nutritional expert with a Ph.D. from Show University. He is the fifth president of the Hattori Nutritional College. Along with Fukui, he was one of the regular play-by-play announcers for the show. He also appeared on the show as a challenger chef in 2 episodes. In addition to his academics, he continues to do cooking shows like Yakitate Japan! Apron of Love, and Ai No Apron.
7 Shinichiro Onta
While Hattori and Fukui sat in the booth watching the play-by-play, Onta was the show's stadium side reporter, who would conduct the after-game interviews with chefs and help with the play-by-play, similar to a sports announcer. Onta is now a voice actor who has done multiple Japanese films and video games and provided the Japanese dubbing for several American-made films, most famously Walt Disney’s Pinnochio.
6 Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba
Rokusaburo Michiba was the first Iron Chef of Japanese Cuisine before retiring from the show around 1996. He continued to make appearances on the show occasionally as a guest and sometimes as a competitor or sponsor of competitors who were his apprentices. Already a successful restaurateur before the show, upon retirement he continued his work as a chef, and today, at 91 years of age, he continues to cook! He is also a renowned calligraphy artist, a popular art form in Japan.
5 Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi
The original Iron Chef show was very male-dominated, as one can tell, and for some reason when female competitors came on the show, Chen Kenichi was the one who was picked on (he lost more to women chefs than any other Iron Chef did). An expert in Shezuan cooking with the nickname the “Sichuan Sage”, Kenichi continues to run his numerous award-winning restaurants Shisen Haten, which have 10 locations throughout Japan, three of which are in Tokyo. A branch of his restaurant recently opened in Singapore and is now operated by his son. Out of every Iron Chef who ever worked on the show, he was the only one to remain with the show from its entire run.
4 Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto
When the original Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba retired, he took several months researching to find his perfect replacement. He decided the best fit was Masaharu Morimoto, who originally started as a sushi chef and worked his way to becoming the leader of fusion techniques in Japanese cuisine. Since the original Iron Chef, Morimoto has continued to run a network of very successful restaurants, including Morimoto Asiawhich opened at Walt Disney World, Florida, in 2015. Morimoto has also appeared in several other cooking shows, like Hell’s Kitchen and Top Chef. He is the only member of the original Iron Chef to continue as a regular on Iron Chef America.
3 Iron Chef French Yutaka Ishinabe
Although his tenure on the show was the shortest, Yutaka Ishinabe was still labeled an Honorary Iron Chef along with Michiba after doing just 8 battles for the series. Ishinabe allegedly left the show because the time constraints were too stressful for him, and he was not happy with the taster's reviews of his final battle, which he lost. After the show, Ishanabe turned his attention to his restaurant chain, Queen Alice, which operates in France, where he now lives.
2 Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai
Hiroyuki Sakai was Ishanabe’s replacement as the Iron Chef of French Cuisine and he remained with the show until the very end and appeared with Masaharu Morimoto on the debut of Iron Chef America. Sakai’s claim to fame was his combination of French recipes with Japanese cooking methods. In the final battles of the series, Sakai won the title of “King of the Iron Chefs,” defeating all of his fellow cast members in the series finale. He continues to run his several restaurants and has appeared on Iron Chef Thailand and Masterchef Australia as a guest judge.
1 Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe
Kobe was the last chef to join the show and the youngest. He was the only Iron Chef of Italian cuisine the show ever had, and his addition always seemed to have been awkwardly handled by the show’s producers, almost as if they realized “wait a minute, this show has been on for 7 seven seasons, and we don’t have anyone doing Italian food!” Therefore, he was the Iron Chef who was challenged the least. Sadly, despite being the youngest he is the first member of the show to pass away. He died at the age of 49 due to injuries he received from a fall at one of his restaurants.
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