Daniel Lipson, the founder of Elite Chef Maui, will appear on an upcoming episode of “Chopped” a reality TV food game show on the Food Network. Courtesy photo

A chef from Maui will be one of the competitors vying for $10,000 and bragging rights in an upcoming episode of the reality TV show “Chopped.”

Residents and guests on Maui might be familiar with the culinary creations of Daniel Lipson, who founded Elite Maui Chef, a small private dining company that offers intimate dinner service.

“Chopped” is a reality-based cooking television game show that pits chefs against each other as they compete for a chance to win $10,000 in front of a national audience.

The series debuted in 2009, and new episodes air at 2 p.m. every Tuesday on the Food Network.

For “Chopped,” the contestants face off in three rounds with surprise ingredients the chefs didn’t know they’d be working with prior to taping. A panel of accomplished chefs judges the contestants’ culinary creations, and those who survive the process of elimination move on to subsequent rounds until the last and final round decides who gets to take home the cash prize.

Lipson said he can’t reveal what happens in the upcoming episode, but he enjoyed the opportunity and got quite a bit out of it.

“It was a really fun experience,” he said. “The one thing I didn’t anticipate, there were some good critiques from the chefs even though it is a reality TV show. There was truly some good critiquing that I took to heart and I was able to implement to make my food better because it’s not every day you get to hear from people who are that qualified to judge your food.”

According to Lipson, the trick to advancing on “Chopped” is to use all the ingredients in the basket. He was also a little surprised by the demanding schedule over two days of taping after a long plane flight from Hawaii to New York.

“I really didn’t realize how intense that would be,” Lipson said of the two days of taping. “It was probably more intense for me than the cooking to be honest. … The cooking comes naturally, but then the filming part, you’re like, ‘Whoah, this is a whole different thing.’ You don’t really anticipate that when you’re getting ready to do the show.”

Still, Lipson said that the time change, the lack of sleep, the long flight and the two days of filming were well worth it.

“I am just really thankful that I had the opportunity to represent myself, my food, my family and Maui, and I hope I did a good job of that,” he said.