WYOMING – It’s called the Chopped Jr. Champions Championships. The Food Network’s hit show is inviting back all the previous winners of Chopped Junior—16 in all—for a final showdown to find a grand champion who will take home the title and $25,000.
Jackson’s Buck Milligan is one of those former winners who will return to compete for the ultimate kitchen recognition. Watch for him on a show that will air Tuesday, June 13 on the Food Network.
FN set the scene like this: “In the third preliminary battle, the youngest group of champions yet gets a delicate seafood and a tasty pork product in the appetizer round. Chocolates in disguise cause the junior chefs to do a double take when they open the entree basket. Then, coffee with dessert makes sense, but where will the competitors use chili flakes in their final sweet dishes?”
Buck is the son of Corey and Jessica Milligan of Jackson. He’s a fairly typical Wyoming 12-year-old. He plays soccer, lives for Nordic skiing, and…oh yeah…he’s pretty handy in the kitchen.
Corey, who owns New West KnifeWorks, cooks at home almost nightly, so that’s where Buck got the bug. At the Milligan home, Buck is dad’s sous chef, but it won’t be long before the kid star is ready to take the “executive” role.
Buck won his episode last year, preparing a “Thanksgiving” meal that wowed the three celebrity judges—Alex Guarnaschelli, Sandra Lee, and Laura Vitale. The show taped last spring and aired November 15, 2016.
