Alex Guarnaschelli hosts “Supermarket Stakeout”

It has long been said: “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Chefs – professional and homemade alike– know the idiom well, but perhaps none have proven their ability to face the flames like Alex Guarnaschelli.

An Iron Chef, frequent "Chopped" judge and executive chef at Butter, her home-base restaurant in New York City, Guarnaschelli has somehow found room to add "TV host" to her resume, by taking the helm of not one, not two, but three Food Network shows that are featuring new content this month. Needless to say, April is a busy month for chef Alex Guarnaschelli.

First, our steadfast host got her hands dirty in “Alex vs. America,” with Season 3 having premiered Sunday, April 16. In each episode, including the one airing this Sunday (April 23), Guarnaschelli joins the competition, going up against three guest chefs who specialize in their given weekly theme. The competitors complete two rounds of cooking before offering their plates to a panel of blindfolded judges — Guarnaschelli's attempt included. A winner is named, and if the best plate belongs to a guest chef, then Guarnaschelli is bested, and the champion receives both a cash prize and ultimate bragging rights, having beaten one of Food Network's best at her own game.

Continuing her adventure across America, Guarnaschelli takes her talents to the road with “Supermarket Stakeout,” which returns to Food Network for a fifth season starting Tuesday, April 25. Guarnaschelli decorates supermarket parking lots with pop-up kitchens, giving four chefs each a $500 budget as they bargain with unsuspecting grocery shoppers for the ingredients necessary to complete their challenge, taken straight from the basket of a total stranger. Chefs ambush real-life customers, negotiating for grocery bags and whatever mystery items might be inside, then using what they find to cook full-fledged meals for weekly guest judges.

Guarnaschelli doesn’t stop there. From the frozen food aisle to authentic Italian cooking, Guarnaschelli is also taking her hosting prowess worldwide in “Ciao House," which debuted Sunday, April 16, alongside the season premiere of "Alex vs. America." A new episode airs this Sunday, April 23.

From America to Italia, Guarnaschelli is one host who is determined to get a taste of talent wherever she goes. Stay tuned in to Food Network to see what she cooks up next.