mangoes as the theme. Senji Osada: A sous vide specialist, who Sakai bested with scallops as a theme. A vacuum machine was stalled on either side of Kitchen Stadium for the battle, and Osada used it for all of his dishes while Sakai also used it for two of his. Lee Myong-suk: A Royal Korean cuisine chef and the lone Korean challenger on the show, she went on to become an executive chef at the Culinary Institute of California. Chen was victorious in their battle with liver as the theme. Hironobu Tsujiguchi: A patissier who became the youngest champion of the World Cup of Desserts, he was the first and only challenger to win a dessert battle out of seven after he prevailed over Kobe with chocolate and bananas as the themes. Tetsutoshi Shimazu: An Italian chef and the first challenger specializing in pizza. Chen bested him with squid as the theme but worried during the battle as Shimazu was making his pizza that he himself might not have a dish that would beat it. Gillian Hirst: A chef from Brisbane who was the lone Australian challenger in the show's history. Nakamura bested her with ostrich as the theme by a single point. Takashi Mera (One win in two battles): A chef who used the longest knife in the country, almost twice the 8-inch average length used by other Japanese chefs. He lost to Michiba with tuna as the theme but was invited back for a rematch and bested Nakamura with wakame seaweed as the theme. Kiyotaka Ikegawa: A sumo rikishi known as Fuyoho who turned chef after an injury cut his sumo career short. Chen bested him with horsehair crab as the theme. Other female challengers include Fuyuko Kondō, Kandagawa protégée Yoshie Urabe, Yoshiko Takemasa, Katsuko Nanao, Kumiko Kobayashi, Miyoko Sakai and Chinese Cui Yufen Among the women listed above, only Cui won in her battle (coincidentally against Chen). Notable judges The result of a battle may be influenced by the lineup of judges, which changes from show to show. A list of some of the more notable judges, some of which were previous Iron Chefs or challengers, includes: These names are not in the traditional East Asian style [i.e. family name first] but have been written in standard western style [i.e. family name last], as they appeared on the English dub of the show. Akebono, Yokozuna Asako Kishi,