Allen gained great visibility in 2003 when he became a cast member of the television makeover series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", serving as its food and wine specialist. He continued to make television appearances as a gourmet, including as a frequent guest judge on Food Network's "Iron Chef America". Allen hosted a six-part documentary, "Uncorked: Wine Made Simple", on PBS starting May 7, 2007. Beginning June 13, 2007, Allen appeared as a regular judge on seasons 3 and 4 of Bravo's reality television program "Top Chef", following several guest judge appearances during the previous two seasons. In 2008, he left Bravo when Food Network offered him the host job on two shows: "Food Detectives", which debuted on July 29, 2008, and "Chopped", which launched a 13-episode season on January 13, 2009. "Detectives" returned for a second season of 13 episodes, also in January 2009. "Chopped" was renewed for 26 episodes and went back into production in March 2009 in New York. The show took off with viewers and was renewed for another 33 episodes, which shot in January and February 2010. Now one of the highest-rated prime time shows on the network, as of September 2016, "Chopped" has shot 450 episodes, and "Chopped Junior" has shot 52.