The Next Iron Chef

Mr. Y and I haven't watched The Next Iron Chef since the first season when Michael Symon won, but this season looks pretty intriguing because the cast consists of mostly familiar Food Network and Top Chef chefs.  (Note: Mr. Y provided a lot of the content below.)

Anne Burrell - former sous chef of Mario Batali and therefore familiar with the Iron Chef kitchen.  She has been hosting a few shows on the Food Network, including the competition show The Worst Cooks in America where she is undefeated, beating fellow The Next Iron Chef contestants Robert Irvine and Beau MacMillan.  She has also competed in Chopped All-Stars (beating Irvine again!), but getting knocked out in the Finals.
Michael Chiarello - former Food Network chef of Easy Entertaining, before returning back to Napa Valley and being a restaurant chef.  He competed in the first season of Top Chef Masters, placing 2nd (behind winner Rick Bayless).
Elizabeth Falkner - mainly known as a pastry chef, but did compete in the first season of Top Chef Masters, but never made it past the preliminary round. Mr. Y and I remember her best as the chef on Top Chef Masters that spontaneously whipped up chocolate chip cookies from scratch while waiting for the judges' decision.  She might be the dark horse.
Alex Guarnaschelli - judge on Chopped and Food Network Challenge, as well as host of a couple of Food Network shows.  She's also competed on Iron Chef America, but lost to Cat Cora.  Her restaurant Butter, in NYC, is awesome.
Chuck Hughes - Montreal-based chef and host of a show on Food Network Canada (that was then later ported to the Cooking Channel).  He's also competed on Iron Chef America and beat Bobby Flay.  His food looks pretty good, but never tried any of his recipes.
Robert Irvine - the infamous Dinner: Impossible chef who was fired for lying about his resume, then brought back because he was so popular on the show.  Totally abrasive, but used to working under time pressures.  He competed (and lost) on a special Iron Chef America where he was partnered with Tyler Florence against Paula Deen and Cat Cora.  He's also winless against fellow cheftestant Anne Burrell in both Chopped and The Worst Cooks in America.
Beau MacMillan - Don't know too much about him other than he owns a highly-regarded restaurant in Arizona and was the original co-host of The Worst Cooks in America (losing to co-host Anne Burrell).
Spike Mendelsohn - the infamous chef from Top Chef.  Seems a bit young for this group of chefs, but he's certainly a personality.  Plus, since he's now been through both Top Chef (Season 4) and Top Chef All-Stars, he's got as much as experience as anyone competing in a season-long cooking competition.
Marcus Samuelsson - won the second season of Top Chef Masters and is highly talented.  He's competed twice on Iron Chef (once on the very short-lived Iron Chef USA, where he lost to Alessandro Stratta and once on Iron Chef America, where he lost to Bobby Flay).  He has also been a judge on Chopped.
Geoffrey Zakarian - another Chopped judge.  I don't know if he's still cooking full time because my impression was that he's more of a businessman nowadays, but he can certainly cook as he did compete in Chopped All-Stars, losing to Aaron Sanchez in their preliminary round.

My early pick to win is Marcus Samuelsson.  He's very competitive, talented, and experienced.  If you can win Top Chef Masters, you can certainly win this competition.