Season 6
What happens in Vegas will be delicious. The sixth season of the food show returns with Top Chef: Las Vegas. The 17 new chef'testants take on Sin City this season to see if they have what it takes to become Top Chef.
Once again returning to the kitchen, cookbook author, actress and host Padma Lakshmi presides over the judge's table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, renowned culinary figure and chef/owner Craft Restaurants, and judges Gail Simmons of Food & Wine magazine and Toby Young, food critic and best-selling author of the book How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Some of the top names in food, movies and entertainment including Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Natalie Portman, Daniel Boulud, Penn & Teller, Hubert Keller, Laurent Tourondel, Tim Love, Michelle Bernstein, Tyler Florence, Charlie Palmer, Paul Bartolotta, Nigella Lawson and Jerome Bocuse will be featured this season on Top Chef: Las Vegas.
Top Chef offers a fascinating window into the competitive, pressure-filled environment of world-class cookery and the restaurant business at the highest level.
This season features 17 aspiring chefs who compete for their shot at culinary stardom and the chance to earn the prestigious title of "Top Chef."
Each episode holds two challenges for the chefs. The first is a quickfire test of their basic abilities and the second is a more involved elimination challenge designed to test the versatility and inventiveness of the chefs as they take on unique culinary trials such as working with unusual and exotic foods or catering for a range of demanding clients.
The challenges not only test their skills in the kitchen, but also uncover if they have the customer service, management and teamwork abilities required of a Top Chef.
The competing chefs live and breathe the high-pressure lifestyle that comes with being a master chef and each week someone is asked to "pack up their knives" and go home.
Season 6 Chefs
(See below for links to bios)
Ash Fulk, 29, from New York City (originally Pleasant Hill, California)
Ashley Merriman, 32, Seattle, Washington (originally Center Sandwich, New Hampshire)
Bryan Voltaggio, 33, from Urbana, Maryland (originally Frederick, Maryland)
Eli Kirshtein, 25, from Atlanta, Georgia
Eve Aronoff, 40, from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Hector Santiago, 41, from Atlanta, Georgia (originally San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Jennifer Carroll, 33, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jennifer Zavala, 31, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jesse Sandlin, 30, from Baltimore, Maryland
Kevin Gillespie, 26, from Atlanta, Georgia
Laurine Wickett Hope, 38, from San Francisco, California (originally Rochester, New York)
Mattin Noblia, 29, from San Francisco, California (originally Biarritz, France)
Michael Voltaggio, 30, from Pasadena, California (originally Frederick, Maryland)
Mike Isabella, 34, from Washington, D.C. (originally North Jersey)
Preeti Mistry, 33, from San Francisco, California
Robin Leventhal, 43, from Seattle, Washington (originally Sun Valley, Idaho)
Ron Duprat, 40, from Naples, Florida (originally Mare Rouge, Haiti)