The most seasoned competitors inTop Chefhistory will be back in the kitchen forthe hit Bravo show’s upcoming new all-stars season— but just because they’ve been there before, doesn’t mean they’ll know what to expect.
PEOPLE,Entertainment Weekly, andFood & Wine Magazineare exclusively premiering the trailer for the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning reality competition’s upcoming 17th season, which kicks off on March 19. And judging from the clip, the heat has been turned up this go-around on the fight for one of food’s most-coveted title.
“This season will be the most difficult season ofTopChef,” says season 6 runner-up Kevin Gillespie in the trailer.
Gillespie is one of15 frontrunners, finalists and fan favorite cheftestants from seasons past to return for the Los Angeles-set season.
Nearly all admit they’d never do this again, and most complain in the trailer about the “hard” obstacles are in their path to victory.
“Right now, the mistakes are going to be amplified, the cooking is going to be all really top notch,” says head judge Tom Colicchio, who is here again alongside hostPadma Lakshmiand judgeGail Simmons. “You don’t want to be the one walking out of here, second guessing.”
Bravo
But it’s not just the challenges that have been spiced up.
Producers have also gathered a starry list of celebrity judges to put on the pressure — from the biggest players in food, to Olympic legends, to A-list celebs like Ali Wong, Randall Park, Jon Favreau, and music maestro Gustavo Dudamel.
“I know a lot of these chefs from other seasons, so this is very enjoyable to me,” Favreau says.
“I’m going to want whatever that is,” Clarkson jokes, as the competition gets underway.
The cast ofTop ChefSeason 17 All-Stars: LA.Bravo
As if that weren’t enough,Top Chefwill also go to Europe for the first time—and the prizes have all gotten bigger and better, too.
The winner of this season will take home the largest cash prize inTop Chefhistory: $250,000.
Despite the increased level of difficulty, all seem ready to step up to the plate.
“The challenges are harder, the competition is harder, but I think that we’re all better,” season 13’s Karen Akunowicz says.
“Unless I break my leg off, I will be the nextTop Chef” — season 3’s Brian Malarkey says.
Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons.Smallz & Raskind/Bravo
Bravo first announced their plans for another all-star season ofTop Chefback in November atBravoCon.
The full cast list includes:
This is be the second timeTop Chefhas done an all-star season in the history of its show.
Back in 2010 for season 8, the show brought about it’s first all-star offering, with Richard Blais taking home the title. Since then, former cheftestants have returned in season 14 (in Charleston), season 15 (in Colorado) and season 16 (in Kentucky).
Top ChefSeason 17 All-Stars L.A. will premiere on Thursday, March 19 with a supersized episode airing (from 10 – 11:15 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
source: people.com
