Top Chef is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006.
The chefs live in a provided apartment, house, or hotel during the season, with limited access to outside communication.
To emphasize the culture and environment of Season 6's Las Vegas setting, the show introduced "High-stakes Quickfire Challenges," which feature extravagant rewards, usually a large cash prize upwards of US$10,000.
Teams may be selected by the remaining chefs, but are more often determined by a random process such as "drawing knives" from a knife block.
The top individuals or teams are called in and may be asked questions about their dishes or preparation before they are notified of their placement.
This is usually followed by a knife-packing sequence for the eliminated chef(s), with a voice-over of their final thoughts about their performance, at the close of the episode.
Midway through each season, the contestants participate in a "Restaurant Wars" (or similarly named) Elimination Challenge.
In these teams, the chefs must transform an empty space into a functioning pop-up restaurant within a set time limit and budget, selecting and creating the name, theme, décor, and menu.
Typically, one team member is designated the role of executive chef, who is responsible for managing the kitchen and expediting food, while another team member is designated as front of house, who is responsible for training the waitstaff and managing the dining room.
The series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media — Multiplatform Storytelling in 2013, and has been nominated five times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series.
The series debuted on June 10, 2009, with contestants including Rick Bayless, John Besh, Michael Chiarello, Wylie Dufresne, Jonathan Waxman and Hubert Keller.
During its first two seasons, food journalist Kelly Choi hosted the show, while restaurant critic Gael Greene, culinary expert and Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland, and food critic Jay Rayner served as judges.
Life After Top Chef is a spin-off featuring former Top Chef contestants Richard Blais, Jennifer Carroll, Spike Mendelsohn, and Fabio Viviani, which focuses on various aspects of their lives, from managing and opening a restaurant to dealing with family dynamics and personal issues.
[12] Top Chef Estrellas is a Spanish-language spin-off featuring Hispanic celebrities competing to win $100,000 for their charity of choice.
[13] It was hosted by actress Aylín Mújica and judged by chefs Lorena Garcia, Jaime Martín Del Campo, and Ramiro Arvizu.
[15] Top Chef Junior is a spin-off series originally ordered in 2008 for an eight-episode run on Bravo.
However, nine years later, Top Chef Junior was mentioned as part of the initial lineup for Universal Kids, an NBCUniversal-owned children's channel launched on September 9, 2017.
[24] It is hosted by singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor with Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelsson serving as head judge.
[26] It is hosted by actress Carmen Villalobos and judged by chefs Antonio de Livier, Adria Marina Montaño and Juan Manuel Barrientos.
[26] Top Chef University is a comprehensive online culinary school involving 12 courses and over 200 in-depth video lessons.
[29] On March 20, 2008, Chronicle Books released Top Chef: The Cookbook, with a foreword by Tom Colicchio.
[30] On September 30, 2009, Chronicle Books released Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook, with a foreword by Padma Lakshmi.
[31] On July 14, 2010, Chronicle Books released How to Cook Like a Top Chef, with a foreword by Rick Bayless.
[36] In December 2023, Variety ranked Top Chef #97 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.