As one of the longest-running reality competition series that’s still going strong on the small screen, evidenced by its latest season making the 2024 TV schedule more palatable, Top Chef is among primetime TV’s most delectable offerings. And it doesn’t appear to be anywhere near past its expiration date, and fans like me can hopefully continue anticipating new competitions for many years to come, with Season 22 on the way to a 2025 premiere date on Bravo.
Don’t just keep staring at the egg timer while waiting to see what meal will next displease Tom Colicchio enough that he spits, or to see which new competitor is the first to get called out for underseasoning their food. Instead, check out what both new fans and longtime viewers should know going into the new season, from the upcoming setting to previous winners and plenty of other ingredients in the mix.
Where To Watch Top Chef
First and foremost, a Top Chef fan worth their pink Himalayan salt should always know exactly where to find new and classic episodes to watch whenever the mood strikes.
- All 21 seasons are available to stream with a Peacock subscription.
- All 21 seasons are available to stream on VOD with a YouTube TV subscription.
- Seasons 1-18 and 20-21 are available to stream with a Fubo subscription.
- Seasons 5 and 16 are available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
Beyond the above options, episodes of Top Chef are always available for seasonal or episodic purchases on Prime Video or Apple TV.
When Is Top Chef Coming Back For Season 22?
In early May 2024, Bravo gave Top Chef fans more to celebrate by announcing the rewnewal order for Season 22, along with renewals for several Real Housewives locations, and series orders for new shows Making it in Manhattan and On Safari.
At the time of this writing, it's not 100% clear yet when we'll get to see all the new competitors facing off — and thus necessarily unclear when we'll get that next glorious dopamin fix of Restaurant Wars — but going by the past 5 seasons, it would seem likely that Season 22 will kick off in March or April 2025. Stay tuned for more specific dates as we get closer to that window.
Where Will Top Chef Season 22 Take Place?
With 21 years of U.S.-based seasons behind them, and two years after inviting some of the best chefs around the world to compete in the flagship series, the Top Chef team is packing up all the sweaters and flannel to head to Canada for the next series of presumably super-polite competitions.
The Canadian location shift was first announced on Instagram back in June 2024, with a caption reading:
Time to turn your taste buds up… way up North! The next season of #TopChef is going to be a feast for the senses in Canada, and so much more than maple syrup and poutine.
It may not be all about the maple syrup, but here's hoping we get to see lots of breakfast-making expertise all the same. Scrambled eggs and sausage poutine, anyone?
Who Won Top Chef In 2024 And Previous Seasons?
Top Chef Season 21 took the competition up to dairy country for lots of Wisconsin-set challenges, airing on Bravo from March-June 2024. After all the blood, sweat and fryer grease dried up, Brooklyn native Danny Garcia took home the prize and glory of being a Top Chef champion thanks to an array of dishes that spoke to his Dominican and Puerto Rican roots.
32 Top Chef Contestants That Were Eliminated Earlier Than Expected
Garcia earned the accolade of being the highest-earning Top Chef champion, taking home $303,000. Tragically, after the season concluded, soon after Garcia was finally able to speak publicly about his victory at the Food & Wine Classic and elsewhere, his mentor and business partner James Kent suddenly passed away at age 45.
Fans will hopefully see Danny Garcia competing again in future All-Stars seasons and/or specials, and those facing him will have their work cut out (and deboned) for them. Some of those all-stars may come from the list below of every Top Chef winner from the past 21 seasons.
Fans can definitely expect to see a few of the above-mentioned talents popping up throughout the season, whether its as guest judges, temporary mentors, or possibly even sympathetic sous chefs if things get hectic.
Is Kristen Kish Still The Host After Replacing Padma Lakshmi?
Top Chef: Seattle champion and competition show hosting vet Kristen Kish took over the Top Chef hosting gig for Season 21 following the surprise exit of longtime front-woman Padma Lakshmi. At the time Season 22 was announced, Kish was confirmed to be returning for her second year heading up the show.
As a fan who's watched this show for years, Kish quickly proved herself to be a winning personality whose smile and support were always present even when she was offering on-point critiques and crushing chefs' spirits in the process. Unlike Padma, Kish went through all the Top Chef motions and took home the top prize, so her advice always comes from a place of experience.
Why Did Padma Lakshmi Leave Top Chef?
In June 2023, ahead of the Top Chef. World All-Stars season finale that saw Buddha Lo win his second year in a row, Padma Lakshmi went public with the information that she'd be bowing out after two decades of hosting the cable hit. At the time, here's how she explained the decision:
Having completed a glorious 20th season as host and executive producer, I am extremely proud to have been part of building such a successful show and of the impact it has had in the worlds of television and food. After 17 years, many of the cast and crew are like family to me and I will miss working alongside them dearly. I feel it’s time to move on and need to make space for Taste the Nation, my books and other creative pursuits.
Having gone on to start her own lingerie line among other non-culinary successes, Lakshmi has addressed her Top Chef exit a few times in the months after making the decision. And while the core of her reasoning remains largely the same, she has allowed her answers to get more personal over time.
Saying that hosting the show pretty much required her to "live in the gym," the Taste the Nation host told Harper's Bazaar that she wanted to get away from the cycles of heavy eating that came with the gig, while also trying to have more free time on her own. Here's how she put it:
It was really taking a toll on me physically to digest that much food in a day. . . . You can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once. I didn’t have a lot of time for a social life. When was I going to find somebody I wanted to hang out with?
While fans can always hope to see her showing up for an episode or two in the future, it does indeed seem like Padma Lakshmi's Top Chef era is fully over, though she's in no way done with focusing on food and entertainment in her career.
Stay tuned for all the kitched-based drama one could hope for, both on the main show and on the companion series Last Chance Kitchen, when Top Chef returns to Bravo in 2025 for Season 22. Bon appetit!