Plot Synopsis

Twelve chefs travel the world, competing in culinary elimination challenges, as they race across 10 countries in 44 days. In each 60-minute episode, the remaining chefs travel to a new city, where they learn local customs, cultures and cuisines before battling it out in two different cooking challenges: "The Course," where the chefs race around each city performing high-pressured tasks with the winning team earning the "Exceptional Ingredient," giving them an enormous advantage during the final elimination challenge; and "The Takeover," in which teams run a local restaurant, testing their kitchen skills, customer service, teamwork, and knowledge of local customs, with the losing team self-eliminating their weakest link. For each new city, hosts Curtis Stone and Cat Cora welcome one world-renowned restaurateur or celebrity chef, such as Wolfgang Puck, Jose Andres, Nigella Lawson, Narda Lepes and Alvin Leung "The Demon Chef," as a Food Ambassador, who gives the competing chefs an insight into the local food culture for that destination. The competing chefs are: Avery Pursell, a 32-year-old Executive Chef/Owner of All Diced Up Catering (Sherman Oaks, CA), who cooked with Gordon Ramsay and Marcel Vigneron, exposing her to different techniques and cuisines that she uses every day; Chaz Brown, a 29-year-old Chef de Cuisine at Fatty Crab (New York City), who competed on Season 9 of TOP CHEF after being named the Mid-Atlantic Chef of The Year in 2009; Clara Moore, a 30-year-old Chef and General Manager at Local Harvest Cafe and Catering (St. Louis, MO), who supports local farmers by serving seasonal foods and creating a sustainable food community; Gary Walker, a 40-year-old Private Chef and Owner of Cheflove (Chicago, IL), who spent endless hours in the kitchen, keenly observing his mother's elaborate meals and eventually taking on the responsibility of feeding the family at the age of 12 when she returned to the work-force; Jenna Johansen, a 36-year-old Chef/Restaurateur/Cooking Class Instructor (Denver, CO) and Blogger (thelastthingweate.com), who began her culinary career in a bakery at the age of 14, and learned every element of restaurant operations -- from high volume corporate chef positions and waiting tables to working abroad and becoming the executive chef of several popular restaurants; John Vermigilo, a 27-year-old Executive Sous Chef at Table Fifty-two (Chicago, IL), who began his gastronomic career at the age of fourteen washing dishes in a bagel shop, and now serves dishes that are locally focused and seasoned with the finest detail; Keven Lee, a 34-year-old Executive Chef and CEO of My World on a Plate Catering and Events (Chatsworth, CA), who expresses his culinary creativity by utilizing ingredients from all over the globe and describes his cuisine as an eclectic version of Classical French Mediterranean with strong Asian and Pacific Rim influences; Liz Garrett, a 33-year-old Chef de Cuisine at Hotel Wilshire (Los Angeles, CA), who after years in the fashion and retail industry, decided to follow her dream and become a professional chef by skipping culinary school and starting at The Foundry on Melrose with chef and owner Eric Greenspan; Nick Lacasse, a 33-year-old Executive Chef of The Drawing Room (Chicago, IL), who began working at Etta's in Seattle at age 19, and worked his way up the kitchen ladder in Vermont, Portland (Maine) and Chicago, while working under four James Beard award winning chefs; Nicole Lou, a 33-year-old Chef at Bushi-Tei (San Francisco, CA), who enrolled in the California Culinary Academy after years in a corporate cubicle and who relies on her Vietnamese heritage and upbringing that always centered on food -- enjoying elaborate claypot cuisine, assembling egg rolls alongside her cousins and preparing duck that had been freshly slaughtered in the backyard; Sai Pituk, a 31-year-old Chef/Owner of Tara Thai (El Paso, TX), whose non-traditional tutelage under street cooks, restaurant owners and friends and family in Thailand have infused her cooking with a soul that is uniquely hers; and Steve 'Nookie' Postal, a 36-year-old Executive Chef, Fenway Park (Boston, MA), who is the Executive Chef for the Boston Red Sox after working in several different restaurants (Icarus, Chez Henri and Casablanca) and opening Oleana with his mentor, Ana Sortun, where he was sous chef.