Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Guy Fieri, TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS is a five-part tournament during which 16 of the nation's most celebrated chefs go head-to-head in a single elimination bracket-style culinary competition. These elite chefs enter the blind competition not knowing who their opponents will be nor what cooking challenges they will face, because a randomizer machine determines the protein, produce, equipment, cooking style, and time for each of the cook-offs. Broken down into a tournament of East Coast vs. West Coast, the Season 1 chefs are: East Coast (Maneet Chauhan, Rocco DiSpirito, Elizabeth Falkner, Darnell Ferguson, Amanda Freitag, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy and Christian Petroni); and West Coast (Richard Blais, Eric Greenspan, Antonia Lofaso, Beau Macmillan, Jet Tila, Marcel Vigneron, Michael Voltaggio, and Brooke Williamson). Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner deliver real time play-by-play as all the action unfolds in front of a live audience and continues backstage while the competitors mull over their work while listening in on the judges' deliberation. Deciding who advances in each round is a rotating panel of expert judges including, Michelle Bernstein, Traci Des Jardin, Marcus Samuelsson, Nancy Silverton, Curtis Stone, Ming Tsai, and Jonathan Waxman.

The sophomore season of TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS premiered on Sunday, March 7, 2021 from 8-10pm ET/PT on Food Network. Guy Fieri is back with the toughest bracket-style culinary competition where 16 of the best chefs from the East and West coasts go head-to-head in sudden-death cooking battles on Tournament of Champions II. The chefs' skills will be pushed to the limit in each round, as they face new ingredients, tougher cooking styles and more interesting equipment options on the randomizer machine that determines the parameters for each cook-off, including the protein, produce, equipment, cooking style, and time. The pressure is intense, and emotions are high as the elite chefs enter this blind competition not knowing who their opponents will be, or what cooking challenges they will face, and will have their dishes judged blindly by a panel of distinguished experts. Hunter Fieri follows all the action backstage during the deliberation, capturing the reactions of the chefs as their dishes are judged, getting the raw emotions of elation and frustration as bracket victors move on while others face elimination. The chefs will only go as far as their dishes take them - win and advance or lose and go home. Fans can also stream extended episodes of the tournament and after show on discovery+ featuring even more nail-biting action and behind-the-scenes conversations with Guy and the competitors. Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner deliver real-time play-by-play as all the action unfolds in front of a live audience. Deciding who advances in each round is a rotating panel of expert judges including, Scott Conant, Giada De Laurentiis, Traci Des Jardins, Rocco DiSpirito, Marcus Samuelsson, Nancy Silverton, Ming Tsai, and Jonathan Waxman. Unexpected challenges, major upsets and surprises fill this tournament, which concludes in a supersized two-hour episode on Sunday, April 18th at 8pm. Only one chef will emerge as the champion and will drive off with an all-new SUV! Throughout the competition, join Guy as he sits down with Justin and Simon in the after-show as they break down what went wrong and what went right for each chef, and share never before seen footage from the battles. The chefs representing the East Coast are: Madison Cowan, Maneet Chauhan, Darnell Ferguson, Amanda Freitag, Marc Murphy, Christian Petroni and Bryan Voltaggio. The chefs showing off their chops from the West Coast are: Cat Cora, Antonia Lofaso, Brian Malarkey, Aaron May, Jet Tila, Michael Voltaggio, and defending champion and last season's winner Brooke Williamson. For the last bracket slots on the East and West Coast, Guy has invited eight chefs to prove their worthiness in the arena and battle in a wild card tournament to earn the coveted 8th seeds.

Season 3 of TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS debuted on Sunday, February 27, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT on Food Network. In the new season, the toughest bracket-style tournament is supersized with two-hour long episodes and 32 of the country's most talented chefs going head-to-head to win the largest prize in the tournament's history. The skills and abilities of the best chefs from the East and West coasts will be pushed to the limit, as Guy spins the dreaded 5-wheeled randomizer that determines each cook-off: the protein, produce, equipment, cooking style, and time. The pressure is intense, and emotions are high as the elite competitors enter the competition not knowing who their opponents will be and what cooking challenges they will face. Ultimately, their fate is decided blind, by a panel of famous food icon judges. Hunter Fieri follows all the action backstage, capturing chefs' reactions as they watch their dishes' critique and learn who is moving ahead and who is going home. The four brackets for Season 3 (with competitors and their seeds) are: West Coast A [Brooke Williamson (#1 seed), Michael Voltaggio (#2), Tim Hollingsworth (#3), Aaron May (#4), Brian Malarkey (#5), Tiffany Derry (#6), Phillip Frankland Lee (#7), Crista Luedtke (#8)]; West Coast B [Jet Tila (#1), Antonia Lofaso (#2), Shirley Chung (#3), Chris Cosentino (#4), Elizabeth Falkner (#5), Marcel Vigneron (#6), Joe Sasto (#7), Carlos Anthony (#8)]; East Coast A [Maneet Chauhan (#1), Amanda Freitag (#2), Tiffani Faison (#3), Kelsey Barnard Clark (#4), Eric Adjepong (#5), Bryan Voltaggio (#6), Madison Cowan (#7), Richard Hales (#8)]; and East Coast B [Darnell Ferguson (#1), Christian Petroni (#2), Michael Psilakis (#3), Karen Akunowicz (#4), Justin Sutherland (#5), Einat Admony (#6), Tobias Dorzon (#7), Aarthi Sampath (#8)]

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS returned for its fourth season on Sunday, February 19, 2023 ftom 8-10pm ET/PT on Food Network. This year's lineup features 14 tournament rookies who are on a quest to shake up the competition. The pressure is intense, and emotions are high as the elite chefs do not know who their opponents will be and what cooking challenges they will face, with the latter determined by the dreaded randomizer. This season, Guy has added a twist with randomizer wild cards that progressively get harder and harder in each round. Each battle will feature blind judging by a rotating panel of judges consisting of the biggest names in the food world as the chefs watch their critiques from backstage. For this year's finale Guy is pulling out the ultimate wild card by inviting a surprise judge who is one of the most respected and revered chefs in the world. After 8 weeks and 31 grueling head-to-head battles, one talented chef will win it all and be crowned champion, taking home the coveted Tournament of Champions belt and a $100,000 cash prize. Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner deliver real-time play-by-play as all the action unfolds in front of a live audience. Hunter Fieri follows all the action backstage, capturing competing chefs' reactions as they watch the rotating panel of food icons blindly judge their dishes and learn who is moving ahead and who is going home. Judges include, Michelle Bernstein, Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Lorena Garcia, Alex Guarnaschelli, Nancy Silverton, Daniela Soto-Innes, Ming Tsai, Jonathan Waxman, Andrew Zimmern, and one of the most highly regarded chefs to be revealed in the finale on Sunday, April 9 at 8pm ET/PT. The chefs representing the East Coast are: Eric Adjepong, Karen Akunowicz, Kelsey Barnard Clark, Maneet Chauhan, Leah Cohen, Madison Cowan, Tobias Dorzon, Graham Elliot, defending Tournament of Champions III winner Tiffani Faison, Darnell Ferguson, Jose Garces, Ilan Hall, Stephanie Izard, Christian Petroni, Britt Rescigno, and Jonathon Sawyer. The chefs showing off their chops from the West Coast are: Carlos Anthony, Nate Appleman, Shirley Chung, Tiffany Derry, Elizabeth Falkner, Timothy Hollingsworth, Mei Lin, Antonia Lofaso, Brian Malarkey, Shota Nakajima, Viet Pham, Joe Sasto, Tracey Shepos Chanami, Adam Sobel, Jet Tila, and Lee Anne Wong.

Season 5 of TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS premiered on Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT on Food Network. Thirty two of the most talented chefs from the East and West coast, including all four previous champions, are pushed to the limit in the most difficult sudden-death, bracket-style culinary competition. Each battle features blind judging by some of the biggest names in the food world as the competitors watch their critiques from backstage. After eight weeks and 31 grueling head-to-head battles, one talented chef wins it all and is crowned champion, taking home the Tournament of Champions belt and the largest cash prize in the history of the tournament of $150,000. The chefs representing the East Coast are: Eric Adjepong, Karen Akunowicz, Kelsey Barnard Clark, Season 2 champion Maneet Chauhan, Tobias Dorzon, Season 3 champion Tiffani Faison, Darnell Ferguson, Amanda Freitag, Jose Garces, Stephanie Izard, Marc Murphy, Britt Rescigno, Jonathon Sawyer, and Dale Talde. The chefs showing off their chops from the West Coast are: Carlos Anthony, Shirley Chung, Season 4 champion Mei Lin, Antonia Lofaso, Crista Luedtke, Brian Malarkey, Shota Nakajima, Joe Sasto, Adam Sobel, Casey Thompson, Jet Tila, Michael Voltaggio, Season 1 champion Brooke Williamson, and Lee Anne Wong. They'll be joined by chefs who competed in TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: THE QUALIFIERS and won a spot in the bracket of 32: Kevin Lee, Michael Reed, Nini Nguyen, and Chris Scott. Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner deliver real-time play-by-play as all the action unfolds in front of a live audience. Hunter Fieri follows all the action backstage, interviewing the winning chefs for their reactions to the competition. The biggest food icons blindly judge the dishes and learn who is moving ahead and who is going home, including, Donatella Arpaia, Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Susan Feniger, Lorena Garcia, Carla Hall, Michael Mina, Eric Ripert, Marcus Samuelsson, Nancy Silverton, Ming Tsai, Michael White, Jonathan Waxman, Geoffrey Zakarian and Andrew Zimmern.
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On Sunday, April 7, 2024 from 8-10pm ET/PT, Food Network premiered "And the Winner Is...," the two-hour Season 5 finale of TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS. Guy Fieri challenges the final four culinary titans with two epic semifinal battles, where the two chefs left standing will faceoff in one final head-to-head championship showdown. Antonia Lofaso takes on Jet Tila in the West Coast Finals, while Maneet Chauhan goes up against Britt Rescigno in the East Coast Finals. Their dishes will be judged by five culinary legends, and only one chef will earn the belt, the coveted title, and the biggest prize in TOC history -- $150,000.