Top Chef may not premiere until next month but Bravo is already unveiling the 17 contestants who will be competing in the upcoming season.  Padma Lakshmi returns as host with judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons staying put as well.  Top Chef: New York will also feature a new judge, Toby Young, a food critic and best-selling author of the book “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”, which was recently made into a motion picture.  The contestants will be competing for the ultimate grand prize: $100,000 in seed money to help open a restaurant, furnished by the makers of the Glad family of products, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and the title of Top Chef.  This season, the show found many of its contestants right in its home state of New York as well as on the opposite coast, in California.  A few were found somewhere in between.  Read on to find out who will be competing this season on Top Chef!

The East Coast Chefs

  • Ariane is 41 years old, from Verona, NJ.
  • Carla, 44 years old, currently lives in Washington, D.C. 
  • Danny, who is 26, comes to Top Chef from New Hyde Park, N.Y. 
  • Jeff, 30, hails from Miami, FL.
  • Leah, is 27 years old, from New York, NY.
  • Patrick, 21 years old, is from Hyde Park, NY.


The West Coast Chefs

  • Alex, 33 years old, is from Los Angeles, CA.
  • Fabio, who is 30, grew up in Italy but currently resides in Moorpark, CA.
  • Jamie is 30 and made the move from New York City to San Francisco, CA.
  • Richard, 27, left his home of Long Island, NY to set up shop in San Diego, CA.
  • Stefan is 35 years old, originally from Finland but currently calls Santa Monica, CA home.

The Chefs In Between

  • Gene, 33 years old, lives and works in Las Vegas, NV.
  • Hosea is 34 and resides in Boulder, CO.
  • Melissa, who is 28, once lived in Maryland, but now also resides in Boulder, CO.
  • Radhika, 28, was born and raised in Chicago, IL and still calls it home.
  • Lauren, 24 years old, is currently stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

The fifth season of Top Chef returns on Wednesday, November 12, with a supersized episode beginning at 10pm ET.

– Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: Bravo
(Image courtesy of Bravo)

Gina Scarpa

Staff Writer, BuddyTV