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50 free Top Chef trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Top Chef arrived on Bravo in March 2006 with twelve chefs in a San Francisco house and a catchphrase that still stings: 'Please pack your knives and go.' Two decades later the format barely changed, which is the point: a Quickfire, an Elimination Challenge, Judges' Table, one chef out. What changed is everything around it: the prize grew from $100,000 to $250,000, Last Chance Kitchen let the eliminated fight back, Padma Lakshmi handed the job to a former winner, and the show went abroad to London, Paris, Milan and Canada. These 50 questions cover the format and the people: 'Hands up, utensils down', drawing knives, Restaurant Wars and Wedding Wars, Tom Colicchio's Gramercy Tavern, Gail Simmons' Canadian roots, Stephanie Izard as the first woman to win, Richard Blais' All-Stars redemption, the Voltaggio brothers, Carla Hall's 'Hootie Hoo', Kristen Kish's route from Seoul to Seattle to the host's chair, Buddha Lo's back-to-back titles and the Masters, Just Desserts, Junior and Family Style spin-offs. Easy questions stick to the catchphrases and judges; the hardest ask about finale cities and Emmy years. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a dinner-party quiz.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network did Top Chef premiere in 2006?
Bravo
The same production company, Magical Elves, had already created Project Runway for the channel.
Q 02Which production company makes Top Chef?
Magical Elves
They also created Project Runway before launching the cooking show.
Q 03Who hosted Top Chef for seasons 2 through 20?
Padma Lakshmi
She left to focus on her Hulu series Taste the Nation and her books.
Q 04Who hosted the very first season of Top Chef?
Katie Lee
Credited as Katie Lee Joel, she lasted one season before Padma Lakshmi took over.
Q 05Which former winner became host of Top Chef starting with season 21?
Kristen Kish
Magical Elves' chief executive called her the 'clear choice' to replace Padma Lakshmi.
Q 06Which chef was Top Chef's head judge from its first episode through season 22 in 2025?
Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio co-founded Gramercy Tavern in New York and has won five James Beard Awards.
Q 07Which country is the show's long-serving female judge from?
Canada
The Toronto-born food writer joined Food & Wine in 2004 and also hosted Top Chef: Just Desserts.
Q 08Top Chef's original head judge co-founded which famous New York restaurant in 1994?
Gramercy Tavern
Tom Colicchio opened it with Danny Meyer, then launched his own Craft a block south in 2001.
Q 09What is the short, timed cook-off at the start of each episode called?
Quickfire Challenge
Early in the season the winner usually earns immunity from elimination.
Q 10Which phrase does the host use to end the opening timed round?
Hands up, utensils down
The challenge begins with 'Your time starts now'.
Q 11How does the host dismiss an eliminated chef?
Please pack your knives and go.
A knife-packing sequence with the chef's final thoughts usually follows.
Q 12What is the mid-season team challenge where chefs build pop-up restaurants called?
Restaurant Wars
One chef runs the kitchen as executive chef while another manages front of house.
Q 13What twist did season 4 add, with chefs catering a couple's big day?
Wedding Wars
Later seasons kept tinkering; season 16 moved the challenge much earlier in the run.
Q 21Who won the first season of Top Chef?
Harold Dieterle
He went on to open Perilla and Kin Shop in New York.
Q 22Who won season 2, Top Chef: Los Angeles?
Ilan Hall
He beat molecular-gastronomy fan Marcel Vigneron in a famously tense season.
Q 23Who was the first woman to win Top Chef?
Stephanie Izard
She won the Chicago season and later opened Girl & the Goat there.
Q 24The first female winner's flagship Chicago restaurant is named what?
Q 14What is the name of the web series where eliminated chefs fight to re-enter?
Last Chance Kitchen
Introduced in season 9, it is usually judged by Tom Colicchio alone.
Q 15How are teams usually chosen for Elimination Challenges?
Drawing knives
Chefs pull knives from a knife block to reveal their team or assignment.
Q 16What prize did the Top Chef winner receive in seasons 1 through 5?
$100,000
It rose to $125,000, briefly hit $200,000 for season 8, and has been $250,000 since season 17.
Q 17How much did the Top Chef winner take home in each season from 17 through 22?
$250,000
The prize was $250,000 in seasons 17-22; winners also get a Food & Wine feature and a trip to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Q 18As of Top Chef's 22nd season in 2025, how much extra did the Fan Favorite receive?
$10,000
The viewer-voted Fan Favorite won $10,000; Stephanie Izard was long the only winner to also take Fan Favorite.
Q 19Which magazine features the Top Chef winner each season?
Food & Wine
Winners also appear at the magazine's annual Classic in Aspen, Colorado.
Q 20Which city hosted the first season of Top Chef?
San Francisco
The finale moved to Las Vegas, where Harold Dieterle beat Tiffani Faison.
Girl & the Goat
It opened in the West Loop in 2010 with BOKA Restaurant Group.
Q 25Which season 4 runner-up returned to win Top Chef: All-Stars?
Richard Blais
He beat Mike Isabella in the finale after losing to Stephanie Izard years earlier.
Q 26Where did the All-Stars (season 8) winner get his first cooking job?
McDonald's
He learned kitchen basics on Long Island before the Culinary Institute of America.
Q 27Which season 3 winner was born in Vietnam?
Hung Huynh
He grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, training in his parents' Vietnamese restaurant.
Q 28Which brothers finished first and second in Top Chef: Las Vegas?
The Voltaggios
Michael beat Bryan, with Kevin Gillespie third and voted Fan Favorite.
Q 29Which season won the 2010 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Reality Competition Program?
Top Chef: Las Vegas
It was the only season to break The Amazing Race's grip on the category at the time.
Q 30Who won Top Chef: New York (season 5)?
Hosea Rosenberg
Fabio Viviani took Fan Favorite; the finale was held in New Orleans.