Now that March is in full swing, foodies and food TV fans everywhere can start to get excited for a brand new season of Top Chef. For Season 22, the cheftestants are heading to Canada for the first time ever and we are getting a fresh season with all new challenges, some new rules for at least one iconic challenge and more money than ever before.
When it comes to the grand prize for winning Top Chef, there is a lot on the line. Throughout the first five seasons, the winners would walk away with a cash prize of $100,000. Then the prize was bumped up to $125,000, with Season 8 actually doing a temporary increase of $200,000. Of course, the cash is not the only award, as the winner would also get a feature in Food & Wine magazine, plus they get the chance to appear at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Overall, there is typically a lot at stake for the winner of Top Chef. So what exactly are they walking away with if they win Season 22?
What's on the line for Season 22 of Top Chef?
Before we even talk about what the winner of Top Chef Season 22 gets, there is also the matter of the cash prizes for challenge wins. As The Daily Dish reports, there is up to $150,000 on the line for different challenges throughout the season. You never know when a prize will be offered, but all of the chefs have a chance of walking away with something before the end of the season.
But what does the winner get this season? On top of the Food & Wine feature and the trip to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic, there is also an "opportunity to present at The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago." Plus, the winning chef will have a chance to headline a dinner at the James Beard House in New York. And that doesn't even touch on the money.
For Season 22 of Top Chef, the winner will receive $125,000 in flight credit from Delta airlines, as well as $250,000 in cash. So this will actually be the largest prize ever won on the show. And that doesn't even take into account any challenge wins that the winner may get that also add to their prize pool.
It should be interesting to see how this amazing prize motivates the chefs. And we can't wait to see how they deliver in the kitchen. We can't wait to see fresh combinations, new styles of cooking and fresh flavor fusions brought to life on our screen.
Top Chef Season 22 premieres on Thursday, March 13 at 9 PM on Bravo. And then the full episode streams the next day on Peacock.