Tournament of Taste: ‘TOC’ Season 5 sees biggest champs yet
The fire is on and Fieri is back: Season 5 of “Tournament of Champions” kicks off Sunday, Feb. 18, on Food Network.
“The skills and abilities of 32 of the most talented chefs from the East and West coast, including all four previous champions, will be pushed to the limit,” said Food Network of the series. “The pressure is intense, and emotions are high as the elite chefs do not know who their opponents will be and what challenges the randomizer will dish out, getting progressively harder and harder in each round.”
As with previous years, the competition features “blind judging by some of the biggest names in the food world,” asking this season’s chefs to take on eight weeks and 31 challenges worth of head-to-head battles in order to find the next “TOC” champion — a cook who will take home the coveted Tournament of Champions belt and the largest cash prize in the show’s history, totaling $150,000.
Fieri himself is incredibly excited for this upcoming round of competition.
“As the wildest, most anticipated culinary competition year after year, you know that we had to go big for Season 5,” Fieri said. “So here’s the deal. In order to win, you’ve gotta either be a past champ or take down a champ, as all the winners from previous seasons are back to defend their titles. We’re crankin’ up the already fierce competition with heated culinary rivalries, wild cards and, of course, off-thecharts flavor.”
This season, the chef’s representing the East Coast are: Eric Adjepong (“Alex vs. America”), Karen Akunowicz (“Guy’s Grocery Games: All-star Invitational”), Kelsey Barnard Clark (“NFL Tailgate Takedown”), Maneet Chauhan (Season 2 champion, “TOC”), Tobias Dorzon (“Guy’s Grocery Games”), Tiffani Faison (Season 3 champion, “TOC”), Amanda Freitag (“Chopped After Hours”), Jose Garces (“Iron Chef America”), Stephanie Izard (“Top Chef”), Marc Murphy (“Best.ever.”), Britt Rescigno (“Chopped”), Jonathon Sawyer (“Bobby’s Triple Threat”) and Dale Talde (“Top Chef Amateurs”).
And, from the West Coast, the competitors are: Carlos Anthony (“Cutthroat Kitchen”), Shirley Chung (“Top Chef Amateurs”), Mei Lin (Season 4 champion, “TOC”), Antonia Lofaso (“Top Chef”), Crista Luedtke (“Beat Bobby Flay”), Brian Malarkey (“The Taste”), Shota Nakajima (“Guy’s Grocery Games: Allstar Invitational”), Joe Sasto (“Outchef ’d”), Adam Sobel (“Donut Showdown”), Casey Thompson (“Top Chef ”), Jet Tila (“Kitchen Lab”), Michael Voltaggio (“Battle of the Brothers”), Brooke Williamson (Season 1 champion, “TOC”) and Lee Anne Wong (“Chef’s Story”).