The famous cooking competition welcomes top chefs. Several days after the final of Top Chef, the fourteenth edition of which was won on M6 by Hugo Riboulet, the youngest in the competition coached by Philippe Etchebest, the show returns for a special season. On June 29, Top Chef World All-Stars will be broadcast on Gulli, a channel belonging to Nicolas de Tavernost’s group.
This new edition is season 20 of the American format, which inspired the tricolor version produced by Studio 89, presented in the United States by host Padma Lakshmi on the Bravo channel. The program brings together sixteen cooks who have each shone through the competition and will wear the colors of their country. They come from America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Their goal remains the same: climb the stages of the competition, pass the tests until the kitchen of the last chance and win the final with a prize of 250,000 dollars at the key.
Among the candidates for this All-Stars season, France is represented by chef Samuel Albert, the winner of the tenth season of Top Chef hosted by Stéphane Rotenberg. Member of the brigade of Michel Sarran, then of Philippe Etchebest, he won in 2019 during the final against Guillaume Pape and won a check for 53,080 euros of which he donated 10% of his winnings to his opponent.
Since his victory, Samuel Albert left the Belgian Embassy in Japan where he officiated as executive chef to return to France. It was near Angers that the 30-year-old settled down to open Les Petits Près, his restaurant inaugurated in November 2019. The following year, he made an appearance in season 5 of Objectif Top Chef on M6 and continues to share their activity on social networks. Among his clientele, we notably recognized the former President of the Republic François Hollande and his wife Julie Gayet who came to his establishment, as indicated by a photo shared on January 24, 2023 on his Instagram page.
Asked by Radio Alouette, the chef from Soucelles confided in his experience in the All-Stars edition. “The American competition is relatively different from the French competition. It is much more focused on the reality TV side and on everyday family cooking”. Did he convince the judges by praising the delights of French gastronomy?
In Top Chef: World All-Stars, broadcast from last March on the Bravo channel, the candidates are judged by two big names in the kitchen: American chef Tom Colicchio and food critic and author Gail Simmons. Throughout the program, they are joined by other popular chefs from other international versions of Top Chef.
Gourmets and Top Chef enthusiasts will also find Hélène Darroze, chef crowned with several stars in the Michelin guide and star face of the M6 competition. The one who won the show three times in a row (with her protégés David Gallienne in 2020, Mohamed Cheikh in 2021 and Louise Bourrat in 2022, then finalist in 2023 with Danny Khezzar) was invited as a judge for the final. A final episode in the most beautiful city of gastronomy in the world (it is not our mind that speaks).
The latest episode of Top Chef: World All-Stars will see the three best candidates in the game compete in Paris. While the show was filmed for several weeks in London, UK, the special edition finale was held in the heart of our capital. According to the Food magazine website
Among the addresses unearthed, we know that the show was filmed at Ducasse Sur Seine, a barge belonging to the famous chef Alain Ducasse. Then another stage of the final was filmed at the Pavillon Ledoyen near the Champs-Élysées and finally at Marsan by Hélène Darroze. The candidates also strolled through the aisles of Galeries Lafayette and on the side of rue Montorgueil for the eliminatory rounds.
Who will be voted the best chef in the world? If you want to wait before knowing the answer (taking the risk of being spoiled…), answer from this summer on Gulli.
