In the years since Top Chef premiered, the acclaimed reality show has made fans feel a lot of disappointment. Fans have been upset when they thought chefs were robbed, when Last Chance Kitchen isn’t working, when they’ve felt like seasons were a let-down, and moments when the show can be forgettable. That said, there are many reasons why Top Chef is one of the best reality shows ever produced. For example, even though Top Chef feels like it needs some tough love, fans love that the show is so hard that it is easy for the chefs to fail.
Another one of the things that makes Top Chef so great is that there are so many parts of the show that fans love. For example, there is fan favorite Top Chef challenge that needs to return and become a staple of the show, like Restaurant Wars.
Top Chef’s Mise En Place Relay Challenge Should Become A Staple Like Restaurant Wars
Throughout the history of Top Chef, the show’s challenges have mostly been fantastic. In fact, the show has come up with so many interesting challenges over the years that it makes perfect sense that Top Chef is often considered to be one of the best reality shows ever.
However, the truth is that some Top Chef challenges have felt poorly designed and perplexing. With that in mind, it is staggering that some Top Chef challenges from the past have been gone for a long time, even though they were great.
Fortunately, there is one great Top Chef challenge that is brought back for each season of the show: Restaurant Wars. With that in mind, there is a fantastic Top Chef challenge that needs to be brought back and become a staple of the show in the same way.
When many people think about what it means to be a professional chef, they envision an artist carefully preparing a delicious dish for customers. However, there is a huge part of what makes professional kitchens work that most people ignore.
The Best Top Chef Seasons, According to Screen Rant | |
|---|---|
Season | Rank |
New Orleans (Top Chef Season 11) | #10 |
Miami (Top Chef Season 3) | #9 |
California (Top Chef Season 13) | #8 |
Boston (Top Chef Season 12) | #7 |
Texas (Top Chef Season 9) | #6 |
Seattle (Top Chef Season 10) | #5 |
Chicago (Top Chef Season 4) | #4 |
All-Stars (Top Chef Season 8) | #3 |
New York (Top Chef Season 5) | #2 |
Las Vegas (Top Chef Season 6) | #1 |
Before chefs can even begin cooking anything, a lot of work gets put into preparing the kitchen and the ingredients. The preparation work in a kitchen is sometimes referred to as mise en place, since that means “putting in place” or “everything in its place” in French.
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As most Top Chef fans will likely already know, one of the show’s most memorable challenges is based around the mise en place process. That challenge is called the mise en place relay, and it has been featured in several seasons throughout Top Chef’s history.
In May 2025, Tom Colicchio told The Hollywood Reporter that he has been trying for a long time to have each Top Chef season start with a different mise en place challenge. “I’ve been trying for ten seasons now to have the first episode to be a real mise en place challenge. You’d have ten hours to make stuff for your own personal pantry — preserved lemons, roasted tomatoes, stocks, things like that. Then you’d get to use them throughout the season. And then if you lose, there’s a pantry raid and the winner of that challenge can actually take stuff out of your pantry.”
Traditionally speaking, Top Chef’s mise en place relay challenge has seen the cast broken down into teams. Then each member of the team has to prepare a different ingredient so that it could be used in a dish. Each time, Tom Colicchio is there to judge if the ingredients are properly prepared before the relay can continue. In the end, one team wins when they are the first to properly prepare all of their ingredients to Tom’s standards.
There are two main reasons why the mise en place challenge should become an every-season staple. The first, and most obvious, is how entertaining the mise en place challenge is for fans.
Ideally speaking, every Top Chef challenge would leave viewers feeling very entertained. With that in mind, the mise en place relay challenge should arguably be considered the prototypical Top Chef challenge.
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Easily one of the hardest to predict Top Chef challenges, the mise en place relay leaves viewers on the edge of their seats. After all, the thing that is great about the mise en place relay is that the momentum can switch at a moment’s notice.
If one team member struggles with an ingredient, they can ruin the chances of their team. Alternatively, if one team member is especially good at preparing an ingredient, they can make their group come from behind.
It should be needless to say that fans not being able to guess what is going to happen next is a key factor in them being compelled by the show.
The second reason why the mise en place challenge should become an every-season staple is because of how revealing it has always been.
Since the mise en place relay almost always happens during a season’s early episodes, fans are often still figuring out which chefs are the most talented. As a result, at that point in the season, it is extremely revealing to see how good the chefs are, or aren’t, at the basics.
Of course, some chefs may flop during the mise en place relay and still do great on the show. However, when a chef stands out during the mise en place relay, they almost always wind up being a serious contender during the rest of the season.
There Is Another Top Chef Challenge That Could Become An Every Season Staple.
Over the years, there has been another recurring Top Chef challenge that has been entertaining and revealing. The blind taste test has long been one of Top Chef’s best challenges, and it would be great if it also became an every-season staple of the show.
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For those that don’t remember this challenge, the chefs are blindfolded as they taste a myriad of different ingredients. The ingredients are basic things that every chef should be familiar with, including various herbs and spices.
The chefs then have to guess what each ingredient is and the person who gets the most right wins.
Similar to the mise en place relay, the bind taste test challenge reveals basic facts about the Top Chef competitors. The challenge tests both how knowledgeable the chefs are and how refined their taste palates are.
Most importantly, the blind taste test is very entertaining for two reasons. First off, it is extremely impressive when the chefs go on a run and get the majority of the ingredients right. There is also no denying how hilarious it is when the chefs get almost everything wrong, even though you know as a viewer that you would probably do worse.
