Following in the footsteps of the revered
Iron Chef, and riding the crest of the reality trend still sweeping U.S. networks in the mid-2000s, the Bravo network's reality series
Top Chef pits 15 chefs against one other in an on-camera competition of food preparation to vie for the title of premier culinary maestro. Each episode of the series plunges contestants into two phases: the first half constitutes a series of tests of their basic culinary skills, the second a more aggressive and cutthroat "elimination round" that throws extreme and stressful obstacles in the paths of participants to observe how they cope when faced with such crises -- everything from obnoxious and eccentric customers with strange requests to the pressure of whipping up masterpieces from bizarre and seemingly incompatible ingredients. Above all else, contestants' management, business, and customer-service abilities are also evaluated. In true reality-series mode, each episode concludes with one of the 15 participants told to "pack up your knives" and hit the road -- until only a single chef remains. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide