Top Chef's Season 22 Winner Revealed
A new TV food star has been crowned.
After weeks of fierce competition, Top Chef revealed which season 22 hopeful came out of top during the Bravo reality series' June 12 finale.
Only Bailey Sullivan, Tristen Epps-Long and Shuai Wang made it to the final elimination challenge in Milan, where the remaining three contestants were challenged to create the best four-course progressive meal of their lives in order to win the coveted $250,000 prize.
For the career-defining challenge, Shuai focused on his own heritage by crafting a Chinese-inspired meal, while Tristen similarly used his Afro-Caribbean roots to inform his plate choices.
Meanwhile, Bailey stuck to her signature "quirky" vibe and planned a meal that was unconventional, eccentric and whimsical.
Following the impressive show of culinary skills, judges Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons had the difficult task of picking apart the foodie's successes and failures—and there were very few of the latter.
"Today's meal was just exceptional," Tom told the three finalists prior to judging. "They say I don't have much of a poker face, if I'm not happy, I'm not happy. But I was happy, so thank you."
Kristen—Top Chef's season 10 winner—added, "Well, the finale of season 22, I'd say the chefs certainly delivered on a lot of promises to us, but also to themselves."
But it wasn't an easy deliberation. While Tom declared, "This is everything you could ask for in a finale," the restauranteur also noted there were "so few mistakes" between the three finalists' wildly varying dishes that it was hard to compare them in an apples-to-apples format.
However, a decision was finally made.
After calling back Bailey, Tristen and Shuai, Tom reiterated how hard it was to settle on just a single favorite of the season.
"The entire season we got to see the three of you just really blossom into finding yourself, finding your mission and just cooking with a lot of joy," he shared with the hopefuls. "While each of you deserve this title of Top Chef, there will only be one. But all of you should be really, really proud of what you accomplished here."
In the end, Tristen's bold flavors, daring confidence and unbeatable cooking skills earned him the title of season 22 winner. And the victory left the Houston-based chef in tears.
"I got through here through a lot of support and I'm so appreciative to everyone here," Tristen reacted as Bailey and Shuai congratulated him. "It means so much that the cuisine gets recognized and the people get recognized. I didn't do it for me, I did it for so many people."
The win was especially meaningful given that Tristen's father passed away while he was filming the competition in Toronto.
"First person to pull off Afro-Caribbean cuisine in Top Chef and win," he reflected in a confessional. "I thank every single chef that did it and paved that way. I almost quit because I was hurt and somebody believed in me enough on their death bed for me to stay and I'm so happy I made it worth it."
Keep reading to see where more past Top Chef winners are today.
Since taking home top honors during Top Chef's inaugural season back in 2006, the New York-based chef has opened and closed a series of restaurants in the Big Apple. After meeting Meredith Davies at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic the summer after his season, the two tied the knot in 2010.
After coming out on top in the show's second season despite some controversial antics, the New York-native went on to open two restaurants, The Gorbals in downtown L.A. and Williamsburg, the latter later renamed ESH. By 2016, both had closed. From 2013-15, he hosted four seasons of cooking competition series Knife Fight on the now-defunct Esquire Network. In 2010, he and partner Ayame Kawaguchi welcomed a son, Theo.
Since winning the Miami-set third season, the Vietnamese-American chef began working with restaurant and nightlife company EMM Group, opening restaurants The General, Catch and Catch Miami with them. After parting ways in 2015, he took a job the culinary consultant for Hilton at Resorts World Bimini in the Bahamas in 2016 and, in 2018, served as chef de cuisine at Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs. In late 2019, he opened the Asian-fusion restaurant and bar Warrior on the Sunset Strip.
After becoming the first female winner of Top Chef, the Illinois-native returned to Chicago and set about building a restaurant empire, beginning with the opening of Girl and the Goat in 2010. In 2011, she published Girl in the Kitchen, her first cookbook, and, in 2016, launched This Little Goat, a line of bottled sauces and spice mixes. A year later, she competed in the first season of Food Network's Iron Chef Gauntlet, beating Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon, becoming an Iron Chef in the process.
She married craft beer consultant Gary Valentine in 2013. The couple welcomed a son, Ernie, in 2016.
Since his win, Rosenberg returned home to Colorado to open Blackbelly Market in Boulder, later expanding it to include a butcher shop as well. In 2017, he opened Santo, also in Boulder, dedicated to the food of his home state of New Mexico. He and wife Lauren Feder welcomed a daughter, Sophie, in 2017.
After beating his brother Bryan Voltaggio to take home top honors in season six, he opened—and closed—several Los Angeles eateries, including ink. restaurant and ink.sack sandwich shop. He married Bria Vinaite in 2022, before welcoming a baby girl with the actress two years later.
Following his win in season seven, Sbraga began to make a name for himself in his hometown of Philadelphia, opening a handful of restaurants in quick succession that all closed just as quickly. He appeared in a 2016 episode of MasterChef as a guest judge alongside Gordon Ramsay and Christina Tosi. In 2017, he signed on as the culinary director of the Fitler Club, developing menus for the private lifestyle club's restaurants and catering operation, but departed before opening. In 2019, he opened hot chicken eatery Sonny & Sons at Purdue University in Indiana.
Perhaps the Top Chef winner with the highest profile, Blais returned four seasons after losing to Stephanie Izard to win the show's first All Stars season. Since then, he's regularly appeared on the show as a judge, launched fried chicken fast-casual chain Crack Shack in So. Cal, served as creative director of Flip Burger Boutique in the southern U.S., and opened restaurant Juniper & Ivy in San Diego, Calif. Maintaining a regular presence on the Food Network, Blais was one of 16 American chefs to compete in the Tournament of Champions. Married to wife Jazmin since 2006, the couple have two daughters, Riley and Embry.
Since his win, Qui has opened restaurants in Austin, Miami Beach, Houston and Dallas, but many have shuttered. In March 2019, it was announced he would be opening a second location of his East Side King eatery, this time in a food hall in Denver, but lingering controversy from a 2016 assault arrest that saw him accused of hitting his then-girlfriend while intoxicated (he denied he'd done anything wrong and charges were dropped in 2018) ended the deal shortly after it was announced.
After returning from Last Chance Kitchen to beat frontrunner Brooke Williamson (who returned to the show to reclaim what had been taken from her in a later season), the South Korean-born chef publicly came out in 2014, co-hosted a Travel Channel show 36 Hours in 2015 and published the cookbook Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques in 2017. She succeeded Padma Lakshmi's Top Chef host post in 2023.
The Philly-based chef was in the midst of launching his first restaurant, Laurel, when he competed on and won the show's 11th season. He still owns and operates the French-American eatery and has added sister wine bar In the Valley and Royal Boucherie to the mix, as well. In September of 2019, he published his first cookbook, Laurel: Modern American Flavors in Philadelphia.
After Michael Voltaggio's protégé became a Top Chef winner in her own right, she started writing food and travel guides for Robb Report. In January 2019, she opened her first restaurant, Nightshade, in L.A.'s Arts District. After serving as Oprah Winfrey's private chef on occasion, the two became close and Lin contributed a handful of recipes to the media mogul's 2017 cookbook.
Following his victory, Ford opened his own restaurant on South Beach called Stubborn Seed. Already a father to Madelyn, his daughter from a previous relationship, Ford and wife Maria Carmelina welcomed daughter Lucianna in 2016.
After losing to Kristen Kish in her first season, Williamson returned in season 14 to claim what she thought was hers four seasons prior. Since her win, she's launched a handful of L.A.-based restaurants: Hudson House, The Tripel, Playa Provisions, Small Batch and Da Kikokiko. She went on to win the first season of Food Network's Tournament of Champions, beating out Richard Blais and fellow Top Chef alum Antonia Lofaso.
After returning to the competition via Last Chance Kitchen and ultimately winning, Flamm returned to his role as executive chef as Chicago's Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Spiaggia. He and wife Hillary Delich welcomed son Luka in December 2018.
After winning big in season 16's finale, held in Macau, Clark returned home to Dothan, Ala., to raise infant son Monroe and continue running KBC, her restaurant and catering company.
Since winning the $250,000 prize on Top Chef All Stars: L.A. in June 2020, King continues to dominate the San Francisco culinary scene amid coronavirus quarantine via the online fan subscription site Patreon, where she offers exclusive recipes and access to her dining services. She's also been featured in publications like Food and Wine magazine and highlights her drool-worthy cooking on her Instagram page.
In July 2021, Erales won season 18 making him the first-ever Latino winner of Top Chef. However, shortly after his win, Erlaes found himself in hot water when it was made public that he was fired from his previous restaurant job for violating their ethics policies after filming the Bravo series. He later apologized for having an extra-martial affair at his previous place of employment.
Less than a year after taking home the season 19 title, the Brooklyn-based executive chef returned to the franchise to compete against Top Chef winners and finalists in World All-Stars. He became the first person in Top Chef history to have back-to-back wins.
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