24 in 24: Last Chef Standing - Season 1 Discussion and Eliminations

Food Network's newest show premieres Sunday night and is called 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing. This is a competition show where 24 chefs will take on 24 food challenges for 24 consecutive hours until there is only one chef remaining.  The prize for winning the competition is $50,000 and a trip of a lifetime.  Michael Symon and Esther Choi will be hosting the competition while the judges will be Eric Adjepong, Maneet Chauhan, Scott Conant, Stephanie Izard, Jet Tila, Bryan Voltaggio, Michael Voltaggio, and Brooke Williamson.  The season will be eight episodes long with the finale airing on Sunday, May 12th.

There are a lot of familiar faces competing on the show from shows such as Food Network Star, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, Tournament of Champions, etc.  The chefs competing are: Carlos Anthony, Gabriella Baldwin, Emilie Rose Bishop, Josephine Clemens, Chris Dodson, Kess Eshun, Elizabeth Falkner, Declan Horgan, Christopher Ingram, Airis Johnson, Matt Jordan, Camille La Caer, Danielle Lee, Mika Leon, Chris Oh, Viet Pham, Marc Quinones, Nadine Charlie Ray, Chad Rosenthal, Vijay Sadhu, Aarthi Sampath, Martel Stone, Michael Toscano, and Marcel Vigneron.

I will track the eliminations for each episode below after they air, so spoiler alert if you do not want to know the eliminations.  I will also do a post for the finale and you can discuss this season of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing in the comments.

*Side note - Food Network already had a show called $24 in 24 where Jeff Mauro had a budget of $24 to eat for a day in different cities.

Tournament of Champions (TOC V) Season 5 Winner

Sunday night at 8pm ET on Food Network is the two-hour season 5 finale of Tournament of Champions. There are four chefs remaining who are competing for bragging rights and a $150,000 prize. The final four chefs are Jet Tila, Britt Rescigno, Maneet Chauhan, and Antonia Lofaso.  Maneet Chauhan won season 2 of Tournament of Champions and Jet Tila was in the final four of the last three seasons. Britt was also in the final four last season and Antonia Lofaso was in the final four in the first season.

For the semi-finals of season 5, Jet Tila will face Antonia Lofaso and the winner will represent the West in the final matchup.  Maneet Chauhan and Britt Rescigno will face off with the winner representing the East in the final matchup.  The two winners of those match-ups will face off in the finale to determine the winner of Tournament of Champions season five.

Here is a previous post about all of the matchups and outcomes for season 5 of Tournament of Champions, but below is how the final four got to this point:

• Jet Tila beat Brian Malarkey 84-82, Carlos Anthony 79-79 (won tie breaker), and Mei Lin 82-79.
• Maneet Chauhan beat Nini Nguyen 83-76, Eric Adjepong 86-83, and Tobias Dorzon 86-84.
• Britt Rescigno beat Jonathon Sawyer 78-74, Marc Murphy 84-80, and Amanda Freitag 83-80.
• Antonia Lofaso beat Casey Thompson 92-83, Michael Voltaggio 84-82, and Kevin Lee 85-81.

I will update this post with the winner of the final three match-ups after the episode airs and you can discuss this season of Tournament of Champions in the comments.

UPDATE - Continue reading if you want to know who won the final matchups and season 5 of Tournament of Champions.

Spring Baking Championship Season 10

Spring Baking Championship season 10 airs on Food Network on Monday nights and this season is once again hosted by Jesse Palmer. The judges on the show are also the same as last year - Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman, and Kardea Brown.  This season will be 11 episodes long with a two-part finale and there are twelve bakers competing this year.

The twelve bakers competing for the $25,000 prize and a feature in Food Network Magazine are:

• Sandro Arotinco
• Michael Bass
• Nickey Boyd
• Alexandre Bonnefoi
• Katelyn Boutilier
• Sabrina Courtemanche
• Rochelle DeSouza
• Robert Gonzalez
• Zoe Ma
• Anna Simeonides
• Steven Tran
• Ericka Wells

Feel free to discuss Spring Baking Championship season 10 in the comments and I will do another post for the final episode.  The final episode where the winner will be crowned is set to air on May 6, 2024 and the bakers will be creating a wedding cake as the final challenge.

Kids Baking Championship Winner - Season 12

Photo - Food Network

Monday night at 8pm ET on Food Network is the season 12 finale of Kids Baking Championship where the winning baker will take home the prize of $25,000 and a feature in Food Network Magazine.  The final two episodes will be played back-to-back and the winner will be revealed after the 9pm episode. The four remaining bakers going into the final episodes are: Lila Smethurst (age 11; San Antonio, TX), Tasi Savage (age 12; Kona, HI), Levi Dubner (age 13; Boca Raton, FL) and Oscar Stowell (age 12; Ross, CA).

The first episode description states, "It's school spirit day, and the theme is tie-dye! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the kid bakers to make tie-dyed doughnuts and ice cream with two different flavored swirls. It's a lot of color, a lot of flavors and a lot of fun as the four remaining bakers compete for the three spots in the finale. When the day is done, one baker will go home."

The final episode description states, "The finale erupts with fun as the top three kid bakers face the final challenge, science fair volcano cakes. Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the final bakers to make a cake that's not just delicious, it also has to look like a real volcano and erupt like one too! The baker with the best all-around volcano cake will win $25,000 and be crowned the Kids Baking Champion!"


I will update this post with the season 12 winner of Kids Baking Championship once the episode airs, whether that is this week or next week.  Feel free to discuss the final episodes and the season in the comments.  Valerie Bertinelli has announced that Food Network did not ask for her to return for future seasons, so this may be the last time she is on the show.

Continue reading to see who won season 12 of Kids Baking Championship.....

Tournament of Champions Season 5 Bracket and Winners

Tournament of Champions season 5 starts on Sunday, February 18th at 8pm on Food Network and 32* chefs are competing for the biggest prize yet of $150,000.  While the main tournament doesn't start until February 18th, there are qualifiers that will air on Wednesday, February 7th and 14th where 16 chefs are competing for the four 8th seeds of the main tournament.  

The chefs competing in the qualifiers for the 8th seeds are:  Aaron May, Adriana Urbina, Bruce Kalman, Claudia Sandoval, Chris Scott, Demetrio Zavala, Kevin Lee, Gerald Sombright, Ilan Hall, Justin Sutherland, Leah Cohen, Maria Mazon, Michael Reed, Nini Nguyen, Pyet Despain, and Ray Garcia.  There are eight chefs from the East and eight chefs from the West and there will be four winners of 8th seeds to join the actual tournament (2 for East and 2 for West).

The chefs competing in the main tournament East bracket include: Eric Adjepong, Karen Akunowicz, Kelsey Barnard Clark, Maneet Chauhan (season 2 winner), Tobias Dorzon, Tiffani Faison (season 3 winner), Amanda Freitag, Jose Garces, Stephanie Izard, Marc Murphy, Britt Rescigno, Jonathon Sawyer, and Dale Talde (plus the 2 qualifier winners).

It is important to note that there are only 13 chefs named for the East bracket and when you add the 2 qualifiers, you only get 15 instead of 16.  The obvious speculation is that Darnell Ferguson was involved in Tournament of Champions which was taped before his arrest.  He has been involved in every season to date, so there is no reason to believe he was not involved in this season.  It will be interesting to see how they edit the show if that is the case, but I would expect he didn't make it far if they didn't do any re-filming.

The 16 chefs competing in the West bracket include: Carlos Anthony, Shirley Chung, Mei Lin (season 4 winner), Antonia Lofaso, Crista Luedtke, Brian Malarkey, Shota Nakajima, Joe Sasto, Adam Sobel, Casey Thompson, Jet Tila, Michael Voltaggio, season 1 champion Brooke Williamson (season 1 winner), and Lee Anne Wong (plus the 2 qualifier winners).

Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner will once again be providing the play-by-play analysis of the competition, and Hunter Fieri will again be following the action backstage with interviews.  The judges this year include Donatella Arpaia, Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Susan Feniger, Lorena Garcia, Carla Hall, Michael Mina, Eric Ripert, Marcus Samuelsson, Nancy Silverton, Ming Tsai, Michael White, Jonathan Waxman, Geoffrey Zakarian and Andrew Zimmern.

This post will be used to track the winners for each episode, so come back after each episode to see who won the matchups on Tournament of Champions and to discuss the episodes.  Also, the Tournament of Champions season 5 bracket will be added here once it is revealed. The finale will air on Sunday, April 7th where the winner will be crowned and awarded $150,000.

UPDATE - The Tournament of Champions season 5 bracket has been revealed and it is below:

Photo - Food Network

Continue reading to see who won the matchups in each episode......

Food Network's Darnell Ferguson Arrested for Assault, Strangulation

Photo - Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections

Food Network's Darnell Ferguson was involved in a January 2nd incident that involved his estranged wife.  She told police that Ferguson forced his way into her house, threatened to kill her and choked her until she passed out.  TMZ also reports that she told police she eventually lost consciousness, and when she regained consciousness, she claims that Ferguson ripped off her shorts and demanded to see her privates.  He allegedly took her IDs an credit cards and left.

The charges Darnell Ferguson faces include burglary, strangulation, assault, terroristic threatening, menacing, criminal mischief, and theft of a stolen debit or credit card.

On January 19th, his lawyer gave a statement to People saying, "Mr. Ferguson continues to maintain his complete innocence and is confident that when all the facts are made public, he will be exonerated. While (Thursday’s) hearing was preliminary, a number of new details were introduced by the Louisville police that begin to paint a clear picture of the events of January 2, 2024."

The grand jury hearing is scheduled for the week of February 19th, so there will be more updates after that.

After news of the arrest, Food Network pulled all episodes of Superchef Grudge Match from airing on the network and removed it from all online and on-demand platforms. The newest season of Superchef Grudge Match had just started, so chefs that competed on that show may never get to see their episode air.  It should also be interesting to see how Tournament of Champions is edited as Darnell always competes in that and the new season is starting soon.  

I will try to update this post after the grand jury hearing in the middle of February with any new developments.

Holiday Baking Championship Winner Season 10

Monday night at 8pm ET on Food Network is the two-hour season ten finale of Holiday Baking Championship where the winning baker will take home $25,000.  This season there are five remaining contestants in the final episode.  The five remaining contestants competing for the prize are: Ashley Landerman (bakery owner), Kevin Conniff (pastry chef instructor), Justine Rota (bakery owner), Sharrod Mangum (pastry chef), and Thoa Nguyen (bakery owner).  One of the contestants will be eliminated during the first hour of the episode and the final four will compete during the second hour for the $25,000 prize.

The episode description for the final episode states, "It's the season finale, and the last five bakers face three challenges. Christmas Eve is filled with so much excitement and so many gifts, and the sweetest gift of all is a plate of cookies for Santa. For the final preheat, host Jesse Palmer wants the bakers to upgrade those cookies by making macaron wreaths for judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller! The bottom two bakers battle it out to see who makes it to the final main heat by taking on a stocking-stuffed eclairs challenge. Then, its “All aboard!” as the remaining four bakers make showstopping, championship-worthy holiday train cakes with actual trains running through them! In the end, a Holiday Baking Champion is crowned and takes home $25,000!"

Pictures of the final cakes have been posted on the Food Network Facebook page, but we do not know who made which cake and which one was the winning cake. I will update this post with the winner of Holiday Baking Championship season 10 after the episode airs and feel free to discuss this season in the comments.

Continue reading to see who won season 10 of Holiday Baking Championship.......

Halloween Baking Championship Winner Season 9

Monday night at 9pm ET on Food Network is the season nine finale of Halloween Baking Championship where the winning baker will take home $25,000.  The three remaining contestants competing for the prize are Hollie Fraser, Ryan McCord and James Cox.  All three of the remaining contestants are pastry chefs and their experience has helped them make it to the finale.

The episode description for the final episode of the season states, "As John Henson lays a dead flower to commemorate the lost souls at Henson & Sons Carnival, he asks the finalists to make flourless desserts. Then, the bakers create cakescapes depicting new carnival attractions for the grand re-opening, where judges Carla Hall, Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young will name the Halloween Baking Champion!"

I will update this post with the winner after the episode airs and feel free to discuss this season in the comments.

Continue reading to see who won Halloween Baking Championship season 9......

BBQ Brawl Season 4 Winner

Monday night at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network is the season four finale of BBQ Brawl where there will be a double episode to determine the winner.  Each episode will have a double elimination as there are still five contestants left.  The final contestants competing for the win are Dominique Leach with Bobby Flay; Harold Villarosa and Ippy Aiona with Anne Burrell; and Chris Binotto and Chuck Matto with Sunny Anderson.

The first episode description states: "The contenders get some unexpected love from their friends and family back home, and they pour their hearts into some seriously nostalgic 'cue in an attempt to make it to the finale. Little do they know that Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell and Sunny Anderson have a big surprise waiting for them at the end of the day!"

The second episode description states: "The final contenders battle it out in a quest to take home the Master of 'Cue title. Captains Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell and Sunny Anderson take the guardrails off as the pitmasters cook up their ultimate BBQ feasts in a last-ditch effort to impress the judges."

I will update this post after the episode airs with the winner of BBQ Brawl season 4.

Continue reading to see who won season 4 of BBQ Brawl......

Great Food Truck Race Winner - David vs. Goliath Season 16

Sunday Night at at 8pm ET on Food Network is the season finale of The Great Food Truck Race where the winning team will take home $50,000.  The two remaining teams competing for the prize are Khana (Maryam Khan, Al Jane, Jake Nielsen) and The Easy Vegan (Alexi Mandolini and Taylor Herbert, Matt Heikkila)

The final episode is in Los Angeles and the description states:

"With two trucks left to fight in the finale, each team steals one dish from the other's menu and crafts their own versions to sell at the Regarding Her Food Festival. Tyler Florence surprises them with a high-stakes rapid fire challenge judged by three renowned Los Angeles chefs, and he allows them to only sell one all-in entrée all day. Both teams scrap for their last sales, hoping to claim the grand prize of $50,000!"

I will update this post with The Great Food Truck Race season 16 winner after the episode airs.  Feel free to discuss this season and the finale in the comments.  Both teams remaining are first timers in the David vs. Goliath theme of the season, so the winner will be someone who doesn't currently run a food truck.

Continue reading to see who won season 16 of The Great Food Truck Race.....