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The winner of Top Chef season 22 is Tristen Epps, who won the ultimate grand prize.
The latest season took the “cheftestants” up north to Canada, before they headed to Milan, Italy, for the two-part finale, which concluded on June 12. After several weeks of competing against a fierce contestants pool, only three were left standing: Tristen, Bailey Sullivan and Shuai Wang.
As judge Tom Colicchio told PEOPLE in March 2025, the 15 chefs competing on season 22 were “exceptional.”
“It is often halfway through the season, all the food starts to look the same,” Colicchio continued. “Because I think the chefs … try to tailor their food to what they think we want. This season I felt that they’d stayed true to themselves throughout the entire season.”
For season 22, Bravo announced a new rule that put “guardrails on overused concepts” for the Restaurant Wars challenge. The network also revealed the winner would walk away with the “largest grand prize package in Top Chef history.”
So what does the Top Chef winner get? Here’s everything to know about the food competition show’s grand prize.
What does the winner of Top Chef get?
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Season 22 of Top Chef served up a bountiful buffet when it came to the generous prize package.
Aside from claiming the coveted title of “Top Chef,” the winner received the grand prize amount of $250,000 (provided by Saratoga Springs Water) as well as Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion Status and a Delta Air Lines flight credit worth $125,000, according to Bravo.
In addition to cash and travel credit, the season 22 winner will be featured in Food & Wine magazine and attend the Food & Wine Classic culinary experience in Aspen, Colo.
In a first for the competition series, the Top Chef winner will also host a dinner at the James Beard House in New York, as well as have the opportunity to be a presenter at the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago.
Do all Top Chef contestants get paid?
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It has not been disclosed what the Top Chef contestants are paid while competing on the show.
According to a June 2023 New York Times feature about Top Chef, “contestants are paid very little — nothing beyond a 450 per diem in early seasons.”
As former Top Chef competitor and guest judge Hugh Acheson told The New York Times, “you’re doing it to put it on your résumé, but you’re kind of working for free.”
Who is the most successful Top Chef winner?
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There have been many successful Top Chef winners throughout the show’s history, with several becoming respected restaurateurs in the food scene after their time on the series.
Danny Garcia, who won season 21, has walked away from Top Chef with the most money, winning a total of $303,000. He earned the $250,000 grand prize and $53,000 from weekly challenges, “the most of any chef in a season,” reported Deadline.
Afterward, he told PEOPLE that he was hoping to use the funds to buy a home with his wife, pastry chef Sumaiya Bangee, and contribute to his New York City seafood restaurant, Time and Tide. The couple most recently welcomed their first child, a son named Amir.
Top Chef contestants have also become familiar faces on cooking shows and food competition series.
Richard Blais was originally the runner-up on season 4, before returning to win the first Top Chef All-Stars, in 2011. He has been back as a judge since then. According to TV Insider, counting his time as contestant and judge, Blais has appeared in more than 50 episodes of the series.
Another former contestant, Kristen Kish, who won season 10, has become a fixture on the series. She stepped in as host on season 21, taking over for Padma Lakshmi. Kish returned to host season 22.
