Top Chef

- Season 8

(2010)

Eighteen past contestants return to compete in New York City-based culinary heats. They are challenged to re-create the ill-fated dish that caused their elimination during their previous stint on the show.

Pop singer Joe Jonas enlists the gourmets to prepare a snack for children taking in a sleepover at New York's American Museum of Natural History. Later, prehistoric sustenance inspires breakfast items for the children, with Season 1 host Katie Lee Joel returning to guest judge.

A mise-en-place relay race; chefs cook in four of New York's finest restaurants.

Chefs must create a holiday stuffing dish with no utensils; catering the U.S. Open launch party.

In a series first, head judge Tom Colicchio enters the competition, challenging the chefs to beat his time in creating a dish. Then, the meal masters head to Chinatown to serve up dim sum for locals.

The remaining culinary all-stars hook and cook a fish dish for a summer's end beach party.

The chefs get hooked into a fish-fillet contest at an elite seafood restaurant. In a unique Restaurant Wars test that follows, they must establish "one night only" eateries under the stars in New York City.

Contestants are judged on presentation and plating; traditional three-course Italian meal.

The chefs prepare fondue. Later, they cater late-night talker Jimmy Fallon's birthday party.

The chefs get in touch with their inner child with the help of Sesame Street stars Cookie Monster, Telly, and Elmo. For the Quickfire challenge, the chefs must make a cookie that pleases the gang. The chefs then take over a Target store in the middle of the night and for the Elimination challenge must make a dish with whatever they can find in the aisles.

This week, the chefs must use a deep fryer to impress the queen of southern cooking, Paula Deen. Deen is then joined by John Besh as a guest judge in the Elimination Challenge where the chefs provide the seafood at a charity event benefiting the fisherman of the Gulf region.

The chef'testants are tasked with making something out of nothing on the open water for this week's Quickfire.The chefs then head to Ellis Island where they are surprised with their family tree and are tasked with creating a dish based on their heritage.

The chefs set sail for the Bahamas, and each participates in a culinary duel against the person who was crowned the winner during their first stint on the show. Later, they create meals for Bahamian royalty, but it's a royal pain with limited cooking equipment.

In the Bahamas, the meal maestros cater a high-end lunch party for a yacht club's 80th anniversary and serve up Bahamian delicacies, including conch, which they themselves must catch in the ocean.

The still-standing chefs fashion a challenge for their fellow contestants in Season 8's final Quickfire. Then, they dish up a "last supper" for celebrity chefs Masaharu Morimoto, Wolfgang Puck and Michelle Bernstein.

The final all-star food fighters try to seal the deal with an ideal meal.

The drama is served extra spicy on Bravo's "Top Chef All-Stars Reunion Special." Bravo executive and "Watch What Happens: Live" host Andy Cohen talks to season eight's chef'testants and judges -- host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and judge Gail Simmons. Cohen will answer viewers' questions and dish on season eight's good, bad and undercooked.