Top Chef

- Season 15

(2017)

A diverse group of chefs enter the Top Chef kitchen in Denver and are immediately put to work, tasked with making a pot luck dish to introduce themselves to the judges and their fellow competitors. Then the cheftestants prepare their modern take on a meat and potatoes dish for a blow-out block party in Larimer Square with 200 diners and Denver's biggest culinary names, including Hosea Rosenberg, Troy Guard, Frank Bonanno and Gregory Gourdet. The chefs learn the importance of the phrase 'first impressions are everything.'

In one of Top Chef's signature Quickfires, the chefs battle against each other in a fierce Mise En Place relay. Then, acclaimed local Chef Alex Seidel invites the group to his farm to learn about his take on farm-to-table cuisine. There, they are tasked with creating a progressive meal incorporating a mystery ingredient from the farm into each dish. In this first team challenge, the sparks fly as the chefs get to know each other.

In a Sudden Death Quickfire based on the iconic Denver omelet, one chef completely cracks under the pressure. Then, the cheftestants tap into their college palates as they make dishes in food trucks for students in Boulder.

The chefs make upscale versions of kid menu classics. But there's a catch, they can only use child-sized cookware, utensils and mixers. Then, the chefs must present dishes based on their heritage for Immigrant food influencers.

Tom surprises the chefs with a twist that changes the game; the chefs are sent camping where they must make a 5-star meal outdoors and are met with an unexpected storm; chef Naomi Pomeroy joins the judges in the Colorado mountains.

Padma and Richard Blais challenge the chefs to transform the most laborious dishes from their own menus into dishes for home cooks; chef Keegan Gerhard tasks the chefs with creating German-inspired dishes.

One of the chefs gets a special delivery; the chefs must create a breakfast dish using Nutella; Olympians Meryl Davis, Gus Kenworthy and John Daly inspire the chefs to focus on precision, speed and creativity in the Top Chef Olympics.

The chefs must create two new restaurant concepts from design to dishes in a matter of days; culinary icons Bruce and Eric Bromberg join the judges to evaluate each restaurant's successes and failures.

Cooking for Michelin-starred chef David Kinch adds pressure to a stressful Sudden Death Quickfire based on edible flowers; the chefs host the ultimate tailgate party at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the home of the Denver Broncos.

The chefs put their scariest nightmares on a plate in dessert form during a Quickfire set at the iconic Stanley Hotel, the site that inspired Stephen King's "The Shining"; the chefs offer a dish to John Hickenlooper, governor of Colorado.

The chefs are reunited with the winner of Last Chance Kitchen and face Padma, Tom and chef Wylie Dufresne; the Quickfire challenge requires the chefs to prepare a dish incorporating the old saloon-slinging medicinal beverage, sarsaparilla.

The Voltaggio Brothers judge the Rocky Mountain Oyster Quickfire; the chefs encounter surprise visitors from home in an emotionally charged Elimination Challenge, where one chef is sent packing before the next leg of the finals in Aspen.

Before the chefs can prepare the catch of the day, they must first actually catch it; the only thing standing between the chefs and the Grand Finale are 200 plates for the chefs and food connoisseurs attending the Food and Wine Classic.

The final two chefs cook the meal of their lives in an effort to take home the ultimate title and prize; the chefs need to impress not only the judges but also culinary superstars Nancy Silverton, Jonathan Waxman and Curtis Duffy.