Season Six of "Top Chef" Promises to Turn Up the Heat in the Kitchen

"Top Chef," Bravo TV's hit cooking competition, is headed back to the kitchen for its sixth season, which promises more food, more fun and yes, more drama. The popular reality show premieres on August 19 and this time around, the "cheftestants" will mix it up in Las Vegas, which has emerged as a hot food town in recent years (past cheftestants, Tiffany Faison, Marcel Vigneron and Season Three winner, Hung Huynh, all toiled in Sin City restaurants at one time or another.)

The Season Six judge lineup remains unchanged from Season Five; willowy host, Padma Lakshmi, herself a cookbook author returns, as do head judge Tom Colicchio, chef/owner of Craft Restaurants and judges Gail Simmons of Food & Wine Magazine and food critic Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (Young alienated more than a few viewers and rankled cheftestants last season with his acerbic comments. Young recently told the New York Daily News, "...if I hurt anyone's feelings then I regret that.") If past seasons are any indication, expect past contestants to pop up to judge a Quickfire or two.

Seventeen contestants compete each week for a $100,000 grand prize and the title of Top Chef. Each show features a Quickfire Challenge, which usually entails whipping up a gourmet dish in mere minutes (usually less than an hour). Past Quickfires have asked contestants to use gas station goodies, foods of a certain color or re-imagine traditional favorites. The Elimination Challenge is designed to test the breadth and depth of the contestants' culinary skill, customer service, management and teamwork. Past challenges have included catering high-end parties, cooking on a beach with no stove and the ever-popular Restaurant Wars, which pits two teams of contestants against each other as they battle to open a restaurant in 48 hours - from concept to decoration to service.

For the first time in the show's history, a set of brothers will compete for the title; Michael Voltaggio, a James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant (think Oscars for the restaurant world) and Bryan Voltaggio. While this is the first time siblings have been featured, this isn't the first time the show has featured a couple with a relationship prior to the show; "Top Chef: Chicago" featured couple, Zoe Antonitsas and Jennifer Biesty).

Among the star power lined up to make appearances in Las Vegas include Wolfgang Puck, Natalie Portman, Penn & Teller, Tyler Florence and Nigella Lawson.

"Top Chef" airs Wednesday nights on Bravo; check local listings.

Sources:

http://www.bravotv.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffani_Faison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Vigneron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_Huynh

Tracy Miller, Top Chef' judge Toby Young is back for Season 6 - and says he's sorry for the hurt feelings,New York Daily News