Top Chef
London Calling
TV Flash files “London Calling” as the first listed hour of season 20 — Top Chef (2006–present) on Bravo, season 20, episode 1, aired 2023-03-09, 75 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S20E01: listed hour 283 of 338 in the Top Chef guide, first listed hour of season 20. It aired 2023-03-09 (75 min). The listed hour before it is “The Final Plate” (S19E14). Next is “Rice, Rice Baby” (S20E02).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
To celebrate the milestone 20th season, Top Chef returns for an epic international showdown with World All-Stars in London. Sixteen of the greatest competitors, including winners and finalists, representing 11 different Top Chef iterations around the globe face off in the fiercest showdown the culinary series has seen. For their first Quickfire Challenge, the chefs pair up and combine ingredients to cook a dish featuring U.K. seafood. Then, in the first Elimination Challenge, the chefs must create vegetable-forward dishes where protein serves as the accompaniment. Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons return as judges, and joining them as the first guest judge of the season is legendary Michelin-star chef Angela Hartnett.
Viewer FAQ
Where does London Calling sit in the Top Chef guide?
S20E01 is listed hour 283 of 338 — first listed hour of season 20, season 20 episode 1.
When did Top Chef S20E01 air?
London Calling aired 2023-03-09 and is listed at 75 minutes.
Is Top Chef just yelling in a kitchen?
Technique, nerves, and last-chance kitchen as spectacle. Padma's calm and Colicchio's verdicts are the temperature, not chaos for clip shows.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Pack your knives: Bravo's kitchen as competitive drama, Padma's calm, Tom Colicchio's verdicts, chefs cooking like the camera is a Michelin inspector. Top Chef pulled food television out of daytime demo mode and made technique, nerves, and last-chance kitchen into spectacle.
Bravo pulled food television out of daytime demo mode in 2006 and windowed a kitchen like a thriller. Top Chef, from Magical Elves: Padma Lakshmi's calm, Tom Colicchio's verdicts, Gail Simmons, chefs cooking as if the camera were a Michelin inspector. Pack your knives as catchphrase and threat. Technique, creativity, mental toughness as spectacle. International versions and spinoffs followed. Chef-as-celebrity culture got a weekly chart. Twenty-three seasons in this pack, 338 episodes, still open. Rex can keep…
Filed against
- Padma Lakshmi as Host
Padma Lakshmi hosted Top Chef with a calm that made Bravo’s kitchen feel like a Michelin inspection — 2000s competitive drama, Tom Colicchio’s verdicts, chefs cooking like the camera is a critic. Food television pulled out of daytime demo…
- Tom Colicchio as Judge
Tom Colicchio issues the verdict on Top Chef — Bravo’s kitchen as competitive drama, knives packed, technique treated like a blood sport the cameras refuse to soften. Padma keeps the calm; he keeps the score. TV Flash files him as 2000s…
- Gail Simmons as Judge
Gail Simmons judged Top Chef as Bravo's calm in the last-chance kitchen — Padma's poise, Tom Colicchio's verdicts, chefs cooking like the camera was a Michelin inspector. Food television pulled out of daytime demo mode. TV Flash files her…