Season 12

The wicked-awesome supersized season premiere introduces the 16 chefs from across the country who will be battling it out in Boston. Richard Blais (“Top Chef All-Stars” winner) joins Tom, Padma and Gail at judges table. The chef’testants are immediately thrown into hot water with the series’ first ever Sudden Death Quickfire Challenge where one chef is forced to cook for their life to stay in the competition. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs must cook and serve a re-imagined version of the first dish they ever remember making, but will this trip down memory lane be a dream come true or a nightmare for the chefs? The challenge plays out at the first ever “Top Chef Food Festival” alongside some of Boston’s most prominent culinary stars including Barbara Lynch, Ming Tsai, Lydia Shire, Jasper White, Todd English, Ken Oringer, Jamie Bissonnette, Kristen Kish and Tiffani Faison.

The chefs create a surf-and-turf dish for guest judge Todd English; teams prepare dishes to be served up to Boston police and firemen and judged by guest chef Dante de Magistris.

In a nod to the Boston Tea Party, the contestants must use tea to enhance their dishes for guest judge Ming Tsai; Fenway Park hosts a competition in which the chefs must use ballpark snacks to create fine-dining dishes.

The chefs must create the ultimate bar snack for guest judge George Wendt ("Cheers"); the chefs must work in teams to write a create a 3-course Italian menu; actress Emmy Rossum ("Shameless") ruffles the chefs with her gluten-free diet.

In a head-to-head challenge, the chefs cook for guest judge Jamie Bissonnette; the chefs make dishes on a lean military budget at the historic Watertown Arsenal.

The chefs trek through a bog to gather cranberries; the chefs cook a Thanksgiving feast using only ingredients and cooking methods found in the 1600s; descendants of the Mayflower colonists and Wampanoag tribe join the judges at the table.

The chefs are split into two teams and challenged to open their own pop-up restaurants, which includes creating menus, coming up with the decor and training the wait staff; acclaimed restaurateur Barbara Lynch serves as guest judge.

The chefs must cook chowder for chef Jasper White; eliminated chefs return; for the Elimination Challenge, the kitchen opens its doors for the first time ever for a tasting party with "Top Chef" super fans.

The chefs are challenged to concoct a tasty sausage dish for NFL player Rob Gronkowski; the chefs create dishes inspired by famous New England authors, such as Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson.

The chefs flash back to their college days when they must prepare a ramen noodle dish judged by Andy Cohen and his college roommate, Dave Ansel; chef Jacques Pepin challenges the chefs to create a dish inspired by Julia Child's cooking techniques.

The chefs are thrown for a loop when their family members join them to serve as their sous chefs in an Elimination Challenge, putting their tickets to the finals on the line.

In honor of their last quick-fire challenge in "Beantown," the chefs must prepare an innovative bean dish; the chefs compete for a spot in the finals by creating dishes that exemplify the future of cooking.

In the first of the three-part finale, the three finalists head to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where they are greeted by head judge Tom Colicchio who invites them to watch the final cook-off of Last Chance Kitchen and learn which eliminated chef will rejoin the competition. Award-winning Mexican chef Enrique Olvera introduces the Quickfire Challenge where the chefs must create a dish highlighting the Mexican ingredient xoconostle, a special type of prickly pear. San Miguel de Allende is a mecca for artists all over the world, and the chefs' creativity is put to the test when they are challenged to create a unique dish inspired by a local artist’s work for the Elimination Challenge. Cooking at the famed Instituto Allende, the chefs will have four hours to prepare dishes for an event while their artists complete a new work of art that will be on display. The chef that doesn't translate the artist’s vision will have to say "adiós" to the title of Top Chef.

The chefs have to make two dishes with chocolate with one being sweet and the other savory.