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**Disclaimer: This Tournament of Champions article is based on the writer's opinion. Readers' discretion is advised.**
Tournament of Champions season 6 aired its finale on April 20. It ended with Antonia Lofaso being declared the winner, earning the champion's belt and a $150,000 cash prize. She battled Sara Bradley in the final cook-off, defeating her with a significantly better score.
Before the final cook-off, Antonia defeated Britt Rescigno, eliminating her from the competition with an advantage of one point after they had tied in their initial scores. On her way to the finale, Antonia defeated Maria Mazon, Rocco DiSpirito, and Kevin Lee.
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She is a renowned Tournament of Champions alum who has appeared in all six seasons of the show. Although she could not advance beyond a few rounds in the show's early seasons, season 5 saw Antonia make it to the competition finale. However, she lost the winner's title to Maneet Chauhan. In season 6, Antonia was determined to come out on top, and she did.
While others might think otherwise, I believe Antonia's win was obvious. It became apparent when the edits heavily focused on her loss in the previous season, portraying her sixth appearance as her redemption story. In episode 7, aired on April 13, Antonia revealed that she decided to participate in the show at the last minute to prove she could do it.
"TOC 6 is mine," she said.
Although others wanted to win, no one had a journey quite like Antonia's. Not only were her preparations nearly perfect, but the portrayal of her emotional journey on TOC, from failure to perseverance, made it obvious that the champion's belt would be handed to her.
Tournament of Champions star Antonia Lofaso never failed to impress the judges
After clearing the initial rounds, in episode 1, Antonia was pitted against Maria. They had to prepare an herbaceous dish using yellow mustard, a donut pan, leeks, and chicken breast. Antonia had prepared a pan-roasted chicken, mushroom leek sauce, and potato leek cake. The judges appreciated her dish, saying it was a "great dish," since everything worked together.
Another panelist said the dish was "TOC worthy." Meanwhile, Maria prepared chicken with ranchero sauce and pickled leek salad. The Tournament of Champions experts were equally complimentary of Maria's dish. However, they granted the victory to Antonia, eliminating Maria from the race.
It was the first time Antonia's redemption storyline became apparent because her dish was awarded the win, even when one of the elements was missing. Antonia had forgotten to put the fried leeks on her plate, which was the crunchy element in her preparation. However, the panelists were unaware of it and gave Antonia an 86 out of 100 points, while Maria received 82.
In episode 6 of Tournament of Champions, Antonia, the "Princess Warrior," battled against Rocco DiSpirito. A thing worth noticing was that each time Antonia was introduced, host Guy Fieri reminded viewers she was a TOC season 5 finalist who had lost.
In my opinion, it gave Antonia's story an emotional angle, making her journey from losing to winning appear more satisfactory and even justified.
Antonia and Rocco were tasked with cooking sturgeon with Tuscan kale, using a mortar and pestle, and a gastropub plate. Rocco cooked bacon-wrapped sturgeon with braised Tuscan kale, meanwhile Antonia prepared fish & chips with tartar sauce and mushy peas.
While Rocco's dish was appreciated with minor flaws pointed out, Antonia's preparation made one of the judges smack his napkin on the table. Starting from the tartar sauce to the cooking of the fish, he said everything was "perfect" and "next level."
"This is probably the best fish and chips I've had ever," another expert noted.
Consequently, Antonia defeated James Beard Award winner Rocco and moved on to face Kevin Lee in episode 7. While speaking to the cameras, Antonia revealed she returned to the competition after not wanting to for her fans' sake, who supported her at every step. She added that she was determined to win for them. Once again, it added to her storyline, her redemption arc.
While battling Kevin, Antonia prepared braised pork cheeks with coconut, corn, mamba peanut butter puree, and chili flat beans. Like the cook-off against Rocco, Antonia's dish made another judge smack their napkin on the table in appreciation.
"This chef is phenomenal," the judge said.
To give credit where credit is due, Antonia outperformed Kevin and Rocco, earning significantly better scores. Besides her storyline, it was her performance throughout the season that made her an obvious contender for the winner's title.
In the Tournament of Champions finale, Antonia first eliminated Britt with her fried pompano and vegetable escabeche dish. She then cooked Latin-inspired bangers and mash, seared beef salad, and sausage vinaigrette while battling Sara Bradley. Guest judge Martha Stewart claimed her dish was "impeccably flavored."
Consequently, Antonia received a higher score and became the winner of Tournament of Champions. Guy praised her perseverance, saying he had never met anyone as dedicated and focused as Antonia.
Tournament of Champions season 6 is available to stream on MAX.
