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Tournament of Champions season 6, hosted by Guy Fieri, will premiere on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 8 pm ET on Food Network and stream on Max. The high-stakes competition features chefs from Food Network shows competing in a single-elimination format for a grand prize.
Before the premiere of season 6, there will be a series of qualifiers, where 16 chefs compete for eight open slots in the main tournament bracket. This allows four new chefs to compete against the returning 24 contestants. Food Network announced Tournament of Champions: The Qualifiers will air on February 16, 2025, at 8 pm ET.
All four previous champions are stepping aside for the first time in the show to take on new roles as judges, making the competition open for any chef to win. After eight weeks and 31 sets of culinary battles, one chef will be crowned victorious, claiming the Tournament of Champions belt and a $150,000 prize.
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Speaking about season six, Guy Fieri said:
“One thing you can count on with TOC is that we’re always upping the ante, making the competition even more intense and unpredictable.”
He continued:
“With all four past champs putting down their knives for this round, it’s anyone’s game. Don’t sleep on the qualifiers or anyone else as this year it’s truly anyone’s chance to grab that belt!"
Tournament of Champions season 6 chefs and features explored
In Tournament of Champions, chefs—mostly winners and alumni from other Food Network shows—compete in a single-elimination, sudden-death format. Divided into East and West divisions, they face off in head-to-head battles. The challenges are determined by Fieri's "Randomizer," which sets cooking styles, ingredients, tools, and time limits. Judges anonymously score the dishes to declare the winner.
The 24 returning chefs announced to take part in the new season include:
- Karen Akunowicz - a finalist on Tournament of Champions Seasons three and four.
- Kaleena Bliss - a celebrated restaurateur and chef.
- Sara Bradley - Kentucky-based chef, Chopped grand champion, and the first-ever Chopped legend.
- Chris Cosentino - appeared on The Next Iron Chef
- Rocco DiSpirito - competed in Guy's Grocery Games
- Nini Nguyen - competed on Season five of TOC
- Stephanie Izard - a celebrated chef and restaurateur
- Kevin Lee - competed in Season five of TOC
- Toblas Dorzon - competed in Chopped and Guy’s Grocery Games
- Amanda Freltag - competitor on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef.
- Antonia Lofaso - competed in the TOC Season five finale
- Tim Love - competed on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef.
- Shota Nakajima - a three-time James Beard semi-finalist.
- Michael Reed - a Los Angeles-based restaurateur
- Britt Rescligno - won Chopped in 2019
- Joe Sasto - Chicago-based celebrity chef
- Chris Scott - New York City-based chef
- Adam Sobel - appeared on TOC and Chopped
- Dale Talde - James Beard-nominated chef and restaurateur
- Casey Thompson - competed in Season five of TOC.
- Jet Tila - culinary anthropologist, and cookbook author.
- Fabio Viviani - Florence-born restaurateur and chef
- Lee Anne Wong - appeared on Chopped and The Next Iron Chef.
- Claudette Zepeda - appeared in Selena + Chef
These 24 chefs will be joined in the main tournament by eight additional winning contestants from the qualifiers tournament. In the qualifiers, 16 chefs compete for eight open slots in the main competition bracket.
Series staples Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Susan Feniger, Alex Guarnaschelli, Mary Sue Milliken, Charlie Palmer, Wolfgang Puck, Marcus Samuelsson, Nancy Silverton, Martha Stewart, Michael Symon, Ming Tsai, Jonathan Waxman, and Andrew Zimmern will be joined by Mei Lin (season four champion), Brooke Williamson (season one champion) and Maneet Chauhan (season two and five double winner) as judges in season 6.
As the action unfolds in front of a live audience, the network announced Tiffani Faison will join Justin Warner to serve as TOC sideline reporter, providing play-by-play updates. While Simon Majumdar assumes a new role as the judges' correspondent, gathering their opinions on why a dish won or lost. Hunter Fieri will follow the action backstage, interviewing the winning chefs about their experiences on the show.
Tournament of Champions season 6 release time details
Season 6 is set to premiere on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 8 pm ET on Food Network and will also be available to stream on Max. Here are the details about the release time in different regions:
Guy Fieri, Justin Warner, and season 3 winner Tiffany Faison will give viewers a sneak peek at new twists and challenges of the Randomizer, and reveal the full bracket for this year's season in Tournament of Champions VI: The Bracket Reveal, which airs on February 23, at 10 pm ET.
