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Tournament of Champions star Sara Bradley is a celebrity chef and a popular TV personality, known for her appearances on Bravo's Top Chef and Food Network's Chopped: All American Showdown. A native of Paducah, Kentucky, Sara is famed for her cooking style, which incorporates Southern, Jewish, and Appalachian cuisines.
Sara's passion for cooking developed due to the efforts of her mother and paternal grandmother, who taught her not only to cook but also to preserve. After attending Johnson and Wales Culinary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sara embarked on a journey from being a well-known chef in the country to starting her own restaurant, Freight House, a Southern-inspired restaurant and bourbon bar.
With over 20 years of experience under her belt, Sara has had the opportunity to work under several Michelin-starred chefs throughout her career. The Tournament of Champions star is currently a nominee for the 2025 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. She is one of the five nominees alongside Noam Bilizter, Jake Howell, Silver Iocovozzi, and Robbie Robinson.
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Sara, who is currently competing on the Tournament of Champions, has a considerable fan following on her Instagram account and YouTube channel, utilizing the social media platforms to share recipes and other updates.
Tournament of Champions star Sara Bradley's career and restaurant explored
The Tournament of Champions contestant attended Camp Ben Frankel in Illinois as a child before enrolling in Health High School. She then graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in psychology. Growing up, Sara worked in the kitchens of her high school and college, gathering experience and learning skills. She eventually enrolled in a culinary school and started her journey.
Now, Sara is married and a mother of five-year-old Lula and three-year-old Hazel. Outside her reality TV career and her restaurant, Sara spends her time bonding with her children and helping her husband raise cattle.
According to her official website, Sara learned cooking from her mother and grandmother, who taught her to live by the maxim "waste not, want not." Sara credits them for her achievements and her journey in the culinary industry. Having spent a considerable time learning from renowned and awarded chefs, Sara finally opened her own restaurant, Freight House, in 2015 in Paducah.
Since then, the Tournament of Championships star has appeared in multiple reality TV shows, including season 16 of Top Chef and season 20 of Top Chef World All Stars. During both her stints, Sara finished as the runner-up. However, in 2024, Sara won Chopped, becoming its first-ever "legend." She also holds the title of Chopped champion.
She recently appeared as a guest judge on the latest episode of Top Chef season 22, which saw Corwin and Kat's elimination.
According to her official website, Sara believes food is "more than just eating." It has "stories to tell." She incorporates her philosophy in her recipes at freight house, which aims to "provide fresh, regional and in-season ingredients by partnering with farmers throughout the area."
Her recipes strive to preserve Kentucky's waterways by serving "invasive Kentucky Silver Carp in multiple ways on the menu." Additionally, freight house is renowned for its bourbon, tagged as one of America's "great bourbon bars" by The Bourbon Review and Whiskey Advocate.
Besides cooking and consulting on recipes, Sara collaborates with nonprofit causes, including World Central Kitchen, Convention & Visitors Bureau Board. She also offers training for high school students on the autism spectrum. Moreover, she is an alumnus of the James Board Foundation's Bootcamp for Policy and Change.
Tournament of Champions contestant Sara Bradley's Instagram and other social media platforms explored
Sara has a significant social media presence with over 119K followers on her official Instagram account (@chefsarabradley). She uses the platform to post mostly about food, sharing cooking tips and tricks with her followers. The bio of her Instagram account showcases the names of the reality shows she has appeared in, describing her as the "chopped grand champion" and "1st ever chopped legend."
The latest post on her page, shared on April 13, 2025, is a reel with Tournament of Champions' co-star Nini. Besides that, her account shares cooking tricks, including steps to cook a "frenched rack of lamb," steps to "truss a rack of lamb," steps to "frenching a lamb," and more.
Sara also has a YouTube channel, where she shares different recipes. Unlike her Instagram account, it is not very active, as the last video posted was three years ago.
Watch Sara Bradley on Tournament of Champions season 6, available to stream on Discovery+.
