Everything You Need To Know About Top Chef Amateurs

Maybe you have a flair for the culinary arts that goes totally unrecognized outside your own home. Maybe you quietly wondered if you had the chops to become a chef while you pursued a career as a pharmacist or school teacher. Wouldn't it be fun to see what you could accomplish in that big kitchen on "Top Chef?" And wouldn't it be cool to hear Richard Blais call you "chef?" Fantasy becomes reality July 1, when "Top Chef Amateurs" premieres on Bravo. Popular alumni from the long-running "Top Chef" series play sous chef to professional hair stylists, teachers, and dental hygienists (via YouTube.) These kitchen amateurs will relive some of the classic challenges from "Top Chef" in pursuit of a $5,000 prize, per Entertainment Weekly. 

Season 1 of "Top Chef Amateurs" was filmed on the set of "Top Chef: Portland" starting at the end of October 2020, right after "Top Chef" had wrapped (via Oregon Live). Maybe the "Top Chef" alumni appearing on "Amateurs" were already in town, having participated in the Portland season. Amateur contestants were put through the same COVID-19 safety protocols as participants in "Top Chef: Portland."

Bravo posted some videos on its website to tease the first two episodes of "Top Chef Amateurs," which air back-to-back starting at 10:30 p.m. on July 1. Don't touch that dial: You can catch both episodes shortly after the season finale of "Top Chef: Portland," which begins on Bravo at 8 a.m.

Episode 1 is a battle of titans, as Michelle King and Richard Blais face off in their roles as assistants to two home cooks. Both won "Top Chef: All Stars" — King in 2020 (via Parade) and Blais in 2011 (via Eater). They will try to help their amateurs avoid the pitfalls so many professionals stepped into while preparing risotto or scallops on "Top Chef." In Episode 2, "Top Chef: Charleston" finalist Shirley Chung is forced to relive a version of the radish challenge from that season, with Kwame Onwuachi of "Top Chef: California" on the other side of the kitchen. 

Regular "Top Chef" judge Gail Simmons hosts "Top Chef Amateurs," and she promises in a YouTube preview that some contestants will impress, while others will flop. All of them are sure to get a little starstruck, and maybe they'll learn a thing or two they can take back to their home kitchen.