Which chefs made it to the Top Chef season 22 finals?

Top Chef season 22 finale part 1 dropped on June 5, 2025, and saw three chefs make it to the last part of the finals. The four remaining contestants had flown to Milan with the judges and, with the unique backdrop of the city, had to prove their talent even when the heat had been turned up way higher than expected.

The episode titled 'Viva Milano!' started with a Quickfire Challenge where the chefs had to work with risotto. Everyone was tense because risotto is a tough dish to master and even tougher to make within the given time frame.

Later, the elimination round rolled around on Top Chef, where all four of them were subjected to brutal criticism, with one of them even being sent home.

To add a twist to it all, the producers brought in top athletes from Team USA, such as Elana Meyers Taylor and Red Gerard, among others, along with Michelin chef Andrea Aprea and Top Chef alum Ali Ghzawi.

Which chefs will proceed to the finals part 2 on Top Chef?

The three remaining contestants who will make it to the Finale Part 2 on Top Chef are Bailey Sullivan from Chicago, Illinois; Shuai Wang from North Charleston, South Carolina; and Tristen Epps from Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, Cesar Murillo, who also hails from Chicago, Illinois, was eliminated by the end of episode 13.

During the first challenge, the chefs have to work up a risotto dish. This quickfire challenge was to award the winner $15,000 as a cash prize. Tristen commented,

"Not risotto! I thought that I could manifest it out of this competition and completely avoid it."

However, even though he did not want to work with the ingredient, Tristen ended up winning the challenge and the cash prize along with it. He had made African-inspired risotto with tomatoes and charred buttered greens. Quipping upon the same, he said,

"Look at that! I made Black people risotto and won."

During the elimination round, Bailey and Cesar were on the chopping block and had to work extra hard to make it to the finale. Cesar decided to whip up a butternut squash casserole with gorgonzola and a sage pesto, while Bailey decided to present a crispy polenta gratinata with a bruleed gorgonzola.

She had already blundered with similar ingredients before and was hoping to amend her mistakes. To her surprise, the judges liked her dish even though they initially doubted her ambition behind the same.

However, this meant that Cesar was going home. Kristen announced that he would have to pack his knives and leave. Commenting on his departure from Top Chef, he said,

"I'm just telling myself over and over about how proud I am of me. I got to go to Europe for the first time, I got to see myself grow as a person, grow as a chef."

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Top Chef season 22 airs new episodes weekly on Thursdays at 9 PM Eastern Time on Bravo. The next day, they can be streamed online via Peacock.

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