The Food Network’s Tournament of Champions Season 5 came to an end with a new winner being crowned.
Hosted by star celebrity chef Guy Fieri, Tournament of Champions takes previous winners from other Food Network cooking shows and pits them against one another in a high-stakes cookoff.
Season 5 brought back every winner from previous seasons to defend their title as 32 competitors put their cooking skills to the test, all of them hoping to win a record-breaking $150,000 grand prize and the title of grand champion.
Tournament of Champions Season 5 Finale & Winner Recap
The final episode of Tournament of Champions Season 5 pitted the final four competitors against one another to determine the winner.
Faced against the Randomizer, which picks the protein, produce, equipment, style, and wild card for each round, this episode featured three rounds for the last rounds of chefs as they competed for the title.
The first matchup ("Best in the West") featured Food Network veterans Antonia Lofaso and Jet Tila while the second battle ("Best in the East") pitted Maneet Chauhan against Britt Rescigno.
Lofaso and Tila's Randomizer had them cooking with whole halibut, name root, luau leaves, en papillote presentation, and tapioca maltodextrin. Meanwhile, Chauhan and Rescigno cooked with alligator, chayote, hay, an interactive presentation, and xanthan gum.
Lofaso earned an 86-83 win over Tila while Chauhan defeated Rescigno with a score of 86-81.
This pit Chauhan against Lofaso, with their Randomizer landing on side of goat, cacao pods, heating mixer, high-end and low-end presentation, and spicy components, and they had an added wild card of using something layered in their final round dish.
The two tied in the taste and plating scores, but with Chauhan earning higher marks in the Randomizer score, she was named the Season 5 winner.
Maneet Chauhan's Tournament of Champion Dominance
Known for her work as an executive chef and a judge on Food Network shows like Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games, Maneet Chauhan dominated the new season of Tournament of Champions from start to finish.
She defeated New Orleans-based chef Nini Nguyen in the first round (83-76), Alex vs. America host Eric Adjepong in the second round (86-84), and former NFL player-turned-chef Tobias Dorzon in the third round (86-84).
Not only did she win the competition in Season 5, but she also became the first chef to win Tournament of Champions multiple times after also winning Season 2 in 2021.
Previous winners include Brooke Williamson (Season 1), Tiffani Faison (Season 3), and Mei Lin (Season 4), although Chauhan also places as the runner-up in Season 2 and Season 4.
Tournament of Champions is streaming on Discovery Plus and Max.
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