No. of episodes 13 No. of contestants 15 Host Padma Lakshmi Number of episodes 13 | Original network Bravo Winner Ilan Hall Air date October 18, 2006 Country of origin United States of America | |
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Original release October 18, 2006 (2006-10-18) – January 31, 2007 (2007-01-31) Judges Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons Winner Ilan Hall | ||
Top Chef: Los Angeles is the second season of the American reality television series Top Chef. It was first filmed in Los Angeles, before concluding in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. The season premiered on October 18, 2006 and ended on January 31, 2007. Padma Lakshmi replaced Katie Lee Joel as the host, with Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons returning as judges. The winning recipe from each week's episode was featured on Bravo's Top Chef website and prepared by Season 1 contestant Lee Anne Wong in a web video called The Wong Way to Cook. Bravo cited negative viewer reaction to the Season 2 chefs' attitudes and overall behavior as the reason why no reunion episode was filmed. In the season finale, Ilan Hall was declared the Top Chef, defeating Marcel Vigneron. Sam Talbot received the Fan Favorite Award.
Contents
Contestants
15 chefs were selected to compete in Top Chef: Los Angeles. Marcel Vigneron and Elia Aboumrad later returned to compete in Top Chef: All-Stars. Josie Smith-Malave and Sam Talbot also returned to compete once again in Top Chef: Seattle and Top Chef: Charleston, respectively.
Contestant progress
^Note 1 : The chef(s) did not receive immunity.
^Note 2 : Otto bowed out voluntarily before Lakshmi eliminated anyone, deciding that his misconduct over the unpaid lychees contributed the most to his team's loss.
^Note 3 : After allegations of cheating, the judges decided not to eliminate anyone. Consequently, two chefs were eliminated in the following episode.
^Note 4 : There were five winners in the Quickfire Challenge. These winners did not compete in the Elimination Challenge.
^Note 5 : Mia quit voluntarily before Lakshmi eliminated anyone, fearing Elia would be eliminated.
^Note 6 : Following the Elimination Challenge, no winning team was declared. The Bottom 3 was decided based on each chef's individual performance.
^Note 7 : Cliff was disqualified for aggressive physical contact with Marcel. No one else was eliminated going into the finale.