The most deliciously stressful entry on the 2025 TV schedule is sadly close to leaving again, with Top Chef: Destination Canada set to conclude Season 22’s two-part Milan-set finale. It’s been a wild cycle for both cheftestants and viewers, with strong competitors like Massimo Piedimonte and César Murillo going home as Chi-Town’s Bailey Sullivan survived and thrived via Last Chance Kitchen. Host Kristen Kish paid this group the ultimate compliment, while also telling CinemaBlend whether or not she’d like to compete again.
When I talked to Kish about settling into her second year as Top Chef’s high-fashion host, I mentioned that this season, perhaps more than any other, had me switching my predictions for winner on a near-weekly basis. She agreed with that assessment, and shared that she reflected more than once on how she would have felt to be cooking against Destination Canada’s hopefuls, saying:
All of them are on these highs and lows and journeys and it is anyone's game. And it was like that from the very beginning. Sometimes I think about like, 'Oh my God, if I had to compete against all of them, and this was my season?' Terrified, absolutely terrified. [Laughs.] They're all so good.
Considering Kristen Kish was the first Top Chef contestant to take home the top honors after being eliminated and winning out on Last Chance Kitchen — which can be streamed with a Peacock subscription — one might think that she'd have an unwavering confidence in the realm of cooking. But such is the combined talent of Season 22's chef pool that its talented host would be so intimidated.
Would Kirsten Kish Compete On Top Chef Again?
Given her voiced hesitance to potentially go up against the many chefs vying for the prize this season, I had to ask if she ever thought about competing again and if that was a possible goal. To my surprise, her answer was both resolute and against the grain. As she put it:
No, Nope, nope, nope. [Laughs.] The good thing is that they probably wouldn't let me. But no, I wouldn't do it again.
As surprised as I was to hear the former Iron Chef host sound so convinced that she'd never enter the Top Chef gauntlet again (presumably for a Masters season), I can fully understand why that would be her stance. Even if it wasn't an issue of being "terrified" to go up against a completely different batch of high-achieving chefs, jumping back into the competition wouldn't really give Kish a leg up anywhere professionally, considering she's already hosting.
As such, she would be putting not only her pride and her steady blood pressure at risk by taking part in a future season, but she'd also potentially put at risk her easy-to-qualify role as a "fomer Top Chef champion." If she'd compete in Masters and lose — quite a longshot, I'd think — then it might dim the gloss of her Season 10 victory.
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Jumping back into the competitive frying pan was a good move for chef Brooke Williamson, who came in second place to Kish during Season 10. She joined other returning chefs within Season 14's newbs vs. vets lineup, avoided the dreaded early eliminations, and ended up taking the crown. But without a similar need for vindication, Kish is perfectly happy not putting that kind of pressure on herself again.
Only time will tell if Kirsten Kish ever does decide to don an apron again for the sake of competition, even if it's not on Top Chef, but I wouldn't count on it. Fans can definitely find her hosting the Season 22 finale, which will air on Bravo on Thursday, June 12, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
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