Andy DehnartFor 12 seasons, Top Chef has aired on Wednesday nights, but the show is moving to Thursdays for its 13th season starting in December. After it premieres Wednesday, Dec. 2, it will move to Thursdays at 10, starting Dec. 3.
Top Chef California—its location will move between six cities in the state—will also bring back Emeril Lagasse as a regular judge, though he’s not in the official judges’ awkward photo above. In the photo is the other permanent judge, Richard Blais, who returns for a second season for some inexplicable reason.
Emeril judged seasons 9, 10, and 11, or at least, showed up to judge some episodes; besides Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Padma Lakshmi, the other full-time judges tend to alternate, which in the case of Blais, is not a bad thing.
Bravo also revealed the show’s cast, many of whom come from the same cities, and the preview below:
- Karen Akunowicz, Boston, Mass.
- Angelina Bastidas, Miami, Fla.
- Carl Dooley, Boston, Mass.
- Garret Fleming, Washington, D.C.
- Jeremy Ford, Miami, Fla.
- Renee Kelly, Shawnee Mision, Kan.
- Phillip Frankland Lee, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Marjorie Meek-Bradley, Washington, D.C.
- Kwame Onwuachi, Washington, D.C.
- Amar Santana, Orange County, Calif.
- Grayson Schmitz, New York, N.Y.
- Jason Stratton, Seattle, Wash.
- Frances Tariga-Weshnak, New York, N.Y.
- Isaac Toups, New Orleans, La.
- Wesley True, Atlanta, Ga.
- Giselle Wellman, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Chad White, San Diego, Calif., and Tijuana, Mexico