Top Chef was launched on
Bravo in 2006 and featured civilians called 'cheftestants' competing for $100,000, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, and a showcase at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. The programme frequently had guests as judges, prompting the programme's judges
Tom Colicchio and
Hubert Keller to consider mounting a derivative of the programme for professionals. Bravo announced
Top Chef Masters in July 2008 and its lineup in April 2009; ex-model
Kelly Choi was to host, while the judges comprised
Saveur editor-in-chief
James Oseland,
New York Magazine restaurant critic
Gael Greene, and British writer
Jay Rayner. Rayner's participation prompted explainer articles as to who he was, as American audiences were unfamiliar with him. Episodes were filmed in
Los Angeles, with production handled by Magical Elves, and each featured a quickfire challenge scored blind out of five and an elimination challenge. Among the guest judges for that series was Colicchio and
Gail Simmons, that series was won by
Marcus Samuelsson. Choi was replaced with Australian chef
Curtis Stone in January 2011 and Greene and Rayner with
Gourmet writer
Ruth Reichl that March, with Stone also judging. From season three, winning a quickfire challenge won $5,000 and an elimination challenge $10,000, and chefs were no longer graded on a scale. Production moved to
Las Vegas for the fourth season, which was judged by Oseland, Reichl, journalist Krista Simmons, and
Gilt Taste editor
Francis Lam and won by
Chris Cosentino. For the fifth and final series, the series returned to Los Angeles. Chefs were paired with sous chefs, who competed in
Battle of the Sous Chefs, a parallel online-only series presented by
Hugh Acheson; winning and losing sous chefs won their master chefs advantages and disadvantages. Episodes were judged by Oseland, Lam, Reichl,
Los Angeles Magazine editor Lesley Suter, and a returning Gail Simmons, who was head judge. Douglas Keane won the series. ==Seasons==