The first season of the American reality competition show Top Chef Masters was broadcast on Bravo. It is a spin-off of Bravo's hit show Top Chef. In the first season, 24 world-renowned chefs competed against each other in weekly challenges. The program took place in Los Angeles. In the season finale that premiered on August 19, 2009, Rick Bayless was crowned Top Chef Master.

Critics

Master Contestants

There are 24 chefs competing in Top Chef Masters. In elimination order the contestants are:

Preliminary rounds

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Champions' Round

Top Chef Master

Masters' Progress

Preliminary rounds

Rick Moonen and Nils Norén tied for second with 17 Stars each.

Champions' Round

Episodes

In each episode, the chefs compete to win money for their charity. The Elimination Round winners are awarded cash donations ($10,000) for their charities. For each of the first six episodes, only four chefs compete out of the twenty-four and one of the four chefs moves forward to the Champions Round. Episode format: Each episode consists of a Quickfire and an Elimination challenge. The Quickfire is a short, simple challenge that can vary from cooking, tasting or a food-related task (e.g., peeling a certain amount of apples to certain quality standard in a limited amount of time). The Elimination challenge is a more complex challenge which usually requires cooking a meal for many people with certain requirements. The chefs are scored based on how well they execute in the Elimination and Quickfire challenges. Scoring: The Quickfire is scored on a scale of one to five stars, and the Elimination challenge is scored on a scale of one to 20 stars (five stars given by the tasters, and fifteen given by the three critics). A chef can thus win a maximum of 25 stars. The chef with the most stars at the end of both challenges is considered the winner and moves on to the Champions Round. The six total winners then meet up for the final four weeks when one person will be eliminated in each episode until the finale where one winner is crowned Top Chef Master. The winning chef receives $100,000 for his or her designated charity.

Episode 1: Masters Get Schooled

Christopher Lee, Hubert Keller, Michael Schlow, and Tim Love are the first group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 2: The Lost Supper

Elizabeth Falkner, Graham Elliot Bowles, Suzanne Tracht, and Wylie Dufresne are the second group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 3: Offal Tasty

Cindy Pawlcyn, Ludo Lefebvre, Rick Bayless, and Wilo Benet are the third group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 4: Magic Chefs

Anita Lo, Douglas Rodriguez, John Besh, and Mark Peel are the fourth group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 5: Miniaturize Me

Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, Michael Chiarello, Nils Norén and Rick Moonen are the fifth group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 6: Trick in a Box

Art Smith, Jonathan Waxman, Michael Cimarusti and Roy Yamaguchi are the sixth and final group of chefs competing for one spot in the Champions Round.

Episode 7: Champions Round Begins

Episode 8: Dietary Restrictions

Episode 9: Masters of Disaster

Episode 10: Finale

Rick Bayless won the title of Top Chef Master and the $100,000 to his charity, Frontera Farmer Foundation.