The second season of the American reality competition show Top Chef Masters was announced on October 22, 2009. In addition, it was announced that Gail Simmons would be added as a critic. The season premiered on April 7, 2010 with 22 chefs competing against each other in weekly challenges. In the season finale that premiered on June 9, 2010, Marcus Samuelsson was crowned Top Chef Master.

Critics

Master Contestants

22 chefs competed in Top Chef Masters. In elimination order the contestants were:

Preliminary rounds

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Champions' round

Top Chef Master

Masters' progress

Preliminary rounds

Note: The chefs who received first and/or second place in the preliminary rounds move onto the champions' round.

Champions' round

Susur Lee and Rick Moonen tied for second with 17 stars each.

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 four episodes, five or six chefs compete out of the twenty-two and two chefs of their group move 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: Unlike Season 1, where the Quickfire was scored on a scale of one to five stars, there are no stars won during the Quickfire, and instead, the winner(s) of the Quickfire will receive $5,000 for their charity or charities. 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 20 stars. The two chefs with the most stars at the end of the Elimination challenge are considered the winners and move on to the Champions Round. The eight total winners then meet up for the final 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: First Date Dinner

Ana Sortun, Govind Armstrong, Jerry Traunfeld, Jimmy Bradley, Susan Feniger, and Tony Mantuano are the first group of chefs competing for two spots in the Champions Round.

Episode 2: It's My Party

Carmen Gonzalez, David Burke, Marcus Samuelsson, Monica Pope, and Thierry Rautureau are the second group of chefs competing for two spots in the Champions Round.

Episode 3: Pub Food

Season 1 Veterans Graham Elliot Bowles, Jonathan Waxman, Ludo Lefevbre, Mark Peel, Rick Moonen, and Wylie Dufresne are the third group of chefs competing for two spots in the Champions Round.

Episode 4: Cast and Crew Meal

Debbie Gold, Jody Adams, Maria Hines, Rick Tramonto, and Susur Lee are the fourth and final group of chefs competing for two spots in the Champions Round.

Episode 5: Wedding Wars

Episode 6: Scary Surf and Turf

Episode 7: Tailgating

Episode 8: Food of the Gods

Episode 9: Improv

Episode 10: Finale