'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend': How Kristen Kish became the second female winner of 'Top Chef' franchise

From being a contestant to a host, Kristen Kish's culinary journey has come a long way

PUBLISHED JUN 15, 2022

Kristen Kish on 'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend' (PATRICK WYMORE/NETFLIX)

If you've been waiting eagerly for the return of 'Iron Chef', then brace yourself, as the show gets bigger and better with 'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend'. As per the synopsis on Netflix, "Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they'll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever "Iron Legend."

Hosted by Alton Brown and Kristen Kish, the challenger chefs will face off against Curtis Stone, Marcus Samuelsson, Gabriela Camara, Dominique Crenn and Ming Tsai. Looking for other culinary reality shows? You might want to consider 'MasterChef Junior' and 'MasterChef: Back to Win'.

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Who is Kristen Kish?

Kristen Kish is a chef and the winner of Season 10 of 'Top Chef'. Kish was born on December 1, 1983 in Seoul, South Korea, and adopted by a family in Kentwood, Michigan, when she was four months old. She has an A.A. in culinary arts and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. In addition to being the host of 'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend' with Alton Brown, she also hosts '36 Hours' and co-hosts 'Fast Foodies'.

Her run on 'Top Chef'

Kish competed in 'Top Chef' in 2012. During the qualifying rounds, she had to create a signature soup that was judged by celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. After clearing the challenge, Kish went on the compete in the show, although she was eliminated in Episode 11. However, she made a comback during the 'Last Chance Kitchen', with 5 consecutive wins and found herself in the finale with Brooke Williamson. She defeated Williamson and became the first contestant to win after clearing the 'Last Chance Kitchen' segment and the second female winner in the 'Top Chef' franchise. In a conversation with Asia Society, Kish got candid about what happens behind the scenes of a cooking show like 'Top Chef'. "A lot of waiting around. Long days. It was hard to only "cook" for a few hours and the rest of the time sit or wait for the next thing. I'd rather work for 18 hours then sit for five hours," she said. "I learned to live off of four hours of sleep. I'm good at napping now instead of sleeping! There was also an abundance of chips... I ate my weight in Doritos (haha). I will say the show did a great job of accurately portraying what was going on. It's got to be a hard job to edit so much down to 44 minutes," she added.

'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend' premieres on June 15, 2022 only on Netflix.