Top Chef Season 23: Carolinas isn’t just about elite cooking—it’s embracing the full flavor of the South with a mix of hospitality, regional pride, and exciting guest appearances that blend culinary heavyweights with pop culture flair.

Never Miss Your Chance to Audition!

Join our WhatsApp Channel for exclusive casting calls and audition alerts!

Join Now

Filmed across Charlotte, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina, the season highlights Southern charm through challenges inspired by local history, agriculture, and community spirit.

A standout crossover brings Bravo’s own Southern Charm stars Madison LeCroy and Craig Conover into the kitchen as guest judges. The Charleston-based personalities challenge the cheftestants to reinvent Southern comfort dishes with their own creative spins, infusing the competition with authentic Lowcountry vibes and a dose of reality TV drama.

This marks a fun intra-network moment, tying Top Chef‘s high-stakes cooking to the relaxed, social energy of Southern hospitality.

Comedy gets a Southern twist with Charlotte-raised comedian Fortune Feimster, who puts the chefs’ improv skills to the test in a lighthearted yet pressure-filled segment—proving that quick wit is as essential as knife skills in the Top Chef kitchen.

The season features a star-studded lineup of other guests adding layers of excitement:

• Actress Danielle Brooks joins the chefs for the inaugural Top Chef Fishing Derby in Greenville, followed by a fan-crafted Quickfire Challenge on the scenic Swamp Rabbit Trail, judged by “Try Guys” Keith Habersberger and Rachel Ann Cole.
• Melissa Benoist appears for a regal celebration honoring Queen Charlotte’s birthday and the show’s 20th anniversary.
• Liza Koshy pushes boundaries by tasking chefs with innovative presentations that demand out-of-the-box creativity.

Culinary luminaries round out the guest roster, including legends like Emeril Lagasse, plus acclaimed chefs such as Sean Brock, Meherwan Irani, Nok Suntaranon, Michael Mina, and many more who bring expertise to judge dishes highlighting Carolina staples—think sweet potatoes, okra, whole hog BBQ, and fiery peppers.

These appearances amplify the season’s focus on Southern hospitality: warm welcomes, community ties, and bold, diverse flavors drawn from the region’s farms, outdoors, and cultural history. Challenges nod to resilience (including Asheville’s post-hurricane recovery) while celebrating the Carolinas’ emerging food scene.

With supersized 75-minute episodes allowing more time for guest interactions and regional storytelling, Season 23 feels like a love letter to the South—blending high-end competition with approachable, heartfelt moments.

The early premiere episode is streaming now on Peacock (since March 3), with the official Bravo debut Monday, March 9, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (shifting to 9:30 p.m. starting March 16). New episodes drop the next day on Peacock.

Top Chef Season 23 airs Mondays on Bravo.