''Top Chef: Texas'' is the ninth season of the American

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional ch ...

''. The season was filmed in various cities in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, including

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, and Austin, before moving on to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

for the finale. The season premiered on November 2, 2011. This season of ''Top Chef'' featured a much larger number of contestants than any previous season, with 29 chefs. ''Top Chef: Texas'' also introduced a new side competition to the series; in addition to the Quickfire and Elimination Challenges featured in televised episodes, the ''Last Chance Kitchen'' competition allowed eliminated contestants to compete head-to-head in a series of webisodes, with the winner eventually returning to the main competition. In the season finale, Paul Qui was declared the winner over runner-up Sarah Grueneberg. Chris Crary was voted Fan Favorite.

Contestants

The cast of the ninth season of ''Top Chef'' initially consisted of 29 contestants. After the qualifying challenges in the first two episodes, the pool of chefs was narrowed down to 16.

Eliminated in qualifying rounds

Top 16

Nyesha Arrington later competed in '' Top Chef Duels''. Grayson Schmitz returned to compete in '' Top Chef: California''.

Contestant progress

: The chef(s) did not receive immunity for winning the Quickfire Challenge.
: Due to the qualifying rounds, the show did not use its traditional elimination format until the third episode.
: Beverly won ''Last Chance Kitchen'' and returned to the competition.
: As a reward for winning the Quickfire Challenge, Sarah was allowed to sit out the Elimination Challenge.

: (WINNER) The chef won the season and was crowned "Top Chef". : (RUNNER-UP) The chef was a runner-up for the season. : (WIN) The chef won the Elimination Challenge. : (HIGH) The chef was selected as one of the top entries in the Elimination Challenge, but did not win. : (IN) The chef was not selected as one of the top or bottom entries in the Elimination Challenge and was safe. : (LOW) The chef was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Elimination Challenge, but was not eliminated. : (OUT) The chef lost the Elimination Challenge.

Episodes

''Last Chance Kitchen''

References

;Notes ;Footnotes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Top Chef (Season 9) Top Chef 2011 American television seasons 2012 American television seasons Television shows set in Texas Television shows filmed in Texas Television shows filmed in British Columbia