TheTournament of Championsseason 5 winner is beyond deserving, though they were already a bigger powerhouse in the culinary world than you may realize. The Food Network series is a competition that brings in chefs who are mostly alumni from other cooking competition shows (mainly those airing on the Food Network) to figure out who is the best of the best. This is an all-star cooking competition, meaning the chefs have to bring their A-games if they want a chance to walk home with the title of the one and onlyTournament of Championschampion.
In the fifth season ofthe Food Network series, the format changed, with a qualifying round before the actual tournament began. Eight West and eight East competitors went head-to-head, with only four going to the main tournament. This also brought about some big moments since one of those qualifying chefs, Kevin Lee, made it to the quarterfinals of their tournament bracket. However, Lee couldn’t pull out the win, and the victor ofTournament of Championswas the show’s first two-time winner.
Maneet Chauhan Won Tournament Of Champions Season 5
Maneet Chauhan Was The First Two-Time Champion
Maneet ChauhanwonTournament of Championsseason 5 as part of the East A bracket. In the first round, she defeated Nini Nguyen (who was an eighth seed after making it through the qualifying rounds) by a score of 83-76. She beat Eric Adjepong (Top Chef: Kentucky) 86-83 in the second round and Tobias Dorzon (Chopped) 86-84 in the quarterfinals. In the Final Four, she beat Britt Rescigno 86-81 and then Antonia Lofaso (Top Chef) 90-89 in the finals.
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This big win won her $25,000 and a new SUV.She also won $40,000 in the contest rounds throughout the competition and donated that to Nashville restaurants that suffered during the pandemic shutdowns. Chauhan also gave $10,000 to a friend who owns a North Carolina restaurant that was part of theBrown in the Southseries. After winning the competition, Chauhan said it was an honor to not only compete but to raise and donate winnings along the way (viaFemina.in):
“Winning this competition is even more special for me because I think not only have I won it for myself, but I have won this for Nashville, and Nashville is home. It is such an incredible place… This is probably one of the toughest competitions out there. I’ve competed on a gamut of these. But this puts your entire life’s education work, experience to (the) test. And I think that is what makes it so exciting.”
This also wasn’t the first time that Maneet Chauhan wonTournament of Champions.Chauhan also won the second season of the show, beating Brooke Williamson. She is the only competitor ever to make it to three finals, much less win it twice. She also won more battles (15) than any other contestant in the tournament’s history, and made it to the final four in season 4, where she lost to Mei Lin. Chauhan competed in the first five seasons of the show before becoming a judge in the sixth.
Tournament Of Champions' Maneet Chauhan Is Iconic In The Food Industry
Maneet Chauhan Was A Huge Success Before Tournament Of Champions
Maneety Chauhan was alegend before she ever stepped foot in the kitchen duringTournament of Championsseason 5. She got her start cooking in her homeland of India, where she graduated the top of her class from the WelcomGroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, India’s top culinary and hotel management school. She then interned in several kitchens and hotels for the Taj Group, the Oberoi Hotels, and Le Meridian before making her way to the United States (viaFood Network).
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She proved herself from the start, when she beat out 40 male chefs, as the only female to apply for the executive chef position and was the opening chef of Vermilion, a contemporary Indian and Latin fusion restaurant. Chauhan led the restaurant to great success, winning many awards along the way and making her name as one of the top new chefs in Chicago at the time. This led her to compete in some televised food competition shows.
Chauhan also received the great honor of President Barack Obama inviting her to the White House.
Chef Chauhan was a contestant onIron Chef America, where she went head-to-head with the legendary Chef Masaharu Morimoto. She moved on and earned a spot as a judge onChopped(also on Food Network) and then competed onThe Next Iron Chefin its third season. She also competed onChopped All-Stars. Chauhan also received the great honor of being invited by President Barack Obama to the White House as part of the Easter Egg Roll Hunt 2014.
What’s Next For Maneet Chauhan
Maneet Chauhan Returned To Tournament Of Champions
The biggest news for Maneet Chauhan is thatshe got to serve as a judge onTournament of Championsseason 6, which premiered in March 2025. In the first season, she lost in the semifinals, she won the second, lost in the quarterfinals in the third, lost in the finals in the fourth, and won the fifth. There aren’t many people more qualified to judge future competitors than Chauhan. Also joining her in season 6 as a judge is Mei Lin, who beat her in season 4, and Brooke Williamson, whom she beat in season 2. Of her success, Chauhan has said (viaAP News),
“For the longest time, as women chefs, we’ve been trying to say, ‘Judge us on our food, not on who we are.’ And that’s exactly what’s happening on this show. Do whatever you want, just be the best at it, because that’s the only way you’ll succeed. And that’s exactly what I did.”
Chauhan also continues to work with the community after herTournament of Championswin. She works with CRY (Child Rights and You) and P.A.V.E. (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment) and is devoted to giving back to the community. She is also working on opening a new restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, and promoting a book she released in 2023 calledFlavors of the World: A Culinary Journey: Exploring Global Cuisine Through Taste and Tradition.
