The Top Chef contestants were still in shock after Charbel’s elimination last week. After all, he was one of the stronger competitors as shown by his regular positioning at the top of the Power Rankings. There isn’t too much time to mourn the loss of their close companion because the competition goes on.
This week is the return of another Top Chef tradition: Restaurant Wars. Though not all the international versions had this challenge so there were some who were at a disadvantage. Many had the feeling it was coming so there wasn’t too big of a surprise. What they didn’t expect was to see Michelin-star chef, Clare Smyth. She would serve as the guest judge.
This season, they had 24 hours to open up their own restaurant. They wouldn’t be building it up entirely from scratch because they were given an existing infrastructure; the restaurant Core by Clare Smyth. In addition, they would have access to a professional restaurant director meaning no one had any front of house responsibilities. However, that placed the focus even more on the food. As an added twist, the judges had a secret diner inside the restaurant to report back to them about service.
Victoire and Buddha served as the team captains. Joining Victoire at Root were Tom, Nicole, and Gabri. United Kitchen included Buddha, Ali, Amar, and Sara. Not only were the two groups cooking to ensure they remained for another week, but the winning team would divide a cash prize of $40,000.
Let’s take a look at our week nine Power Rankings.


New episodes of Top Chef season 20 air Thursday nights on Bravo.


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