29 chefs gather at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, to compete for 16 slots in the 9th season of Top Chef. Tonight they are divided into three groups and must master their challenge to move forward. Some will know their fate immediately and receive a chef coat or be sent home. Others will be on the "bubble" and must compete and be judged again before they know their fates. Yes, it's bigger in Texas, but it's also hotter and harder, too.

Group 1 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using One Cut of a Pig Group 2 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using the Same Ingredient

Night two of heats for the coveted contestant spots starts with 10 competitors, 10 ingredients, and only five chef coats left. Once again, those who excel in the challenge get a coat immediately, and those who bomb are sent home. The remaining hopefuls on the "bubble" participate in a cook-off for the last coats against last week's four still waiting for their second chance. Also, tonight the first chefs are awarded an opportunity to get back into the race when they are sent to the sister series Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.

The chefs are asked to create a dish using rattlesnakes. Later they cater a girl's quinceañera celebration.

The contestants provide food for the local rodeo and its audience.

The chefs must create a dish using what they can find in a standard survival kit, then they have to shift gears and cater dinner to high society.

The contestants prepare steak for some of Texas' most discerning palates, at least beef-wise, the attendees of the Cattle Baron's Ball.

The contestants must cook for an all-star table of chefs whose avocation is hunting.

The chefs must adapt quickly when their cooking mashes up with social networking and they begin receiving dish notes via Twitter. Later, they will each be able to pay homage to an influential teacher when they are asked to create dishes in the teachers' honor.

The chefs combine learning with cooking tonight when they use Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine to influence their Quickfire dishes. Next, they team up for a barbecue cook-off where the diners determine the winning team.

The still-standing chefs sharpen their knives for the time-honored fan-favorite "Restaurant Wars" test. The all-encompassing culinary challenge tasks them to create an eatery, from its signage and logos to its menus and meals. The chefs prepare their dishes as quick as they can but the servers are having problems understanding where they need to go.

The Quickfire is on the move, except it's the ingredients that are moving—by train. Next, the chefs must access the darkness inside of them when they are asked to create "evil" on a plate.

The chefs race against time to finish prep work for a meal. Later, they serve up cuisine at a food-drive block party. Guest judge: Cat Cora.

In this week’s Quickfire, Pee-wee Herman stops by and the chefs are tasked to create his favorite breakfast dish – pancakes! But this isn’t any old pancake. The Chefs are challenged to be as creative as possible when making their batter, toppings and presentation. In "Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” Pee-wee learned a lot about searching the streets and asking for help. For the elimination challenge, the chefs are set loose in downtown San Antonio with a bike and $100, where they must find their ingredients and create a dish for Pee-wee’s dinner party. Pee-wee Herman joins Gail Simmons, head judge Tom Colicchio, and host Padma Lakshmi at judges’ table.

In this week’s Quickfire, the chefs must use their sense of touch, smell and taste to navigate through the pantry to gather ingredients for a dish while blindfolded. In a twist, the winning chef from Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen will re-enter the competition and join the remaining four chefs in the elimination challenge, where the chefs must create a delicious dish that will impress their mentors. Host Padma Lakshmi, along with Hugh Acheson, Gail Simmons and head judge Tom Colicchio will determine which final four chefs will advance to the finale.

The final 4 chefs arrive in Whistler, British Columbia, for a Top Chef twist on the Olympic games. From cooking on the world’s fastest gondola to a biathlon that requires marksman like precision to get the best ingredients, the chefs will need to have the concentration of a true culinary Olympian to advance to the next round in Vancouver.

Asian Masters lend a hand in a tag-team-style Quickfire. The final 3 chefs must create a dish and cocktail that fuses the concept of fire and ice into one cohesive dish, a culinary testament of their journey from blazing Texas heat to blistering Vancouver cold.

For the final challenge, each chef will take over a restaurant in Vancouver where they will have the chance to design a four-course meal for the judges and unbeknownst to them, friends and family.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

Twenty-one contestants compete for fifteen spots in real-world challenges administered by the judges.

The fifteen chefs who remain after last week's qualifying challenge must think on their feet and at a high elevation when a twist complicates their challenge.

The chefs choose international dumpling recipes for the Quickfire, and then team up with either Tom or Emeril in a Thanksgiving challenge.

First the chefs must demonstrate their knife skills, and then they board a time machine, metaphorically at least, so they can design menus from the 1950s.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

An elimination quickfire challenge; replicating legacy dishes in the elimination challenge.

The chefs get a crash course in Vietnamese culture.

Tools and ingredients are wrapped in aluminum foil; the chefs cater a Halloween party for singer/actress Lea Michele, and the food must be spooky and vegetarian.

The creole tomato; the contestants try to impress up-scale chefs.

A food version of musical chairs; the chefs cater a jazzy event.

The contestants make their own hot sauce; the chefs butcher and cook a 300-pound pig.

The contestants create pop-up restaurants to impress the judges.

The chefs must make dishes that remind them of home; Actor Anthony Mackie joins the judges.

Questlove judges various types of poultry drumsticks; the chefs head to LSU's campus to serve incoming students.

The contestants create their own versions of etouffe; seafood dishes.

Chef Jacques Pepin tests the contestants; the contestants create French and Spanish dishes.

Po' boys in the Quickfire; the contestants put their own culinary visions on a plate.

The chefs battle for a new car in the Quickfire; the chefs must show how New Orleans has impacted their food.

Top Chef returns to Hawaii for the final rounds. Tonight, the remaining chefs must deal with Spam in the Quickfire.

The two remaining chefs open pop-up restaurants for the final challenge.

The wicked-awesome supersized season premiere introduces the 16 chefs from across the country who will be battling it out in Boston. Richard Blais (“Top Chef All-Stars” winner) joins Tom, Padma and Gail at judges table. The chef’testants are immediately thrown into hot water with the series’ first ever Sudden Death Quickfire Challenge where one chef is forced to cook for their life to stay in the competition. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs must cook and serve a re-imagined version of the first dish they ever remember making, but will this trip down memory lane be a dream come true or a nightmare for the chefs? The challenge plays out at the first ever “Top Chef Food Festival” alongside some of Boston’s most prominent culinary stars including Barbara Lynch, Ming Tsai, Lydia Shire, Jasper White, Todd English, Ken Oringer, Jamie Bissonnette, Kristen Kish and Tiffani Faison.

The chefs create a surf-and-turf dish for guest judge Todd English; teams prepare dishes to be served up to Boston police and firemen and judged by guest chef Dante de Magistris.

In a nod to the Boston Tea Party, the contestants must use tea to enhance their dishes for guest judge Ming Tsai; Fenway Park hosts a competition in which the chefs must use ballpark snacks to create fine-dining dishes.

The chefs must create the ultimate bar snack for guest judge George Wendt ("Cheers"); the chefs must work in teams to write a create a 3-course Italian menu; actress Emmy Rossum ("Shameless") ruffles the chefs with her gluten-free diet.

In a head-to-head challenge, the chefs cook for guest judge Jamie Bissonnette; the chefs make dishes on a lean military budget at the historic Watertown Arsenal.

The chefs trek through a bog to gather cranberries; the chefs cook a Thanksgiving feast using only ingredients and cooking methods found in the 1600s; descendants of the Mayflower colonists and Wampanoag tribe join the judges at the table.

The chefs are split into two teams and challenged to open their own pop-up restaurants, which includes creating menus, coming up with the decor and training the wait staff; acclaimed restaurateur Barbara Lynch serves as guest judge.

The chefs must cook chowder for chef Jasper White; eliminated chefs return; for the Elimination Challenge, the kitchen opens its doors for the first time ever for a tasting party with "Top Chef" super fans.

The chefs are challenged to concoct a tasty sausage dish for NFL player Rob Gronkowski; the chefs create dishes inspired by famous New England authors, such as Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson.

The chefs flash back to their college days when they must prepare a ramen noodle dish judged by Andy Cohen and his college roommate, Dave Ansel; chef Jacques Pepin challenges the chefs to create a dish inspired by Julia Child's cooking techniques.

The chefs are thrown for a loop when their family members join them to serve as their sous chefs in an Elimination Challenge, putting their tickets to the finals on the line.

In honor of their last quick-fire challenge in "Beantown," the chefs must prepare an innovative bean dish; the chefs compete for a spot in the finals by creating dishes that exemplify the future of cooking.

In the first of the three-part finale, the three finalists head to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where they are greeted by head judge Tom Colicchio who invites them to watch the final cook-off of Last Chance Kitchen and learn which eliminated chef will rejoin the competition. Award-winning Mexican chef Enrique Olvera introduces the Quickfire Challenge where the chefs must create a dish highlighting the Mexican ingredient xoconostle, a special type of prickly pear. San Miguel de Allende is a mecca for artists all over the world, and the chefs' creativity is put to the test when they are challenged to create a unique dish inspired by a local artist’s work for the Elimination Challenge. Cooking at the famed Instituto Allende, the chefs will have four hours to prepare dishes for an event while their artists complete a new work of art that will be on display. The chef that doesn't translate the artist’s vision will have to say "adiós" to the title of Top Chef.

The chefs have to make two dishes with chocolate with one being sweet and the other savory.

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We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

The chefs join the judges for a traditional shrimp boil; the newcomers face off against the returning chefs to put a spin on a low-country family meal; after dining with chefs Carrie Morey and BJ Dennis, each team creates a family-style feast.

The chefs divide into teams to compete in a "mise en place" race. The foodies must also create a seven-course progressive meal featuring the humble radish in front of "Top Chef" superfans. The guest judges are Chris Cosentino and Richard Blais.

The chefs must create dishes using an odd mix of ingredients and tools found inside gift boxes. Later, they prepare a traditional Italian-American seafood-filled dinner, but they're forced to use a notoriously undesirable fish species. Appearing: editor Nilou Motamed and foodie Mike Lata.

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U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy enlists the chefs to create vegetarian versions of traditional comfort foods. Then, the chefs must prepare dishes that pay tribute to Edna Lewis, the matriarch of Southern cuisine. Appearing: Alexander Smalls; Art Smith; Hugh Acheson; Nathalie Dupree; and Mashama Bailey.

Ingredients and the element of the chefs' zodiac sign must correspond. Later, the food fighters divide into teams to throw a pirate-themed bash, during which they must race through Charleston in a treasure hunt to collect their ingredients. Appearing: Michael Cimarusti and Graham Elliot.

The iconic Restaurant Wars challenge features the chefs dividing into teams to design a restaurant and create a cohesive menu, but the heat is on when egos collide and tempers flare. Appearing: chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara.

A blindfolded taste experiment tests the chefs. Later, the chefs draw inspiration from their own childhood memories to create meals for a charity gala for the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital. Appearing: Michael Voltaggio and Graham Elliot.

The chefs are asked to prepare a decadent brunch for the famed Charleston Hat Ladies. However, it won't be a traditional southern brunch as they must create whimsical breakfast and lunch hybrid dishes inventive enough to impress the judges.

The final four chefs cook impromptu dishes while simultaneously instructing mystery partners on how to create the same dish; when the judges compare dishes, the chefs are shocked to discover their secret partners are their visiting family members.

In Guadalajara, Mexico, the three remaining chefs face off against the winner of "Last Chance Kitchen'. The chefs must create a dish using goat, then they are tasked to pair their own cocktail with a dish that incorporates the notes of a margarita.

The three remaining chefs head to the Yucatan Peninsula where Chef Roberto Muñoz Zurita challenges them to make a dish showcasing the flavor, complexity and heat of the legendary local habanero using ingredients from the local market. Culinary legend Jeremiah Tower gives the chefs a lesson on traditional Mayan cooking, before challenging them to create a dish using only ancient Maya ingredients and tools. The chefs will cook in an ancient cenote, or sinkhole, for a table of judges including local chefs Roberto Solis, Guillermo Beristain and Carlo Cardenas. The two chefs with the best dishes will move on to compete in the finale.

The final two chefs face-off to serve the best meal of their lives and earn the coveted title of Top Chef. The finalists will cook an epic four-course progressive meal with the help of three sous chefs, comprised of two eliminated chefs and one from their restaurants back home. The pressure is on as only one chef can win. The chefs must impress a dining room filled with their families, returning judges Graham Elliot and Gail Simmons, and distinguished chefs Joachim Splichal, Jonathan Waxman, Martha Ortiz, Jonathan Sawyer, Daniel Boulud and FOOD & WINE's Nilou Motamed.