A teary Top Chef finds our final four in Milan

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[Editor's note: The A.V. Club will be back to recap next week's season finale.]
Top Chef has always had a big ol' heart beating beneath those panic-inducing Quickfires and high-stakes Elimination Challenges. But Bravo's culinary reality competition has seemingly cranked up the burners on its own emotionality in recent seasons, maybe a byproduct of the addition of Kristen Kish (a show host who acutely knows the passion, pressure, and privilege of being a Top Chef champion), or the producers simply savvily clocking that we're all desperate for compassion and community in this garbage-fire of a society. Hell, maybe it's just the Canada of it all.
But in a season that's served not only great cooking and kitchen drama but also bone-deep loss, heartfelt support, and true camaraderie between the competitors, Top Chef has become less about stewing rivalries and more comfort-food viewing—i.e. just the kind of dish we need these days. As competitor Tristan Epps noted in this week's episode: 'We looked at past seasons, and everyone is always at each other's throat—we're nothing but hugs and tears.'
And there were bittersweet tears and cozy feelings aplenty in the penultimate episode of Top Chef season 22, which saw our four semi-finalists—Epps, Bailey Sullivan, César Murillo, and Shuai Wang—departing the warm, welcoming arms of Canada for the grand-finale backdrop of Milan, Italy. The giddiness of the scenery change was infectious: It was Shuai's first time going to Italy ('I'd move to Europe just for the butter') and César's first time hitting the European continent full-stop.
That excitement continued, for us viewers at least, when Kish announced that the final QuickFire challenge of the season would focus on that famously finicky Italian specialty: risotto. We're in Milan, where rice is king, so the inclusion of the notoriously difficult dish was fair, but that doesn't mean our cheftestants were happy to see it. ('Not risotto! I thought I could manifest it out of this competition,' Tristen lamented.) They got a little leg up with a staggered cooking schedule, so no one chef's dish turned gloopy while it waited to meet Tom Colicchio's taste buds. And the largest QuickFire prize yet ($15,000) certainly didn't hurt.
With thirty-five minutes on the clock, the competitors turned out two traditional-ish bowls of rice (Tristen's West African-inspired risotto with dressed heirloom tomatoes and charred butter greens, and Bailey's red wine-stained version with Parmigiano, pear and hazelnut gremolata) and two, uh, not. Both César and Shuai ran the risk of poking the bear (a.k.a. Tom) by subbing out rice grains entirely in favor of root vegetables: The former served celery-root risotto with chicken jus and white truffle, and the latter, squash risotto with chanterelles and saffron. 'The word riso means rice!' Colicchio griped during judging, and it goes without saying that neither non-rice bowl won. Instead, it was Tristen's jollof-inspired interpretation that added $15,000 to his season's winnings. ('I made Black people risotto and won!')
And now for the biggie: the Elimination Challenge that would secure their spot in the final three. For the occasion, producers tapped into the buzz around the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics by having four medal-winning American athletes—bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, snowboarder Red Gerard, ice-sled hockey player Declan Farmer, and multi-sport Paralympic star Oksana Masters—pair up with the chefs to help them grocery shop. No, it didn't totally make sense, but I did appreciate the sporty supermarket hijinks, from Masters good-naturedly trying to sabotage César's rivals by asking them about their pets to Shuai and Declan struggling to find puffed pastry with their Duolingo-level Italian.
The chefs would be using those wares in a three-part head-to-head tournament, each round focused on a different ingredient from Milan or Cortina: the first on polenta, the second on beetroot, and the third on Gorgonzola cheese. After two hours of prep and an additional 30 minutes of cook time in an outdoor courtyard, the Fab Four would serve their penultimate plates to a panel including the Team USA athletes, Top Chef Middle East winner Ali Ghzawi, and two-star Michelin chef Andrea Aprea. If you win the polenta round, good news: You're automatically in the final three. A second finalist will then be added after the beetroot smackdown, with the two last players desperately battling it out over stinky Gorgonzola.
Bailey, out for redemption, planned to double down on polenta for both rounds one and three, the latter of which would also include a redo of that bad brûléed Gorgonzola idea from week 11. The ever-creative César coolly decided to do dessert first, with a polenta cake with black-walnut ice cream, though he was stressed that he didn't have enough prep time to turn out the fresh tortillas for his beet tostada second course. Shuai nodded to Chinatown with a barbecue duck-inspired polenta dish and beet dumplings filled with smoked fish. Meanwhile, Tristen toured Caribbean tradition with his cou-cou porridge with spicy Haitian sos and glazed beets with pork belly and beet pikliz, though he felt his Gorgonzola sherbet was far from good enough. ('I'm fucked if I get to the Gorgonzola.')
Shuai's nostalgic polenta number won over the paddles of Kristen, Tom, and Gail Simmons, as well as the other judging panelists, immediately entering him into the season's final three. And thankfully for Tristen, he didn't have to get to the Gorgonzola after all, with his smoked beets plate taking it in round two.
That left César and Bailey in a head-to-head Gorgonzola duel, an interesting match-up given that I always believed César would make it to the finals and was pleasantly surprised how far Bailey has come. And, seemingly more surprises were in store: Bailey's brûléed Gorgonzola redemption panned out, with her polenta gratinata successfully clinching the third-round win over César's cheese-laced butternut squash casserole. Unsurprisingly, however, was the level of emotion from all involved at seeing César go. 'I was just one away from the final cook. I just wanted that one more,' he sadly declared before making his exit.
That weepiness segued into happy tears, though, with the realization that we officially have our final three for Top Chef season 22, with Shuai especially going into the finals strong with the challenge win and an added $15,000 Delta gift card in his pocket. 'It's a wild ride and a very exciting feeling to be standing where you are,' Kristen told him through tears, to which Shuai excellently responded: 'Stop crying, Kristen!'
• So what do you think of our top three? Shuai and Tristen have been pretty dominant all season, while Bailey seemed to get a dark-horse edit by producers going into the finale. Does the quirky chef stand a chance?
• Did anyone else get a little teary when a ladybug—thought to be a symbol of protection and positive energy from a deceased loved one—landed on Tristen's station during the Elimination cook, or should I set up a call with my therapist?
• Given that Milan is one of the premier fashion capitals of the world, our trusty judges trio really stepped up their sartorial game this ep. That leather midi skirt on Gail? That striped overcoat on Kristen? Fantastica!
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