Warning: This story contains spoilers from the Season 23 finale of “Top Chef”.
“Top Chef” has crowned its newest winner − and it was certainly a season to remember.
The Season 23 finale, which aired Monday, June 8, saw Rhoda Magbitang claim the title of Top Chef after weeks of competition, beating out fellow finalists Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie.
Heading into the finale, the competition seemed to be anyone’s game as Laurence and Rhoda were frontrunners throughout the season (even despite Rhoda’s brief elimination and comeback in “Last Chance Kitchen”), and Sherry had recently hit a stride, winning two elimination challenges right before the finale.
But it was Rhoda who ultimately came out on top, wowing host Kristen Kish and judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio with her four-course meal that paid homage to the people, various cultures and ingredients that shaped her journey as a chef.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it,” Rhoda tells USA TODAY after her win.
Below, Rhoda breaks down her impressive comeback and finale game plan, why fellow Season 23 contestant Sieger Bayer was always her first pick for sous chef despite his outburst towards the judges earlier this season, the moment “Top Chef” fans didn’t see on camera and what’s next for her.
Question: Thinking back on your “Top Chef” journey, do you believe you would have made it to the finale had you not been eliminated early and had to fight your way back in “Last Chance Kitchen”?
Rhoda Magbitang: “Last Chance Kitchen” is a completely different beast. It really does test your endurance. It makes you even hungrier for it because of these mini Quick Fire or elimination challenges. The more you’re winning it, the more you’re closer and closer and closer to actualizing your dreams. I think the perspective of being in “Last Chance Kitchen” definitely helped me.
There is also a level of momentum that is gained very differently, going through the actual elimination challenges. I’m probably gonna beat myself up forever for missing the whole hog challenge and the Restaurant Wars challenge in my season. But, you know what? I’m so proud of what the other contestants have done, and I saw the Restaurant Wars episode, and I’m just incredibly proud of all of them. They really all showed up in their own ways. It’s just my FOMO talking here.
During the finale, you were the only contestant who chose not to make a dessert for your fourth course and faced lots of questions regarding the decision. Did you have any hesitations given that response?
I wasn’t nervous about it. I knew what I had to do, and it didn’t fit my progression. If I could make these courses into 12 courses, and I could dedicate them to everybody − all the important people and places and things that shaped who I am as a person and as a chef − it would be 12 courses long easily. But I don’t have that. I really wanted to make sure that who I honor shows up on the plate, and there’s no way that a dessert would fit in that progression.
There’s this thing that a lot of “Top Chef” contestants do, and when they’re successful, it’s great. But just this idea of redemption, and when you want to redeem yourself with that s—ty dessert that you did three episodes ago, ’cause people are definitely not gonna let that go unless you prove them wrong. I don’t feel like I need to do that. I know I can do a dessert. I have pictures to prove it. It just wasn’t on the show. And even Tom brought it up. He was like, ‘Usually chefs are very gung-ho about redeeming themselves.’ I looked at him, and I’m like, ‘But I don’t want to.’
Do you feel like something clicked for you in your second chance on the show, in terms of feeling liberated and confident to do what you wanted?
I think so. It took me a while to get my head back in, but it’s just a level of surrender that you have to have in order for you to just be liberated, and do what you know, love what you are putting out and believe in it.
During the finale, you chose Sieger Bayer to be your sous chef. Given his final interaction with the judges (in which he passionately argued against their feedback after being eliminated), were you hesitant to team up with him?
Not at all. Sieger was always gonna be my first choice as a sous chef. I know it got very heated, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he is one of the most technically sound chefs that I’ve ever met. And aside from that exit, he is very responsible and mature, and he can put his head down, and I know he’ll pull through.
I will say − and I don’t think they aired this part − during the Quick Fire challenge, following the Appalachian episode, the judges addressed it with us. It was actually very, very sweet, and it was so considerate. They know how it is. I think Gail even mentioned she’s surprised that it doesn’t happen more often. Maybe not at that level, but we’re all really passionate people who really want to do well, and we know the severity of having the title and being put through these extraordinary circumstances, so it’s tough, you know? It’s tough to keep a lot of your emotions contained. But the judges were super gracious about it. They addressed it, they were kind, and they made sure [to say] whoever does end up with Sieger as a sous chef, they wouldn’t feel some type of way about it.
You immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. with your sister Katrina when you were 17, and spoke highly of your bond. What did it mean to reunite with her and have her present for the finale?
She kept it a secret, obviously. I was talking to her on the phone before the finale and I knew it. She had this look on her face and she’s a bad liar. But I came to this country many, many years ago with her, and she’s my younger sister, and so we’ve been each other’s family for a lot of years, not being with our parents and our other siblings, and we’ve been in each other’s support system. I felt like this is such a great, full-circle moment that she was there with me. And she made a case with Tom, Gail and Kristen! She went right for it, [telling them] ‘She deserves to win.’
Looking back, what would you say was the toughest challenge this season?
I remember it like it was yesterday: that first racetrack challenge, that Quick Fire. It was torture. I’m looking at the setup and I’m like, ‘How hard is it to put up an umbrella? Guys, I’ll buy it right now. It’s hot. Take me to Home Depot.’ I think after that challenge, I kind of blacked everything out. We don’t usually use the track as a clock with a car zooming like 120 miles an hour. That never happens. But hey, welcome to “Top Chef.”
You’ve worked in the kitchens of acclaimed chefs Suzanne Goin and José Andrés. You’re currently the executive chef at CanoeHouse in Hawaii. And now you’re the winner of “Top Chef.” What’s next?
I don’t know. I’m not a planner, which I probably should start at some point. I think it’s overrated. I was gonna live in Costa Rica, and I moved to the Big Island instead. I never intended to be on TV, let alone win “Top Chef,” now here I am. A year and a half ago, it would have been unfathomable for me. And so far, it’s worked out. So I’m okay with just taking it a day at a time.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
