Throng

Friday, November 28th at 7:30pm

Last week saw a first for the hit culinary series Top Chef when Stephanie Izard became the reality series’ first-ever female winner. Now all 16 season four contestants, including Kiwi chef Mark Simmons, return one last time on Top Chef’s reunion special, screening Friday, November 28th at 7:30pm on 3.

"It's real exciting being the first female to win Top Chef," says Izard of her historical victory. "I'm so glad that I was able to pull through. Finding out that after all this hard work and maybe doubting it a little bit, this is just a reaffirmation. This is what I'm meant to do in life."

The 31-year-old chef from Stamford claimed the Top Chef season four grand-prize package of $100,000 in seed money to help open a restaurant; a feature in Food & Wine magazine; a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen; a "gourmet dream vacation" in the French Alps.

Izard defeated Lisa Fernandes, a 27-year-old chef from Toronto, Canada and Richard Blais, a 35-year-old chef and culinary designer from New York during last week’s emotional finale.

"I was just hoping. In my mind, I was like, 'There’s a really good shot I could take this.' Then she said Stephanie's name and I was like, 'F**k!,'" says Fernandes, adding; "This whole journey's been awesome. I'm proud of the dishes I've done, and this is what I want to do. This is what I'm always going to do."

"It's just disappointment," adds Blais. "Losing at the last second sucks. That's why it's tough too, because you put your whole heart into it and then it doesn't work out. One thing that's good about this is to kind of refocus, just keep doing what I love to do. The future's bright for sure."

But even though the future might be bright, could Blais’ past come back to haunt him when host Andy Cohen dishes out all the behind-the-scenes dramas on this week’s reunion special?

Find out when Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and Ted Allen join Cohen and reveal all the successes, failures and dramas of Top Chef season four. Top Chef reunion special screens on Friday, November 28th 7:30pm on 3.