Winner of season 3 of the M6 culinary competition, Jean Imbert will be back in the 13th edition of “Top Chef”, which is scheduled for release in the coming weeks.
The new chef at Plaza Athénée, in Paris, will be on the list of guest chefs for this new season, which also includes Anne-Sophie Pic, Alain Ducasse, Mauro Colagreco, and Yannick Alléno. The Top Chef candidates will compete in a test around vol-au-vent on the day of his arrival, one of his signature dishes.
This is not the first time that Jean Imbert has returned to the program which revealed him to the general public in 2012, since he had returned in season 4 – the one after his coronation – to ask the candidates to perform at their way a ratatouille carpaccio. He had not appeared in Top Chef since, and had even revealed in 2019 to no longer follow the show. Recalling in passing never to refuse his help to candidates who came to see him. “Some people who took part in the competition came to see me. We spoke to each other on social media. I gave them some advice, it made me happy. It was more human… I don’t run after television, I hadn’t done one for a long time, ”he explained to TV Mag at the time.
A tense reunion with Philippe Etchebest?
Top Chef fans will be curious to attend the reunion between Jean Imbert and Philippe Etchebest, the latter having regularly sent pikes to the man he considers “the chef of the stars” in the press. Guest of a Daphné Bürki show in 2018, the host of Cauchemar en cuisine presented Top Chef as a competition “which allows you to cook for Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Barack Obama, Marisol Touraine and to tell it on Instagram with a nice filter ”. A direct reference to Jean Imbert, known to pose alongside many personalities on his Instagram account.
“Jean Imbert is the chef to the stars! Personally, I prefer to be the star of the cooks, ”added Philippe Etchebest. If we imagine that a lot of water has flowed under the bridges since this media release, it will however be fun to see the two men evolve side by side in Top Chef.