Stéphanie Le Quellec returns for season 16, Dominique Crenn leaves

We take the same ones and start again… Well almost. For its 16th unprecedented season, “Top Chef” will return with a known but lighter jury.

Last year, she burst onto the screen in the 15th anniversary season of the M6 ​​culinary competition with her expertise, her always relevant analyzes and her flawless support from Jorick: Stéphanie Le Quellec returns for a new season, as announced our colleagues from Parisian . The two-star chef from the La Scène restaurant in Paris, winner of season 2 of the competition, took her candidate to victory last year. She loved returning to the competition as a juror. “This season 15 has been extraordinary in human and culinary terms”she told us at the end of last season.

Also read
Stéphanie Le Quellec: “If Jorick wins “Top Chef”, things will come full circle”

Logical, therefore, that she finds her place alongside her colleagues, the historical jurors Hélène Darroze, Philippe Etchebest, Glenn Viel and Paul Pairet who are also back in season 16, filming of which began this Monday, October 14 on the rooftops of Printemps in Paris. “I never hid, during the broadcast, that I had a lot of fun and that, without going out of my way, I would be delighted to go backshe confides to Le Parisien. When the broadcast was over, the production asked me if I wanted to do another season, I said yes, it happened naturally”.

Conversely, Dominique Crenn chose to leave the show. The French chef, who has been living in the United States for 36 years where she is at the head of a three-star restaurant in San Francisco, preferred to stay across the Atlantic. Certainly for a question of scheduling because, last year, the filming had not been easy for the cook who had to make many trips back and forth.

Also read
Star in the US, three stars in San Francisco, rock personality… Who is Dominique Crenn, member of the “Top Chef” jury

There will therefore be five jurors this year. If they worked last year in teams (the women’s and the men’s), they will certainly officiate with personal brigades during season 16. “We start filming without really knowing, we will discover as we go along, it allows us to maintain a certain spontaneity. But since we have reduced the number of jurors to an odd number, I think we are moving towards that”explained Stéphanie Le Quellec.

The chef hopes to find a candidate with whom she will build a great bond. Last year, she formed a very special bond with Jorick, her protégé who won the competition. So much so that he now works with her. Since the beginning of October, he has been serving as executive chef in his restaurants.