Rhoda Magbitang, the Kailua-Kona chef is only the fourth contestant in 23 seasons of Top Chef to win after returning from Last Chance Kitchen, and the only one who set a competition record before getting eliminated.
In 23 seasons of Top Chef, only four chefs have been eliminated, clawed back through Last Chance Kitchen, and won the title. Rhoda Magbitang, executive chef at CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani in Kailua-Kona, is the latest — and the only one of the four whose run included something no previous contestant had managed. She won back-to-back individual elimination challenges at the beginning of the season before being sent home in a later round after a challenge featuring dehydrated ingredients.
Head judge Tom Colicchio had praised her opening dish, a soy-glazed Covington with miso sweet potato purée and lime crème fraîche, for how tightly her concept matched what landed on the plate. Her second win, a pepper-braised short rib with chili pickled pearl onions and blistered cayenne, drew the phrase “flavor explosion” from the panel.
Magbitang returns from Last Chance Kitchen
In Last Chance Kitchen, Magbitang beat three opponents before facing chef Brandon Dearden in a round requiring three single-bite courses in 45 minutes. Her menu, rooted in California produce and Mediterranean techniques, earned her a return ticket. The finale, at Charlotte’s Peppervine restaurant, put her against chefs Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie for a four-course progressive meal judged by Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Michelin-starred guest judges Val Cantú and Brandon Jew. Magbitang built her four courses around personal ground, closing with a kaldereta, a Filipino stew she dedicated to her father.
She joins Kristen Kish, Brooke Williamson, and Joe Flamm as the only chefs to win Top Chef through Last Chance Kitchen — and she’s the only one of the four who also set a record on the way in.
Fan reaction was messier than the judges’ verdict
The r/BravoTopChef post-episode thread split predictably between fans who respected the comeback and fans who’d spent a full season watching Laurence Louie and Sherry Cardoso cook at a level they felt deserved the title. User wildturk3y called Magbitang “a deserving winner overall” but thought “it felt more like she won because the others made more mistakes, not her going out and smashing it.” That sentiment carried through much of the thread — user PaperChicken13 put it more directly, saying Louie and Cardoso had “the best cumulative work all season.”
Several commenters pointed to specific finale mistakes as the deciding factor. User small-black-cat-290 believed Laurence could have won if “he hadn’t suveed the duck.” User NavelPoint summed up Sherry Cardoso’s fourth course with a line that got traction in the thread”She made ice cream that melted.” Multiple fans also noted that Magbitang chose not to serve dessert, a move user SilverRoseBlade described as sticking “to her guns on not doing a dessert,” adding that she “accomplished her menu as she wanted.” The finale wasn’t the only thing fans were processing — user wildturk3y also warned others to “stay away from prediction sites” after stumbling on betting odds that appeared to spoil the outcome.
One commenter also pointed out that Magbitang is the first woman to win since Season 17, “it’s been 5 seasons … all the way back to s17 with Melissa King since we’ve had a woman Top Chef.”
The thread’s warmest consensus landed on the season itself. User Soft-Parsnip-112 wrote, “I know people had their issues with this season, and plenty of them are valid, but I had a lot of fun,” adding a hope that finalist Laurence Louie gets to serve dim sum at his restaurant, Rubato.