I believe Tournament of Champions should move beyond the East vs. West bracket format

Tournament of Champions season 6 concluded on April 20, 2025, with Antonia Lofaso winning her first title after defeating Sara Bradley in the finale. The final challenge required the chefs to create two dishes—one hot and spicy, and the other cold and sticky—using wagyu beef, huitlacoche, and a sausage stuffer.

Antonia Lofaso’s plates earned her a score of 88–82, securing the championship belt and the $150,000 prize. This season also featured several close matchups. In the semifinal of Tournament of Champions, Antonia and Britt Rescigno ended with a tied score, and the result was determined by the taste category—Antonia moved ahead by just one point. Sara Bradley advanced to the finale after defeating Lee Anne Wong in another tight match.

Disclaimer: This Tournament of Champions article is based on the writer's opinion. Readers' discretion is advised.

Even though the cooking competition was strong, the show continued with its usual East (blue) vs. West (red) bracket format, where chefs are placed based on where they live or work. In my opinion, geography doesn’t reflect cooking ability. This system can lead to unbalanced brackets and matchups where equally skilled chefs are placed on the same side just because of their location.

As the show grows and includes chefs from across the US—and potentially from other countries in the future—now might be the right time to consider a new way to build the bracket. A system based on skill or past performance could create a more even and competitive tournament.

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East vs. West doesn’t always create the most competitive matchups in Tournament of Champions

Since the start of the Tournament of Champions, chefs have been placed into either the East or West Coast brackets. While this arrangement created some regional rivalry and helped streamline the bracket, it didn’t always lead to the fairest or most balanced matchups.

Over the seasons, it became clear that geography doesn’t always reflect the talent level of a chef, and it determined the skill depth on each side of the bracket. In some cases, it was obvious that one side of the bracket was more competitive than the other.

In season 6 of the Tournament of Champions, for example, the West had name-brand, returning chefs like Antonia Lofaso, Jet Tila, Joe Sasto, and Britt Rescigno (many of whom had previously been in the semifinals and quarterfinals in prior seasons). Consequently, this made the West side far more difficult than the East, which didn’t have as many returning semifinalists.

For example, Antonia reached the semifinals with Britt scoring a tie of 82–82, with the win going to Antonia by just one point in the taste category. On the East side, Sara Bradley reached the finale after narrowly defeating Lee Anne Wong 85–83. Both brackets had strong competitors, but the distribution of top talent felt uneven.

In my opinion, placing chefs based on location overlooks their performance histories. A bracket built on seeding—using scores, past results, or experience—could create more fair and exciting matchups throughout the competition. The early matchups of top-tier chefs can restrict the number of chefs who can potentially advance through the tournament.

As more chefs from outside the traditional East and West zones join the competition, such as those from the Midwest or even internationally, regional placement may no longer be a meaningful factor. Moving beyond region, if possible, results in the best chefs facing off later in the bracket, allowing every round to have the opportunity for the competition to be just as intense as the final.

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Moving beyond East vs. West could create better rivalries and storylines

One of the strengths of Tournament of Champions is how it builds suspense—not just through the Randomizer or blind judging but also through the storylines that develop as chefs progress. The East vs. West format provides structure, but in my opinion, it also limits the kinds of matchups and rivalries the show can foster across seasons.

When chefs are locked into geographic brackets, certain face-offs are prevented from occurring until the final rounds. A strong East Coast chef may never meet a high-scoring West Coast chef unless both reach the finale. This results in fewer rematches, fewer season-to-season arcs, and fewer unexpected battles that fans might be anticipating.

If the bracket were reshaped—say, by employing a seeded draw based on past performance or random allocation—it would open the door to more creative matchups. A returning finalist could face a wildcard winner in Round 1. A previous semifinalist could meet a new, buzzworthy chef in an early round. This would increase variety and allow the competition to evolve more naturally.

In season 6 of Tournament of Champions, Antonia Lofaso had to face Britt Rescigno—someone she had never encountered in past seasons—to reach the finale. That match turned out to be one of the most dramatic of the season, ending in a tie. Imagine if those types of unexpected pairings occurred more frequently and earlier in the bracket.

As Guy Fieri said during an interview with Parade in 2022,

“It’s blind tasting, and no other competition has that where the judges don’t know who’s competing and the competitors don’t know who’s judging.”

By removing the East vs. West divide, the show could embrace that unpredictability even further—and provide fans with the rivalries and rematches they didn’t know they needed.

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Tournament of Champions episodes are streaming on Food Network.